【Jonathan's ネイティブ英ブログ】初来日の外国人旅行者にはわかりにくい東京のJR＆私鉄＆地下鉄を英語でご案内♪ How to take a train and subway in Tokyo!?

日本人でもわかりにくい東京の電車＆地下鉄。海外の人はもっと混乱しますよね(@_@;)

海外からお友達が来たら、Jonathanのネイティブ英語による案内を参考にしてみよう♪

Posted by: Jonathan

Greetings from the depths of the Tokyo summer, which landed like a ton of bricks on everyone this morning.
This is Jonathan, of the Order of Bilingual Hotel Worker Dudes.

In today's blog, we're going to go into a deeper discussion of the intracacies of Ikebukuro Station.
If you didn't just faint from excitement, let me up the ante a little.
WE ARE GOING TO BE DISCUSSING THE VARIOUS TRAIN LINES YOU CAN RIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Honestly, this is kind of important if you're coming to Ikebukuro and Tokyo for the first time.
When I came to Tokyo for the first time, I was too baffled to really enjoy myself.)

To start, as I've mentioned before, Japan Rail has several lines that run through Ikebukuro.?
Here is a picture of the ticket office that you might never go in.

You might want to ask, "Isn't a ticket office extremely important for the purposes of riding a train?"
Well, yes, if you're going to the airport, or somewhere outside of the Tokyo area, this is the place to go to buy a ticket.
If on the other hand, you are going to someplace like let's say Akihabara, then the ticket office is NOT the place to go,
unless you want to enjoy waiting in line.
For local trains, you only need use the handy ticket machines scattered about near the gates.

Now we move on to the friendly neighborhood subway.

These are three of the subway lines (Marunouchi Line, Fukutoshin Line, Yurakucho Line) that run through Ikebukuro.
To ride them you buy a ticket at a DIFFERENT machine than the JR Lines.

Those are the two train lines that you will probably find the most useful.
Here are some others that are more for going north of Tokyo (Saitama Prefecture).
I include these mostly so that you will know not to ride them, since in some cases,
the ticket machines and gates are close to (in some cases, directly next to) those for JR.
Not only will knowing them possibly prevent mild inconvenience, but as they are all run by department stores,
so they serve as useful landmarks if you are looking to shop at one (Japanese department stores are a worthwhile experience by the way).

The Tojo Line!

The Seibu Line!

So there's just one more little nugget of information about Ikebukuro Station that I hope you will find useful.
As our hotel is a mere 5 minute walk from the station, if you do stay with us,
knowing this might help make your vacation a little more convenient, and enjoyable.

Thank you for reading!

大人気　パーティープラン！ビール好きにお勧め☆