What You Need to Know As Traveler How to Ride Subway in Tokyo

All the blogs about how to ride subway in Tokyo is so complicated and useless, cause when I went the first time I still struggled. All the bloggers gave information like we were going to live there and not just visiting for a week or so.

So today, I want to give all the information in a practical way as a traveler.

First, the difference with other country’s subway is :

The fare is calculated with distance
The Tokyo subways are managed by private companies, so you will need different tickets for different subway companies. SO, when you transfer, you will need to be careful (I will explain more about it later)
It will make your life easier to have Tokyo Metro pass or Suica or Pasmo

Table of Contents

Types of Tokyo Subway

The thing that makes Tokyo subway so complicated is that there are several Subway companies.

Big picture. There are 3 companies you need to know.

The first two is Tokyo Subways – Tokyo Metro Line and Toei Transportation
The Second is JR East Railway Company

JR East is not a subway, but normally it is included in the Tokyo public transportation map. More onto it later.

Types of Tokyo Subway Ticket

There are three types of Tokyo subway tickets

Single Ticket. : If you are only using the subway just few times, single tickets are useful
Suica / Pasmo Pass : This is like a metro card in NY. You charge the card and use it. You can use it on any Tokyo subway companies AND JR East trains
Tokyo Metro Card : This is an unlimted Tokyo metro card (You cannot use it on JR East trains). If you are taking subways more than 3 times, this is the best option

You can use it in terms of your travel style. More information later.

How to Ride Subway in Tokyo

Find a logo that looks like a butterfly. Those are subway stations.

How to Read the Subway Lines

It is pretty straight forward. There is English so you will be fine.

Each subway station has this symbol below.

The letter means the subway line (Ginza line), and the number is the subway station number of that subway line. for example, this is Ginza line and the 16th stop from the start.

Checking the Fare

Where to Buy the Ticket

You can skip all the checking part if you are going to use Tokyo Metro pass of Suica / Pasmo pass.

You can either buy it with the station attendant or at the machine.

How to Check the Fare

On every subway ticket machine, you will see a map of Tokyo subway station. You can see the price on each station.

There are some maps with just one subway line. This means that if you transfer to another subway, you will have to buy another ticket.

The old machines will have buttons where you pick how many adults and kids.

The numbers you see below is the subway ticket fare. You can check where you are going and choose the number.

The newer machine looks like this and there is no button.

How to Transfer

Let’s say you are transferring from Tokyo metro to JR line, you will have to buy another ticket for JR line. Some tip :

Tokyo metro pass cannot be used with JR East trains. You will have to buy another ticket
If you buy Suica / Pasmo Pass, you don’t need to buy another ticket

so how to we buy Suica / Pasmo Card?

Buying Suica / Pasmo Card

Before we start, if you want to see what the difference is check my related post.

Difference Between Suica vs. Pasmo

Suica and Pasmo cards are a pass you can use on any metro including JR East trains + Tokyo Metro + Toei Transportation. But the difference is :

You can buy Suica cards from JR Line counters, and Pasmo can be bought at any Tokyo metro stations.
Suica and Pasmo both have 500 yen deposit. But Pasmo will give you back full 500 yen, Suica will only give back 250 yen after returning the card
Suica can be registered on Apple Pay
Both cards can be used on Osaka & Fukuoka
Eventhough you bought it at different companies, you can still charge on any machine

How to Buy Suica or Pasmo Cards

If you are getting Pasmo / Suica card, you can just go to any machine. I took pictures of all the different machines and how it looks like.

Buying Tokyo Metro Pass

If you are going to use metro more than 3 times a day, I highly recommend Tokyo metro pass.

Eventhough it doesn’t include JR East trains, it doesn’t really matter cause all the stations in Tokyo subways overlap.

You can easily get it at Narita airport / Haneda airport, or BIC Camera (You will need passport).

If you bought it before arriving in Tokyo like me, all you need to do is to go to a Tokyo metro machine and pick it up.

First, click on the QR code on the right corner.

Scan it and then you will get your card.

I got the 48 hour ticket, and it looks like this.

If you have a metro card / Suica / Pasmo card, how to ride subway in Tokyo will be super easy.

Some of the questions I got from my readers.

Does Pasmo or Suica work on JR lines : Yes, it does
Are pasmo and suica the same : You can just think it as same
How much does it cost to ride the tokyo metro : It depends on distance, but it is cheap
Does japan rail pass work on tokyo subway : No