Japanese Subway: How to Read Lines, Station Numbers and Exits

Two Subway Networks Under One City: Tokyo Metro and Toei

The Tokyo subway is not one company but two. Tokyo Metro (東京メトロ) is a stock company with major shares held by the national government and the city; it operates nine lines, the most recent of which, Fukutoshin, opened in 2008. Toei (都営地下鉄) is owned directly by the Tokyo metropolitan government and holds four lines — Asakusa, Mita, Shinjuku, and Oedo. Each network has its own fare: the cost of travel is calculated separately, and if a route passes over lines of both companies, the fare is made up of two parts. In Osaka, the subway is simpler: since 2018, all lines belong to a single company, Osaka Metro, which before that was a municipal transportation bureau.

Why transferring between Tokyo Metro and Toei costs more

• A ticket bought for a Tokyo Metro line is not valid on Toei trains, and vice versa. Each network's fare is calculated on its own grid, so a through journey across two networks costs more than a trip of the same length within one company.
• There is a discount for such a transfer: it reduces the combined fare by a few tens of yen and is applied automatically when paying with an IC card if you exit and re-enter through the ticket gate within an hour. It softens the difference between the networks but doesn't eliminate it entirely.
• In Osaka there is no such problem at all: since 2018, the eight subway lines belong to one company, and the fare is calculated on a single grid regardless of how many times the route switches from line to line.

Letter, Color and Number: How to Read a Station Code

Each subway line has a letter and its own color, and each station on the line has a sequential number: for example, G-09 means the ninth station on the Ginza Line. The system was introduced in 2004 simultaneously on Tokyo Metro and Toei, and it was designed for foreign passengers: a station name in Japanese cannot be read without knowledge of the language, but an alphanumeric code can. The code is printed on signs, on maps, and on the trains themselves, next to the usual name in kanji and Latin script.

How the station code sounds out loud and what is written on the sign

Dozens of Exits and a Train That Leaves from Underground

A large subway station can have several dozen exits, and each has its own letter and number: A1, A2, B3, and so on. This fragmentation arises because the exits lead to different buildings and different sides of wide intersections, and moving between them inside the paid area of the station is almost always faster than going up to the street and walking around the block. The exit number is indicated on signs with the name of the place closest to it — an office, museum, or shopping center — so it's convenient to name it in advance rather than search on the spot.

What through service is and how a subway train leaves the city

• Through service (相互直通運転) is when a subway train continues without a transfer onto another company's line. It reaches the terminal station of the subway and continues on suburban tracks, while a suburban train similarly enters underground.
• The Asakusa Line, owned by Toei, is connected by through service to the private Keikyu and Keisei railways — so the subway directly reaches Haneda and Narita airports without a single transfer, although formally these are three different operators.
• The Mita Line is connected by through service to the Meguro Line of the Tokyu company, and since 2023 trains run even further through it — to the lines of the Sagami Railway company.

地下鉄 and the Character 駅: How to Say "Subway" in Japanese

駅 — значение: station, train station — онъёми: エキ — 14 штрих(ов). 駅 — "station": it rarely appears on its own, but almost always ends the name of a specific station — Shinjuku-eki, Shibuya-eki — and appears in words about station operations.

Why the word "subway" hides a railway

地下鉄 is read chikatetsu and is made up of three characters: 地下 means "underground" (地 "earth" and 下 "below"), and 鉄 in this word is an abbreviation of 鉄道, "railway," not the standalone meaning "iron." Literally it comes out as "underground railway." The character 駅 does not participate in this word: it appears separately, in the name of each specific station, as well as in words like 駅員 (ekiin) — "station employee" — and 駅前 (ekimae) — "the area in front of the station."

Write 駅 along the guides — the character for "station," which appears at the end of the name of almost every subway stop.

FAQ

How is the Japanese subway organized?

In Tokyo, the subway is owned by two companies at once — the stock company Tokyo Metro (nine lines) and the municipal Toei (four lines), each with its own fare. The station code helps you read the system: a line letter, color, and number, for example G-09 on the Ginza Line. In Osaka, by comparison, since 2018 all subway lines belong to a single company, Osaka Metro.

Why are there two subway systems in Tokyo?

Tokyo Metro grew out of the prewar and postwar subway, which was managed in turn by private and state entities, and in 2004 it became a stock company. Toei was built by the Tokyo city administration as a separate network to extend the subway where Tokyo Metro did not reach. Historically different owners remained different companies with separate fares, although transferring between them gives a small discount.

What do the letters and numbers on Japanese subway stations mean?

The letter denotes the line, and the number following it is the station's sequential position on that line: G-09 means the ninth station on the Ginza Line. The system was introduced in 2004 simultaneously on Tokyo Metro and Toei so that a station could be found without reading Japanese characters. Each line also has its own color — the line is colored with it on maps and on the trains.

How do you say "subway" in Japanese?

The usual word is 地下鉄 (chikatetsu), literally "underground railway": 地下 means "underground," and 鉄 here is an abbreviation of 鉄道, "railway." The name of a specific network is written separately: 東京メトロ — Tokyo Metro, 都営地下鉄 — Toei. The character 駅 (eki), "station," does not participate in the word "subway" itself, but it ends the name of every stop.

Why are there almost no trash cans in the Japanese subway?

After the terrorist attack in the Tokyo subway on March 20, 1995, trash cans were removed from the stations of the subway operator at that time. This measure is usually associated with that incident, although the operators themselves over time began to explain the absence of trash cans with practical reasons as well: people throw household garbage in them, and cleaning takes staff time. In any case, today there are indeed almost no trash cans on the platforms, and passengers usually take their garbage with them.

Can you pay with one card on all lines in the Japanese subway?

Yes. Rechargeable IC cards Suica (issued since 2001 by JR East) and Pasmo (since 2007, issued by a separate company uniting private railways and buses) are accepted by Tokyo Metro, Toei, and the Osaka subway. You just need to tap the card on the ticket gate when entering and exiting — the fare is deducted automatically, without buying a separate ticket for each company.

Sources

• Kotobank: dictionary entry 地下鉄
• Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism: urban railway development
• ja.wikipedia.org: article "Toei chikatetsu"