Why I love the Japanese train systems

It's so simple and it works perfectly: Such a well-organized and easy to figure out train system. The maps show the exact price straightaway. Let me explain!

How often you ended up in a train systems where you had to figure out 'Ok, so how much do I need to pay know?' and saw like the areas were divided into zones, sometimes even in separate charts. 

In Japan I found it very easy, despite there are even completely other characters. The easiest thing is you look for a station and the price in Yen is well-placed within the whole map. And even if you get it wrong and pay not enough: Once you leave the train there are machines where you can fix your ticket with paying the remaining Yen - or just go to the counter on the way out. All you need to know is the station you wanna go to.

You cannot leave unpaid - the system is so simple and so effective working. No need to worried, did I pay enough? Recently I took a longer way from Mishima to Tokyo and then I in Tokyo I went out at the Ryogoku station. I only payed a small amount at the beginning for the train (like 230 Yen) and payed the rest at the final subway station - after changing the train three times during that ride. No issue at all (as it was all JR line).

And since there are often different lines - especially in big cities like Tokyo - there are so many ways to reach the destination you want to, and even in cheaper ways than you initially think.

That's something I noticed this year when I was going from Osaka to Suzuka: According to Google Maps I saw a certain price, but in reality it was around 1000 Yen cheaper - by only using certain trains - with a short stop in Nabari and Ise.

Additionally I should mention that you can use prepaid IC cards which allow you to travel faster and more convenient. You can also use the machine to check how much you paid for what and how much money is left on the card.

For longer routes you should consider getting a Japan Railpass, where you have a flatrate for certain lines around the country.
Does it make financially sense? Depending on the routes and distances you take sense - but don't forget to get the pass in advance.

In general (to sum up) you should go to Japan and experience it yourself!

Overnight hours in Japan: 25:00, 26:00, 27:00 and so on...

Yes, you've read it correctly: In Japan you can actually find times beyond 24 o'clock. So what about it?

First off, their meaning is actually quite easy to figure out: So as seen on the left the picture of a store close to Ebisubashi in Osaka shows for example '28:00'. Basically 24+4 so 4:00 AM. 

Personally I have only seen this in Japan so far, so I got curios about it and wanted to find out what kind of reasons are behind that way of counting.

Interesting reasons

As demonstrated before one reason is that it's an easy way to calculate time frames starting the day before going beyond 24 o'clock. For example a TV show runs from 23:00 until 25:30. Now you can easily calculate that the length of the show was 2 hours 30 minutes.

So the hours beyond 24 are actually applied for things which start before midnight and go until a certain point during the night. This also counts for bars or night clubs.

Another reason is to avoid possible confusion between AM and PM. If a store has opened from 08:00 - 02:00 without using AM/PM there can be actually two meanings.

Also, the closing time of a store going into the next day will also be considered as the business day starting from the day the store opened.

Here it means: From Monday to Thursday opened until 27:00
Friday, Saturday and Sunday opened until 28:00

And there's also a thing about the cultural perception about the hours in darkness which should better fit into the previous day, starting with the day in the morning with the sunset.

I also read that there are other countries using that system in specific situations. Like UK, Hong Kong or China.

On the other hand there are also occasions when Japan uses the 12 hour system.

My opinion

It's surely an interesting approach and definitely easy to get used to, although it can be confusing at the beginning. Especially the reasons make totally sense to me why people are thinking that way.

If there's a connection to the previous day, use hours beyond 24! So surely, why not?

The Ebisu Bridge in Osaka

The Ebisu Bridge is a popular spot in Osaka in the Dotonbori area and during my time in the city it was one of the first places I went to see. Here's what I experienced and why I went there a few times.

Interestingly, I knew about the bridge even before I was actually there, because I already heard about this bridge in the anime Detective Conan (名探偵コナン) in episode 763 and 764. In that story it was mentioned that the Ebisu bridge in Osaka is an infamous spot for people to meet. In that particular case it was about a meeting for a possible drug deal.

So.. on my first 'complete' day in Osaka I went there from the hostel following the Dotonbori River. I came from the western side along the river seeing through the letters on the bridge confirming me that it's the right one: えびす橋 (Ebisubashi).

After eating my first Takoyaki nearby the bridge I went on the bridge and it was easy to notice that it's a special spot. People meet there and take selfies, even TV teams sometimes run around. 

The view is just great: Big screens with commercials on both sites (quite often a never ending One Piece smartphone game one...), a giant wheel in nearby distance, long shopping areas in both directions of the bridge, a boat with people (you can buy a ticket if you like) driving on the Dotonbori River.

Also worth to mention: The big picture of the Guriko (ぐりこ) man! I was told that this character should motivate people to do sports. On the other hand the character is a creation from the Japanese sweets and candy company Glico. So the thought can be: If you increase your weight due to too much sweets, get motivated to do sports by the Guriko man!

Questions and a picture

During my first time there I also had an interesting experience. A few pupil from a school class with (obviously) their teacher came to me and asked me if I would answer them a few questions. I agreed.

They wanted to know my age, my country and my favorite food from Osaka, where I mentioned Takoyaki because I just tried it a few minutes before.

