A Day's Cost of Tokyo Trains

If there's a big city in the world where one doesn't need to own a car, Tokyo is it.

Above, passengers boarding the Yamanote Line at Shinjuku Station. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

Tokyo has a transportation network of trains and subways that is the envy of the world. While it is far from perfect, one can get to anywhere in Tokyo through the train and subway system and, surprisingly, it is relatively cheap to use. It is a lot easier than it looks.

So, how much does train travel in Tokyo cost for a day?

Fortunately, City-Cost has that all figured out and it is explained.

They start with:

Let’s get this straight, Tokyo’s transport network is nothing short of phenomenal. Somehow it manages to shift an army of economic foot soldiers of Biblical proportions, from home to office, office to home, every day.  And usually without major incident. Yes, it’s not without its faults and yes, at times, cramped carriage conditions border on a human rights violation.  But still, cities the world-over eye-up Tokyo’s system with envy. And rightly so!

A key part of said system is the JR East train network.  These are the trains that navigate Tokyo above ground.  Despite having a map that looks like a preschooler went mad with some crayons, the JR network is perfectly navigable, given a bit of time.  But is it affordable?  Here we ask, What’s the cost of a day’s train travel in Tokyo?

 To read more, go here.