Riding Tokyo Trains with Tots

I’ve been riding trains since I was about 4 years old. I think my first time to ride the NYC subway by myself was when I was in the 5th grade, after school, on my way to my mom’s office in Manhattan. I remember sometimes meeting her there so we could go somewhere together after her job finished- like go out to dinner, go shopping, or to see a play.

So I guess I’m pretty used to riding trains. I’m now able to get around fairly easily in Tokyo by train. The hardest part at first was figuring out which are express trains and local trains when no English signs are on them. I often learned the hard way, missing a stops and ending up at wrong stations. The other hard thing was figuring out the fares to each destination. Unlike NYC Transit, where a subway ride costs the same amount regardless of how far you travel, trains in Japan have different fares depending on the destination (more like riding the Long Island Railroad or Metro North). So before Suica and Pasmo cards were universal, you had to always look at this crazy fare board to figure out how much train fare will cost and buy the correct ticket. Sounds simple enough but there aren’t always English station names written on these boards. But nowadays I can just refill my Suica card with a set amount – denominations of 1000 yen- and the fares are automatically deducted at the turnstiles. It’s very convenient. Prior to the universal Suica and Pasmo you also had to buy different tickets for each of the different train lines. And there are so many: the government-owned Japan Rail or JR, the subway systems Toei and Tokyo Metro, and many private railways, like Keihin Kyuko (Keikyu) and Keio Electric Railway. There are even more new lines, like Tskuba Express, MinatoMirai line, etc. Thank heavens you now can get in all the trains using the one Suica or Pasmo card. These cards also work on the bus! Goodness, traveling on the bus is a whole other topic altogether. What I really, really hate is that there is no map that has all lines and stations listed together. I suppose if there was one it would be a headache reading it. There are separate maps for each train line so you need to look at different maps if you want to figure out which is the best line to take to get to where you want to go. Some train lines don’t even have maps you can take. I guess those are very local lines and they don’t expect people who don’t live in the area to ride those trains so there usually isn’t much English on those trains. But anyhow, taking JR and Tokyo Metro and Toei subways can get you to most places. A couple of useful websites in English are the Tokyo Subway transfer site, which allows you so search which lines to take, and the Hyperdia site which allows you to search different ways to get to a destination by typing in your start and end points (it also gives you the fares and times).

Once we are on the train it’s just a matter of keeping the kids amused until we get to our destination. This is generally never a problem for Keiji, who loves trains. But it’s sometimes a problem for Arisa, who hates being strapped in the stroller for too long and wants to move around all the time. I am bad and sometimes give her ramune candy to keep her quiet. What do other commuters do to keep their tots amused on the train? Or even in long car rides?

Coming soon will be my cautions on riding Tokyo trains with tots. And wait for my complaints on riding Tokyo trains with tots! That will be a nice long post I’m sure!