TRAVEL INFORMATION How to get on the train in Japan
- 2016/10/13
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In Japan, people use mainly trains and buses as transportation to get around. Trains are recommended for the foreign tourists to easily travel to many places in Japan.
Here we will show you how to ride a train in Japan.
How to buy a ticket before you ride a train
You need to buy a ticket on the vending machine for trains except special express trains or bullet trains (shinkansen).
・You can purchase a ticket by paying cash.
・If you purchase an IC card (for example, “Suica”, “Pasmo”, etc.) and charge it, you can just touch the card to the ticket gate. The amount maybe different in case you pay with your IC card and in case you purchase a ticket by paying cash.
How to buy a Suica
1 Find the correct vending machine that a Suica can be purchased from.
2 Touch the “Purchase Suica” button.
If you want the English language, you can touch the “English” button.
3 Select the “Suica card” option.
4 Purchase a Suica card.
The purchase amount is “Card (500) + Deposit (500) = 1000 yen.”
500 yen is the amount that you have available to buy tickets as electronic money.
You can use it for trains, subways, buses and also in conveniences stores.
500 yen is a very small amount, so let´s charge your Suica!
How to charge your Suica
1 In order to charge your Suica, first you have to find the correct vending machine where a Suica can be charged.
2 Touch the “Charge” button.
3 Select the amount that you want to add. You can charge 1,000 yen, 2,000 yen, 3,000 yen, 4,000 yen, 5,000 yen or 10,000 yen at one time. The maximum balance is 20,000 yen.
With your Suica or a ticket in hand, let´s go to the ticket gate!
How to ride a train
With your IC card or a ticket, you need to go through the ticket gate and to the platform.
Depending on the train station, some ticket gates are for tickets only, for IC cards only, or for both tickets and IC cards.
In case of an IC card, you just touch your card to the card reader (the card mark) at the ticket gate and walk through the gate.
In case of a ticket, you insert your ticket to the ticket gate. The ticket will come out from the other end of the ticket gate. You need to take your ticket with you. When you get off a train, you insert your ticket again to the ticket gate. The ticket will not come out this time, so you can just walk out. In case of an IC card, you touch the card to the card mark on the ticket gate.
If you do not have enough balance left on your IC card, you hear an error beep at the ticket gate or the gate door simply closes. You need to take your IC card to the train station staff at the ticket gate to find out the reason.
Now you are ready to use your Suica card to get around and enjoy sight-seeing in Japan.
If you want to check the train schedule or route, you can use the “Jorudan” on the following link.
