Train Travel in Japan: The Ultimate Guide

Everything you need to know to ride the train in Japan and enjoy it. First time visitors to Japan are often nervous about taking the trains, but once you understand the system, you’ll find the trains in Japan to be an amazing efficient and easy for of transportation. Japanese railways are among the most punctual in the world. The average delay on the Tokaido Shinkansen in fiscal 2018 was 0.7 minutes. When trains are delayed for five minutes, the conductor makes an announcement apologizing for the delay and the railway company may provide a “delay certificate” (遅延証明書), as no one would expect a train to be this late. Japanese passengers rely heavily on rail transit and take it for granted that trains operate on time. When trains are delayed for an hour or more, it may even appear in the newspaper