Tokyo Metro: Observations & Admirations

Suddenly everything seemed completely under control now that my friend arrived ahead of us, checked into the Ueno Youth Hostel, found where to exchange our JR Passes for tickets and also located an Indian restaurant in the vicinity. Honestly, I felt like we had already conquered the city and was on our way to achieving our well-planned itinerary.

With our basic needs in Maslow’s pyramid (food, shelter, security) met and we focused on the bigger agenda ahead of us, to tour and enjoy Tokyo without having to validate clichés and escape tourist traps. We quickly figured out that JR pass is more helpful to get outside the city, while a Metro pass is both inexpensive and a practical way to travel within Tokyo.

While we are on the topic of the Metro, I must share my observations and admirations.

The Metro in Tokyo is unlike the ones we’ve seen and experienced in New York or Paris. Despite absence of dustbin at stations, it was devoid of liter.

Metros are truly passenger friendly, safe, and clean and the people are courteous. There are no drug addicts loitering or homeless living in the stations and I didn’t come across anyone jumping over turnstiles. Like the Germans, the Japanese are also obedient and respectful of rules.

There are two things that amaze me about Tokyo Metro – toilets and people. Their toilets are squeaky clean and people are polite and form a queue to get in the train. More importantly, they wait for passengers to disembark before getting into the train. 

It is common for you to see people wearing masks over their nose and mouth to not spread or catch infections. With ageing population, Japanese are cautious not to pass on infections. 

Metros are safe even at midnight and I’ve rarely felt safe while traveling in Paris and New York. None of them look intimidating or threatening or occupied seats reserved for expecting mothers and mothers with infants, elderly or disabled. While on the Metro people only whispered when they had to speak and most of them were either busy reading on their phones or engrossed reading Manga. Taking phone calls in trains is considered rude and an inappropriate etiquette.

But peak hours had its own rules and we had a first-hand experience on the Hibiya line between Ueno and Tokyo stations especially in the morning. One morning, we had to miss couple of packed trains wanting to respect their rules and orderliness. But then came to realities of life, elbowed people and found our way in. Also, it is not a rare sight to see the guard push people into the car to get the automatic doors to close.

The Japanese men and women are small made and don’t occupy much space or multiple seats unlike our American counterparts. Despite being petite there were instructions against manspreading on their Metros. Apart from how to behave, their trains were loaded with advertisements and I couldn’t spot any act of vandalism or defacement.

For 600¥ you can travel for 24-hours and do multiple journeys on the metro. It doesn’t matter if you snoozed on the train and missed your station or changed your plan, you can always do a fare adjustment when you get off the train.

Lastly, the staffs at the Metro stations are extremely helpful and always finished their sentences with Arigatou Gozaimasu (Thank you). Despite being the largest and most densely populated metro in the world, the orderliness, cleanliness in Tokyo and courteousness of its people are astonishing. Yes, Tokyo answers the questions on metros being kind and considerate.

I do carry with me experiences, but not clichés and prejudices and you shouldn’t either. If you still have time, read my experiences from traveling on Metro in India (Alter ego and altered ego; Is life a breeze in this metro) and in Paris (Paris Metro Chronicles; Elles sont difficiles).

Now you know why I admire Tokyo and the Japanese!

Let’s get back to visiting Tokyo in my next blog.