Linus Lam's Coverage of Japan Comic Market 60

Enter Japan, the world of extreme efficiency, if you know how to get around. Absolute number one rule when visiting any country different from your own: learn the language. Number two: understand the country's government. Number three: understand the travel system. Simple, huh?

Japan Comic Market 60
Traveling in Japan Lesson 2


Just like buying train tickets in the USA, everyone purchases tickets at the station for a price equal to however much you want to travel. You have an itinerary in mind, you look at the map of station stops, do simple math to figure out how much it costs to go from here to there and back, and buy the ticket. Handy buttons on the automated purchasing stations show the most-used denominations. From here on out, the JR Rails and other lines are pretty cheap to use, typically 150 yen = $1.25 in between most cities. It's always good to buy a 3000 yen ticket which is what we did to ensure passage through all the tours.	Almost every station has a Metro stand where you can pick up the daily newspaper, magazines, mangas, updated train maps, and much more. This is always an essential place to pick up anything you might need if you still need to keep in touch with the working world of business and politics and whatever else that keeps you away from vacation. Not much different from the normal newstands you see in New York subways or San Francisco Bay Area BART stations.

Juice bars are also available at normal working hours, with a fresh offering of typical fruit flavors. An absolute must for the weary traveler through all the trains! For a mere 200-350 yen = $1.75-$3.00, you can buy a cool fruit smoothie to quench that thirst.	The trains are impeccably on time, every time. And they even stop at the exact point of door arrival and departure, which is why you'll often see lines form even before the train arrives at heavy traffic stations. This will be a common sight and you'll get used to it really fast.

Depending on what train you'll be using and where you'll be going, the cars are either light and airy...	... or heavily LOADED like in this scene during normal commuter rush hour. Again, this is common, and you'll get used to it.