In the following they wanted to take a picture with me in middle of the pupils. First they made a photo with a phone from them and then they asked me for my phone and they also took a picture with my phone. They said goodbye and after checking the photo I found out that something went wrong, because it was black...

In the darkness

I'd also recommend to go there after the sunset which was in my case this September after 6 PM. The screens, the giant wheel and the lights in general seem to give that whole place an even better atmosphere.

Also during the evening time there are way more people around there. It's really filled. During the weekend there was also a girl band singing next the bridge so that people were cheering from the bridge and the other side of the river.

So there's a lot going on! Anyway, if you'll ever make it to Osaka, go to that place!

Hiking to the Nunobiki Falls in Kobe

During my this years stay in Japan I spent one day in Kobe and my main goal was to go up the mountains to have a view at the city and for seeing the waterfalls. And for some reason I made the hiking for getting back with the approaching sunset a bit harder for myself...

But from the start: From my stay in Osaka there was an easy train connection (Hanshin-Line) to get to Kobe, the sixth biggest city of Japan - right before Kyoto.

After leaving the station I needed to figure out in which direction I should go. So I just needed to know: In which direction do I get to the mountains? Luckily in Kobe are lots of maps placed on different positions, so if you get lost you'll find a way.

So my first stop was at the Ikuta Shrine which was on the way getting to the mountains. I also walked to the Kitano-Tenmangu shrine and had a first hill view at the city.

Then I continued walking until a saw a ropeway. Then I thought: 'Ok, you are close.' A nearby map at a really empty looking shopping mall confirmed me that. And more and more signs about Nunobiki Falls helped me running in the right direction - and also the river coming from the mountain of course.

Interestingly, I had to cross something like a bigger bus station, but after that my way up the hill started.

Next stop: Nunobiki Falls

So started hiking up the mountain. I followed the little stream coming from the hill. First, I encountered a few little falls before seeing the biggest waterfalls there: The Odaki Falls.

You're coming from the right of the stream going uphill before you cross a bridge seeing the Falls. There are luckily a few benches to sit and enjoy the view: It's truly a nice waterfall. I enjoyed sitting there for a while, absorbing the atmosphere, made some clips with my GoPro. But I wanted to continue hiking up the mountain.

If you continue walking up the mountain you'll arrive at an artificial lake - but before that you'll have an interesting view seeing the Odaki Falls with the bridge from many meters above.

Once you arrive at the lake you can go around for many more paths around the hills. But as the sunset was approaching I decided to go back to the city. While going back I got the idea of choosing an alternate path instead of following the river on the left side. I saw a bridge crossing the water and going up another hill.

It was a bit risky because you could already see that it was getting darker. I went up some kind of stairs up the hill. Some people were coming back and said that the didn't know how far this way would go and they decided to walk back. I was for some reason convinced that I would end up in the city again.


These stairs felt endless, I don't know how many, but it brought me up another hill coming to another path once the stairs ended. And then I went downhill again, not really sure where I would end up. I was only sure it should be somewhere in Kobe.

And I ended up on an apparently 'inofficial' path near some houses at the beginning of the Nunobiki Falls area where I started a few hours before.

After that I went to a ramen restaurant - regained my energy - before I got back to the train station heading back to my hostel in Osaka. It was my only day in Kobe during my Japan trip in 2016 and it was interesting. 

A special trip at the Tsukiji fish market

During my stay in Tokyo I experienced a special Friday morning at the Tsukiji fish market due to coincidental circumstances...

Me and my travel companion were planning to go to the notorious Tsukiji fish market on Friday morning during our stay in the Japanese capital in September 2014.

We knew that we had to be there early because the tours for visitors are limited every morning. The people arrived first get the chance.

In terms of that it went terrible wrong for us. We woke up at 4 A.M. (which was too late) and got lost again (not as bad as on our arrival but still). We ran through Ginza and arrived after 5 P.M. at the fish market. It seemed that is was too late.

So we went along to see as much as possible. On the outside there were booths were people selling fish. We went there along to check out how far we can get. There were also other people trying to went in, but were sent away. No chance.

Then we went inside the building where you had to register for the tour. All too late. We were too late in the first place. We should have been there around 4 P.M., by the time we woke up. Getting lost on the way to the fish market wasn't also very helpful.

So after we had accepted that there was no chance on this day we decided to get back to the hotel -  it was 5:30 in the morning and the sun was already rising. After walking past a gas station close to the market we saw a man sitting in a Nissan Atlas waving. It took a moment that we realized that a actually meant us. So we went to him.

He asked us with bad English if we want to see the market. We said yes and he gave us a sign to follow him. We weren't sure if that guy was serious, but then he took a little delivery vehicle and said we should stand on the small loading platform.

We did and he started driving through lots of different places of the fish market. At that point we realized that we received a special tour not everyone gets. The guy giving us that tour seemed well-known in that area, because he was greeting around and seemed to have access to drive anywhere.

While driving he asked us about our names and where we are from. Knowing that he gave us information about some places around. I'm not sure about the exact quote, but it was like this one:

There is the Tokyo Tower, over there is Yokohama and somewhere behind that... Germany!

