The Tokyo subway map that will break your brain
Travel newsletter: 13 January 2023. Travel reads: My life in budget holidays, the house in two countries, Canada's 1,300km Atlantic rail route
Hello from Ho Chi Minh City! This week I did a visa run to Phnom Penh, which I timed to meet my sister who was travelling in Cambodia. I would normally turn a visa run into a proper trip somewhere else for a month, but I have things to do in Vietnam in January.
Latest posts at Nomadic Notes
Tokyo subway maps – A guide to finding high-resolution maps of every railway in Tokyo
This week I continue to catalogue subway maps of the world. The Tokyo subway system is a mix of metro and heavy rail operated by several companies. As such, there is no unified website or official map.
Most of the maps only highlight the lines of the operators, which doesn’t give a full picture of how big the rail system is. Tokyo is an absolute unit of a metro system, so I can hardly blame them for not wanting to put every line on the map.
I dug around looking for the most official map that shows every line, and I found this beast of a map. Click out to view the full-size map here.
Travel reads
• My life in budget holidays has been a priceless experience
“From chance encounters to thrilling train rides, holidays on a shoestring have been some of my best.”
• Biking across the US on a tandem bike: Hong Kong couple’s 6,000km trip of a lifetime
A blog about walking around the coast of mainland Britain.
• Can a neighborhood be Instagrammed to death?
• Meet Nagaland’s Longwa chief who governs villages both in India and Myanmar
“Angh's house is the one where the bedroom is in India and the living room is in Myanmar. Here's the story of a village that lies both in India and Myanmar.”
• How this ‘most dangerous’ African tribe cleverly fools tourists
• We sold everything to travel the U.S. in an RV. There's one thing we never expected.
• Helsinki light festival features burnt cars from Ukraine
Work and travel
• Want a free lift pass? Japan’s ski mecca Niseko is desperate for workers
• One secret to cheap travel? Pet sitting.
🚆Train travel
• Canada's 1,300km Atlantic rail route
• Riding the rails in Southeast Asia
“Travel Writer Matthew Woodward takes the train in Vietnam & Thailand.”
• Night trains Vienna-Italy every day announced for summer 2023
✈️ Air travel
• Most on-time airlines and airports of 2022 unveiled by Cirium
• American Airlines furious Southwest has supplanted them as worst airline [satire]
• Passengers stuck on runway as their flight takes off without them [not satire]
The Nomadic Notes Travel Newsletter is a weekly newsletter of the best travel reads and interesting travel news from around the web, and random ramblings by the editor.
- James Clark
I totally agree with you that there is no sufficient metro map in Tokyo. I always advise visitors to check the destination before getting on the train, otherwise they may end up with passing their destinations due to multiple lines served.