The only times this reputation doesn't hold true are: 1) when there's freak weather affecting the train system, and 2) when 'people incidents' occur (i.e. customers fainting, drunks acting unruly, or suicide attempts, etc). There was once when a train line was delayed for about 45 mins as the railway staff had to 'clean up the mess'. Thankfully, these don't happen often and there are always other train lines around the affected area.
Prepaid Cards (Suica / Pasmo)
There are quite a number of prepaid cards in use in Japan, and ten of them are compatible with one another (Suica, Passmo, Toica, Manaka, Icoca, Pitapa, Nimoca, Hayakaken, Sugoica, and Kitaca) as of March'13. This means near open access to several of Japan's largest cities (including Tokyo, Yokohama, Shizuoka, Nagoya, Osaka, Okayama, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Sapporo, etc).
In Tokyo, for example, the two prepaid cards are the 'Suica' and 'Passmo', both inter-compatible for use across all its train and subway lines. In addition, these can also serve as cash cards for a whole range of other purchases, e.g. paying for shopping, coin lockers, bus travels, etc. However, it is not possible to use these cards outside of their validity areas, on Shinkansen ('bullet trains'), or on airport and highway buses.
Suica card by JR ("Japan Rail") East companies.
Passmo card by non-JR companies.
Train Stations
Here are a few shots taken within train stations:
Train stations are generally very well sign-posted and helps very much with navigation. Bear in mind that the major stations are usually massive, have multiple floors, and serve large numbers of passengers so it's good to plan ahead, and be generally alert to signs once at the station.
Ticketing areas are usually very busy but they are a wealth of information for the travellor (provided you can read the signs, of course). Many ticketing machines now come with the English language option.
Top up and ticketing machines on some platforms, perhaps for those long trips.
On the train platforms are signs showing the name of the train line, number of carriages, and which carriage you're currently standing at. The above pic was taken underground.
An outdoor train platform at a section without markings.
A subway platform with an approaching subway train.
Another subway platform - this was taken very early in the morning, hence the lack of passengers.
An interesting sign telling people to approach railway staff to retrieve belongings that have fallen onto the train tracks.
The Japanese people are very good at queueing up, and that makes boarding and alighting pretty civil and smooth. The above picture was taken near the end of a rush hour.
Bright yellow safety line.
At most train stations, you can find coin lockers that come in three handy sizes (s, m, l) should you need to store your luggage/shopping for a period of time. Small lockers (by far the most common) cost ¥300 to use, medium lockers ¥400, and large lockers ¥500. Items may be stored till midnight, after which the lockers will be emptied.
The inside of Kyoto's expensive new train station.
Osaka train station & the 'station city' complex right above it.
Osaka station train platforms.
Love this shot of the train station at Haneda Airport International Building.
Miscellaneous Pics
Random shots inside Tokyo's trains/subways:
Lots and lots of advertisements everywhere.
Probably can't tell from the pic but it's very quiet inside the trains and people are generally mindful to not speak or play their music/games too loud so as to not disturb fellow travellors.
A sticker telling passengers to be mindful of closing doors.
Another warning above the doors.
Both babe and mom were asleep.
An interesting sight one might encounter on Japanese trains (especially the morning ones) is children travelling on their own. The little girl above was heading to school.
The same little girl joined by other friends enroute - they had fun chatting and drawing.
An early train on the way to Yokohama.
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