Somewhere in the middle of the place he stopped and asked if he should take a photo of us because he saw my travel companion trying to make some pictures while standing on the loading platform during the drive. We accepted this offer of course. I didn't try to take pictures during the drive because I was worried to drop my phone. It was narrow there and the man made fast steering movements.

Except from a lot of fish, cartons, transport vehicles and other traffic we also drove past the area where the bidding happens and we could also see the group of guests which had the chance to participate on the tour.

We sensed some envious glimpses from then since they saw two non-Asians being guided around on a little transport vehicle. And these people had to wear special clothing - probably to be recognized as part of the tour group.

Anyway. At some point our special little journey through the Tsukiji fish market ended. We thanked the man for giving us an unusual free guide around the market. While walking back to the hotel we wondered if that guy gives these special tours more often from time to time or if we got a unique chance for this experience.

We got back to the hotel after 7. A.M. for having a few-hour nap, because we had other plans for the afternoon: Taking the train to the Mt. Takao to have a view at Tokyo and the well-known Fujiyama. But that's another story.

Getting lost in Tokyo after landing

In September 2014 I made my first trip to Japan and already after the arrival it became difficult and time-consuming to just find the hotel - despite maps!

Coming from Düsseldorf in Germany it took like seven hours to the stopover in Dubai and ten more hours from there to Tokyo. I travelled there with a former working colleague who also had the dream to visit the country of anime, manga and videogames.

After 20 hours since leaving Germany around 11 P.M. on a Friday evening we could finally see the lights of Japans biggest city while flying over the Tokyo Bay before the plane landed at the Tokyo International Airport Haneda.

We got our luggage, went through the customs and got an entry in the passport before we were heading to the train station. First it was a bit stressful, because we knew that around midnight the last train would leave. But we also had to get some Yen, so we were looking for an ATM machine. Of course we weren't the only ones who wanted to withdraw money and unfortunately there was also a machine out of service...

But luckily we could make it and we were heading to the ticket machine. We knew to which station we had to go - at least roughly which means leaving the airport station to the Shinagawa station and from there to Shimbashi which should be close to the hotel. But at first it was all quite confusing.

Fortunately there was staff helping people to get their tickets - which was a big advantage for foreigners like us. So we got the tickets and went to the station to catch the train. While we were checking the plan and tickets to guess which line we should take two Japanese girls came to us asking if we need help - apparently we still looking confused.

So I showed them my ticket and then they checked their mobile phone app to find out at what time the train will arrive and which line it is. They asked for a piece of paper to write down the times.  I gave them a bill from a purchase of the Düsseldorf airport for that. The note looked like this:

Shinagawa
STA 0:11
JR Yamanote Line
STD 0:15

So the obviously final train arrived and we were heading to the Shinagawa and then we switched their to the JR Yamanote Line.

It was shortly after midnight as we arrived at the Shimbashi station. After leaving the metro I got my first real impression of Tokyo: High store buildings, people moving from one side to another and this old impressive loc standing outside of the Shimbashi station. At that point it was clear: You're there. You actually arrived in Japan.

We knew it's only a few hundred meters to reach the hotel to get some sleep - but we didn't know that it would take us around two hours to get there! As I know now we went into the wrong direction from the start. I had a map with me, but in hindsight it might would have been better to check it more properly. Maybe the concentration wasn't that well after this long flights, maybe we were also overwhelmed by being in a city so far away.

So we walked with the luggage along several streets only to find out that we would see less and less people. I asked some individuals which were crossing our path to tell us where we were on the map. At this point my Japanese knowledge was not really usable for proper conversations so I tried with English - but unfortunately we only met people with bad or even no English skills.

Nevertheless they tried to help us as good they could. They were mostly speaking Japanese and tried to gesticulate the direction. Either they pointed us several times in wrong direction or we messed up - I would bet on the last one.

I remember one interesting situation where I asked someone and we were told to follow that person to a little shop where the cashier was questioned about the direction. I can't even surely say anymore if the cashier was male or female, but that person was wearing a mask like many Japanese people. We got a mark on the map and gesticulations where to go.

But it was despairing, me and my travel companion weren't sure of the direction - we sometimes also had different opinions. But at one point I was sure that we should be very close. I saw something which was on the map near the hotel.

And then after walking through a dark alley we finally reached a big building called the Shiodome Media Tower which was at the exact same place where our hotel should be. So we went in and it looked like that nobody was there.

Somehow we found an elevator where we realized that the hotel actually begins at the 25th floor! We haven't had this information before, but we were relieved to finally get there. So we went to the reception, checked in and a women working there moved our luggage on a small wagon to the 'next elevator' and then to our room. 29th floor. Finally. It was already past 2 A.M. on Saturday.

And I also needed something to drink urgently - in all the hurry and desperation while running through the unknown I hadn't bought anything. Usually I don't use the minibar in hotel rooms, but in this exception it was an emergency. The 300 Yen for a bottle of water was worth it.

That's how the 'first day' in Tokyo ended and we got the necessary sleep. That was just the beginning and eight more days to follow - and this wasn't the only time we got lost...