NAVIGATING TOKYO

It's been some time since I posted more on my late-March Tokyo trip and I still have lots of photos to process! Guidebooks? Check. City map? Check? Submay and train maps? Check. GPS receiver check? I found that a combination of all works best to get around the huge city with a dense network of road and rail and buildings back-to-back. Forget trying to find your way around with only an address in hand. Buildings are not numbered in an orderly manner along a street. So get directions from the hotel concierge, tourist offices, little police kiosks or the locals (if you can understand them). Get them to mark down the exact location on your map.


Don't mistake this combo ticket for the Metro one-day pass. That restricts you to travel on Metro lines only. This ticket, called the Tokyo Round Tour Ticket, allows you to hop on and off JR East trains, Metro trains, trams and buses. It only excludes privately-run lines.

But even with this ticket, it doesn't get you easily from Point A to Point B despite the extensive criss-crossing networks of public transport. The way the subway stations are designed, you'd have to walk hundreds of metres to get to a particular exit or platform. Several stations had barriers to stop people from falling, intentionally or otherwise, onto the tracks!

I had a hell of a time looking for access the private Yurikamome line after getting of a Metro subway. There were markings on the floor directing you to the line, but only in Japanese. I had to match character on brochure to character on the floor sign to identify the line. Even then, I went circled the same shops at the Metro station hunting for the access. Asking the shop owners didn't help - no speaka Engris and pointing about just got me around the corner,

I gave up and surfaced from the station.... and there was the line - above ground! Why was I looking for this particular train? It's the one that goes to Odaiba, a futuristic man-made island with the landmark Fuji TV building... and a cache.