By Dave Hansche
A pair of buses bask in the sunlight in a nearby depot.
We do a lot of articles here at Wayfarer Daves about Japan. Both of us currently live in Japan and for myself, my photography has been almost exclusively done in Japan. Most of the travel I’ve done outside of Japan came before I took up photography, so Japan is what I shoot, study, and write about. But in all of the writing about Japanese history and the beautiful places to visit here, I seldom take the time to address how to actually get around over here. People who live here can easily take for granted the fact that Japan has one of the most extensive mass transit systems in the world. I’ve lived here for almost nine years and I’ve never owned a car. I’ve never needed to. A visitor fresh off of the plane at Narita or one of the numerous other airports might feel a bit lost. So here is a short rundown of the major forms of transpiration you might end up using if you visit Japan.
A JAL plane taxis from landing at Haneda Airport, Tokyo.
Air Travel
The easiest place to start on this talk about getting around in Japan is to talk about getting to and from Japan. And the only real way in and out of the country is by air. Sure you could probably find a ship that will bring you into Tokyo, Nagoya, or another big harbor, and Yokohama does have a cruise ship dock on the waterfront. But that takes a long time (maybe weeks) and not many people go for that option. Realistically, most people arrive by air, and for anyone who travels, air travel and airports are nothing new. Even in Japan, an airport really is just an airport. Japanese carriers Japan Airlines (JAL) and All Nippon Airways (ANA) are major airlines up there with Delta and United as major, well respected carriers. However, things are a little different for domestic flights. Japan has a handful of domestic budget carriers, like Skymark and Peach, that are quite good, and quite cheap. My recent trip to Sasebo for Mr. Krigbaum’s wedding, for example, was quick, comfortable (for air travel) and the round trip flight cost me less than one way on the bullet train (shinkansen). All in all, a fine way to travel, though it should be noted that they only fly to major Japanese cities and very limited overseas locations (Hong Kong, Taipei, Seoul, etc). Still, if you just want to go from one island to another, it is a great way to get there.
The Tokaido Shinkansen rockets through Yamato, Kanagawa. These ultra fast trains only stop at major cities.
Shinkansen
Arguably the most famous form of transportation around Japan is the shinkansen, or bullet train. These trains are fast – fastest things on rails – with construction gearing up for an even faster mag-lev version. Even in its current form, the shinkansen is the fastest way to get around Japan on land, and in a lot of cases, they are more convenient than air travel. Tokyo to Kyoto, for example, on the shinkansen is faster than flying with a train leaving every ten minutes. For more remote areas, like Akita and the northern part of Honshu, the bullet train is almost the only way to get there in a reasonable time and budget, as the low cost airlines don’t fly there. The shinkansen, though, goes almost everywhere, so unless you spend your entire vacation in Tokyo -which you shouldn’t – you’ll probably take the shinkansen at least once.. Longer trips tend to be expensive, and the interior of these fast trains are similar to airliners, sometimes even down to the beverage carts. Still, it is the fastest and most convenient form of long distance travel.
The view from the Highway Bus as it enters Shirakawa-go, Gifu Prefecture.
Highway Bus
The other option for long distance travel in Japan are the highway buses. These buses leave from various terminals across Japan, usually close to major train stations (Tokyo Station, Shinjuku Station, etc) and are a significantly cheaper alternative to the shinkansen. I’ve had the privilege of taking the highway bus several times, and they aren’t bad. Much slower than the shinkansen, of course, but not uncomfortable. When I first heard about the highway buses, I immediately thought of the Greyhound buses in the U.S. and what a miserable experience it was the one time I had the misfortune of traveling with them. Japanese long distance buses are very different. They are clean, comfortable, and the other folks on the bus are usually just fellow travelers and tourists. They even offer night buses, which are just what they sound like: buses that drive overnight and arrive at their destinations by a reasonable time in the morning. If you have the time and are on a budget, the Highway Buses might be a good option.
The Yamanote line platform at Harajuku, Tokyo
Local Trains, Subways, and Japan Railways
With long distance transport covered, now you have to get around the city you’ve decided to explore. Well, never fear, Japan has you covered. Most cities are well served by local, interconnected train lines. It is actually completely possible to go from the northern tip of Hokkaido to the southern tip of Kyushu almost entirely using local trains. Of course, it would also take a couple days and cost a small fortune. No, these local trains are best for travel around the city or between nearby cities. There are a handful of independent rail companies, but by far the largest and most common is Japan Railways, or simply JR. The JR lines are the ones that run the length and breadth of Japan and are most likely what you will ride. Each city and region will have a few separate lines that run to specific places, like the Keikyu and Odakyu lines that link Tokyo and neighboring Kanagawa prefectures. There are also numerous subway lines that sometimes link to JR stations, and sometimes are simply nearby. A good train map or a site like Jorudan can be helpful if you know the stations you are traveling between. Google Maps is usually reliable too, though it is sometimes unreliable outside of major cities. Also, in a city like Kyoto, where there are several independent train lines that run along side each other but don’t connect and where these train lines have similar sounding station names, it can be quite confusing. Even so, with a bit of patience and a loose time schedule, you’ll figure it out and get where you are going. One word of warning, however. Avoid riding the trains in major cities between the hours of 6am and 10am, and 5pm to 7pm if you can help it. All the pictures you’ve seen of station employees pushing people into already overfull train cars like sardines, those are the hours when that happens. Small local lines are not too bad, but major on arteries, like Tokyo’s Yamanote line, however, you’ll be crushed.
The local bus fleet rests in a bus depot in Yamato City, Kanagawa.
Local Buses
In addition to lots of trains, most major cities have active and thorough city bus routes. These can be difficult to trace and find the bus or stop you need, but if you can figure it out, the local buses are a huge help to the weary wayfarer. They go almost everywhere. Unlike the trains, however, which are almost always on time, the local buses tend to run significantly late, in my experience. They can also be just as crowded as the trains at peak times. But they are cheap and sure beat walking.
Walking in Japan isn’t so bad. There are a lot of hills, but it really is a beautiful country.
Walking
Which brings us to exactly that: walking. If all else fails, you might have to hoof it. Like I mentioned before, Google Maps isn’t completely reliable in outlying areas and in my first trip to Hamamatsu, Google didn’t have listings for any of the bus routes, though that has since changed. Even so, you can’t always trust that Google will have the most up to date bus and train info if you are traveling into the countryside. There is just not as much demand or need, so it is further down the priority list. And for places like Shirakawago or the Nakasendo through Tsumago, walking is almost the only way to get around. There are also several small mountain villages in Yamanashi, Gifu, and Nagano Prefectures that I would love to visit, but there are no buses, trains or anything else to get there. Backpacking in may be the only way in. But sometimes that is the greater adventure. And that is why I do this.
A Yamanote Line train near Shinagawa, Tokyo
Other transport options:
Really, the only other transport option in Japan, other than renting a car and getting an international drivers license, is to go by taxi, but I really can’t recommend it. There are taxi stands near almost every station, big and small, but they are often expensive. Unless you simply don’t want to hike to the nearby hotel with your bags, taxis are too expensive to recommend – especially when there is probably already a bus, train, or combination of the two that goes there for much less.
Recently though, some cities, like Chigasaki, have started to implement bicycle rental programs. For a small fee or deposit, you can rent a bicycle for the day and use that to get around. While I think these programs have promise, they are too hit and miss to be recommended right now. In the future, though, anything is possible.
The shinkansen pulls through Odawara Station