He went to his meeting, then took a Shinkansen for two and a half hours and went to his afternoon conference in Osaka. Without this form of fast transportation, my friend wouldn’t have been able to do so much with his time that day.
Seeing a train map in Tokyo is a little scary and overwhelming. There are so many colors and routes that it is very easy to get lost. My first month in Tokyo, I took the wrong train and got lost various times. It was kind of fun because I would end up exploring a new city. But it was not fun when I had to make people wait for me. Time in Japan is very important, and being late is highly frowned upon. Now I am more used to the train system, but I still heavily rely on Google Maps to find which route and train I should take at what time.
Trains are accessible, but using them every day can become a little expensive. A regular ticket in the city costs approximately from $1 - $2. It can become more expensive if one travels longer distances and transfers many times. I don’t have a bike, so I often like to walk to save money, exercise and to get to know my neighborhood better. It is very common to find many people walking in the streets of Tokyo.
Today, Tokyo is a very busy global city. It’s common to see people in suits running around from one place to the other, so trains have become the most convenient and fast mode of transportation. There are also taxis, but these are overwhelmingly expensive, almost unaffordable to middle-class citizens. Trains work to keep the fast-paced environment of Tokyo running.
