Trains are the most common form of travel in Tokyo bar none. While it can be overwhelming, it is actually easy to get around once you know what you are doing. To be fair, I’m from the Philly area (like half of Penn State) and I’m very much familiar with the trains and subway because of an internship I had in the city. My friends from other cities in the US without public transportation did find it a bit difficult, but they quickly adjusted after a few weeks! Personally, I find the Japanese train system much more advanced ours at home. Each line is color coded so it is easy to verify which train is going where. All trains have digital name plates first stating the location in kanji (chinese characters), katakana (Japanese writing), hiragana (another form of Japanese writing) and English. So no worries if you don’t read Japanese very well because the Tokyo transportation system is very tourist friendly.
When traveling in Tokyo, it is best to avoid rush hour(s), which in Tokyo is 7am to 9am and 5pm to 7pm. Otherwise you will find yourself getting extremely close to those around you and not in the way you intended when traveling to Japan.
A lot of salary men getting off a rush hour train – beware they can get aggressive. So move quickly!
The average Tokyo train (during off hours).
A view from the window of a Tokyo train. One stop (Minami Funabashi to Shin Narashino) one my daily 45 minute commute to school.
It’s amazing how tourist friendly Tokyo seems. That’s a great idea for a lot of metropolitan areas because I know I’ve got lost on the tube already and I can’t imagine what it would be like if I didn’t even speak English, or in your case Japanese.