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Rush hour in Tokyo

hiverloon

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23 Aug 2015
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I will be living in Tokyo for at least 6 months on the ground of my study. During the working days I will most likely commute between Shirokanedai and Todai-mae stations using Nanboku line. I am concerned about the rush hours and the most affected lines as I want to avoid this as much as possible. According to this link The most crowded train lines during rush hour in Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya are… | RocketNews24 the line I will be using does not belong to 10 most crowded lines in Tokyo. I would like to hear your experience when commuting with Nanboku line especially between those two stations during the rush hours, e.g. how crowded is it?
 
I will be living in Tokyo for at least 6 months on the ground of my study. During the working days I will most likely commute between Shirokanedai and Todai-mae stations using Nanboku line. I am concerned about the rush hours and the most affected lines as I want to avoid this as much as possible. According to this link The most crowded train lines during rush hour in Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya are… | RocketNews24 the line I will be using does not belong to 10 most crowded lines in Tokyo. I would like to hear your experience when commuting with Nanboku line especially between those two stations during the rush hours, e.g. how crowded is it?
Three days per week I take the train from Shirokanedai at the end of day rush hour time. It's not super crowded IIRC. Honestly, I hardly notice the crowds anymore unless some jerk who can't be bothered to launder his shirts has his armpit in my face. It's just a train ride, I take out a book or my phone and putz around until it's over, pretty much ignoring people.
 
Thanks! I guess I am saved from being human sardine.

That remains to be seen and will depend on your personal standards of comfort. Fortunately, it is only about a 23 minute ride. The road distance is only 11 kilometers. Maybe you could bicycle or go by scooter.
 
Within the 1st week of September. I don't really want a scooter while I am still a student, bycicle is enough for me.

You can find brand new bicycles for around ten thousand yen. If you buy a used one from anyone, make sure to get some sort of written bill of sale so you can transfer the registration and avoid trouble with the police.
 
You can find brand new bicycles for around ten thousand yen.
That cheap?! I remember I once went through several Tokyo-based, online bicycle shops to see the common prices. I don't exactly remember the numbers but as I can remember the prices are in the range which made me frown. If normal bike price can be that low, do you happen to know the price for typical electric bike? I prefer to get get this one if it's affordable.
If you buy a used one from anyone, make sure to get some sort of written bill of sale so you can transfer the registration and avoid trouble with the police.
Yeah I remember reading articles where I found that the cycling rule is rather strict in Japan compared to most countries. You need to have some kind of certificate of ownership if you don't want the police mistake your bike as a stolen goods. So, if one were to borrow someone else's bike, he/she has to take that certificate along. But I think it's better to make a separate thread about this when I am finally about to get a bike.
 
I paid about 15000 jpy for a refurbished 18 speed mountain type bike from an old guy who has a little bike repair shop. Great bike so far. It's my grocery getter and general exploring machine.
 
Just checked out the Nanboku line. Yes it will probably be crowded in the morning but not horribly so. The line also passes through a few major junctions, Tameike Sanno, Iidabashi etc, at which a lot of people will be getting off, which allows you to move inside the carriage and avoid the most crowded areas near the door. You may even get a seat sometimes! The worst lines in Tokyo in the mornings are the ones going from the suburbs (outside the Yamanote line) to the centre, where everyone is staying on the train until the terminal station. You are already inside the Yamanote line.

As Mike said, basic bikes are cheap. The two times I've bought bikes from bike shops, they have done the paperwork with registering the bike with the police for a modest fee of 500 yen. I do a lot of cycling and have only been stopped by the police three times in 13 years. Each time they have been extremely polite, I've given my name, they typed the bike number into their machine, matched it with my name and apologised for having stopped me. Took about 3 miins each time.

Electric bikes are about 100000 yen.
 
Quick note: I'm in the namboku line as we speak headed from Shirokanedai in the direction you plan to go. Tons of available seats.

Edit: It's rush hour.

Second edit: It filled up a bit at roppongiitchome
 
As a tourist in Tokyo for roughly a week, is there any special times when I should avoid using the metro? Is it crazy if I'm just planning to almost walk everywhere around Tokyo (I'll be staying @ Akhibara)?

It is my first time in Tokyo & I'm really excited :)
 
Tokyo is a massive city. There are very few interesting places within walking distance of Akihabara. It would take you half a day to walk from Akihabara to Shibuya. Even walking from Akihabara to Tokyo would take an hour, I reckon. The subway and train systems are excellent, convenient, reasonably cheap, clean, etc... so there is no reason to avoid them. Each train line gets crowded at different times - but if you are really claustrophobic and want to avoid the crowds, you can plan your travels away from the peak hours (generally from 8:30 or so until 9:30, but again this varies slightly by line).
Hope you have a good time here. I'm sure you will like it.
 
If you're only going to be here one week and you want to actually move around and see some things, then you really don't have the luxury of selecting your travel times based on how crowded the trains may or may not be.
 
Tokyo is a massive city. There are very few interesting places within walking distance of Akihabara. It would take you half a day to walk from Akihabara to Shibuya. Even walking from Akihabara to Tokyo would take an hour, I reckon. The subway and train systems are excellent, convenient, reasonably cheap, clean, etc... so there is no reason to avoid them. Each train line gets crowded at different times - but if you are really claustrophobic and want to avoid the crowds, you can plan your travels away from the peak hours (generally from 8:30 or so until 9:30, but again this varies slightly by line).
Hope you have a good time here. I'm sure you will like it.

Thanks a lot for the info. I'm sure I'll catch public transport some times, but will also enjoy walking up on the city. I'm planning to visit some places but everything else stays open, if there any suggestions they'd be welcome :)

If you're only going to be here one week and you want to actually move around and see some things, then you really don't have the luxury of selecting your travel times based on how crowded the trains may or may not be.

I agree :) But I'd be good to know certain times, in case I can avoid them :) Thanks for the reply!
 
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