Job Discussion Forums

emypie · Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2006 8:38 pm Post subject: Tokyo suburbs

Hey folks, I'll be moving into west Tokyo soon (sorta in the suburbs, about 30 mins from Shinjuku station) and haven't been able to find too much information about train times. From what I've read, if you miss the train at midnight (or is it 1 am?) you'll be out all night until the subway opens again at 5 am. I'll be living on a stop on the JR Chuo line... anyone know what time the stops in the suburbs stop running at night?

Apsara · Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 2142 Location: Tokyo, Japan

Trains all over Japan stop running from around midnight until around 5 in the morning. The Chuo line is one of Tokyo's busiest so runs later than most, until around 1am, starting again a bit before 5.

That's not the subway by the way, the Chuo line runs above ground. Subway lines have around the same operating times and generally don't go as far out into the suburbs as you will be.

emypie · Posted: Mon Aug 07, 2006 12:20 am Post subject:

Now I've never been to Tokyo before, so maybe I am underestimating the size of the city... is 30 minutes away from Shinjuku really considered that far away from the downtown area?

Apsara · Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 2142 Location: Tokyo, Japan

I suppose that depends on the person! I live 10 mins from Shinjuku, so to me 30 mins is quite a way out- on the Chuo line that puts you somewhere between Tachikawa and Hachioji I would think, depending on which train- rapid, express, local etc. Plenty of people commute an hour or more from Kanagawa and Chiba to central Tokyo though.

If you have to take the Chuo line at rush hour, 30 mins is quite a long time to be standing on a packed train- one of the reasons I live closer in.

That area however is a bit greener and more hilly than the inner suburbs, it's totally flat where I live. Tachikawa and Hachioji are also fairly large cities in their own right, with big department stores etc. Some people live and work out there and almost never go in to central Tokyo.

Apsara · Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 2142 Location: Tokyo, Japan

Oh, Tokyo is HUGE, by the way, especially if you include parts of Saitama, Kanagawa and Chiba in greater Tokyo, which brings the population to 20 million. The sprawl just goes on forever.

Last year I saw an exhibition where they had shrunk down various world cities into a few square metres, complete with thousands of tiny little buildings, train lines etc.

They didn't even include the whole of Metropolitan Tokyo (the centre and inner suburbs, population 12 million) and it was much bigger than the others, which included Shanghai and London I believe.

emypie · Posted: Mon Aug 07, 2006 12:43 am Post subject:

Well I won't be commuting to work every day -- I've opted to live in an apartment 15 minutes away by foot. I think I'd rather live close to my work place and commute downtown to go hang out or sightsee, than commute for an hour to get to work!

Yeah, everyone keeps telling me how massively massive Tokyo really is. The biggest cities I've ever been in are New York (18 million) and Istanbul (10 million). I've heard Tokyo puts them all to shame.

king kakipi · Joined: 16 Feb 2004 Posts: 353 Location: Australia

I hope that if you are living west of Shinjuku, and west of Tachikawa, you don't have the misfortune of using the Musashi-itsukaichi sen; the daytime trains run 2 or 3 to the hour and the trains are frequented by an odd mix of computer company workers and chimpera......