Revisiting a trip to Tokyo

I thought it would be fun to revisit my summer 2017 Japan trip and bring in some stats I found from various sources. I wanted to give my perspective as a visitor, pedestrian experiencing the city, and as a someone who has learned more about transportation since the trip. This post will mostly focus on Tokyo as that's where I spent the most time during the trip, but you'll see pictures from other cities as well. The post is organized into some of the themes of the city reports assignment. The picture at the top of the post is one I took of the bullet train in Aomori. Apologies ahead of time for the bad image/text formatting!

Congestion & Safety

In 2019, Tokyo was ranked 32nd in the world for congestion. Congestion level was estimated to be 42%. The worst time to travel by car is 5:00-6:00pm when there are low average speeds on streets due to congestion. (TomTom)

There's a different local context to the congestion in Tokyo. Many residents own and drive a car, but there is a much larger barrier to entry for car ownership. Land is expensive in central Tokyo with limited parking available. It’s also a lot harder to pass the Japanese driving test to obtain a license. Many adults go through a driving school which will exempt them from the practical exam although they’ll still need to take a written exam. Driving schools are expensive and can cost $3000-4000. The written exam is long with 100 questions all in Japanese. (Jalopnik)

The graphics below are from Deloitte Insights and show some quick mobility stats and modal split.

I got to experience walking and taking transit at most hours in a day. The street themselves felt clean and safe. We had a conversation in class yesterday around safety of children. During the day, it's common to see young schoolchildren walk themselves to school (sometimes with a chaperone) and to see older kids walk or bike to schools. I felt safe on public transit is relatively safe although Tokyo trains have unfortunately been called out on public media for the prevalence of sexual harassment aimed at women during peak hours and at night. 

Shibuya Crossing at night. Streets can be filled with people during the day and at night. Things start to slow down after 10-11pm with last call for trains around 1am. Image source: Me

Shibuya (not 100% sure) koban. Image source: Me

 

 

 

Compact police stations or koban (like the one pictured on the left) can be found scattered throughout the city. They served as places where community members could get assistance or directions. As a tourist, I thought some of the uniquely shaped ones made for good places to meet with friend.

 

 

 

 

 

I had difficulty finding safety stats for just Tokyo, but overall, the rate of both automobile accidents and traffic fatalities have been dropping over the years. Japan stats (whole country) on the left.
Somewhat confusing chart of railway accident numbers from Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism on the right.

Source: Nippon.org

 

 

Source: MLIT website

 

 

 

 

 

Equity

This requires more investigation on my part, but there didn't seem to be a big digital divide. Most Japanese residents from children to older adults have access to a smartphone. You can pay for transit with your smartphone or with a reloadable card by tapping your NFC enabled phone or card to a checkpoint. There are machines at stations for people to reload money onto the cards. The cards are also incredibly convenient as most vending machines will take at least one of the two most widely used cards (Pasmo and Suica). I liked using the cards a lot, especially because there are minor discounts and tourist perks built into the system.

Pasmo and Suica reloadable cards. Image source: https://tokyocheapo.com/travel/pasmo-suica-cards-tokyo-travel/

This is one of the stations I went through. The green things are checkpoints where you use your phone or reloadable card as your transit pass. Image source: Me

 

Many vending machines will take Pasmo and Suica cards which is convenient when it's late, and you're too lazy to find a convenience store. Image source: Me

Image source: Me

 

The all ages & abilities part is where things are a lot murkier. In the US, ADA laws are powerful and advocates can use those laws to force businesses and property owners to make accessibility improvements. Despite being very modern for a lot of things, Japan is not quite there in terms of prioritizing people of different physical ability in the infrastructure design. A lot of Japan’s physical infrastructure is old and lacks some of the ADA accommodations common in the US. Some stores have very narrow aisles and no elevators.

Many of the popular places in Tokyo are old temples and parks with poor accommodations for people that use wheelchairs. There are a lot of stairs everywhere, and if there's an elevator, it's likely to be out of the way.  You run into accessibility issues at stations too. The bigger stations tend to be newer or recently renovated. The older stations lack easily accessible ramps and elevators. Signage is also not always as clear as in the image below.

Maybe Ueno Park? Image source: Me

Image source: Me

Something that’s different to many US cities is the sheer amount of tourists staying in and traveling through Tokyo at any time. While there’s been a lot of effort put into making signage and things more tourist friendly, navigating the public transportation process can get confusing. Announcements made on trains are only in Japanese which can be a problem for both tourists and non-Japanese permanent residents.

Transit / TOD / Land Use

I remember being so impressed with how compact neighborhoods felt. Tokyo's TOD is fantastic. Because of the public-private partnership between property owners (that own land and railways) and local Tokyo government, TOD is very successful. Large stations create and support mini super dense, walkable, bikeable, convenient neighborhoods. Stations themselves can sometimes feel like a big mall with upper and lower floors. There's a wide variety of businesses and services available at stations.

 

 

 

 

Between denser areas directly surrounding big stations, you can find smaller streets like this that commonly have storefronts, vendor stalls, and people walking, biking, and shopping. 

 

 

Streets can get pretty small and narrow in Tokyo (like in the previous picture), making car ownership hard if you don’t own property with space to park your car. Cars are also a lot smaller. Rail stations have limited parking but offer plenty of bike parking and lockers to support commuters that walk and bike.  

The picture to the right was taken in Kumamoto. You can see the the popular smaller sized cars waiting at a stoplight. 

 

 

 

 

The city has a very extensive and well-maintained rail system. In Tokyo proper, you’re likely never more than 10 minutes away from a rail stop. Buses do an excellent job at feeding into rail.  

Map of rail network within Tokyo. This includes Tokyo Metro (city rail network, JR lines, and monorail lines). Source: urbanrail.net

Some final thoughts:

There's a lot to be learned about how transportation works in Tokyo and how some of the success can be brought over to the US. One of the biggest things is the public-private partnerships for transit that have created successful transit-oriented development. There are neighborhoods built around stations that are walkable, bikeabile, and most amenities are within a 10 minute's walk. Many stations in Tokyo are not just stops but final stop destinations people want to go to. 

There's also something to be said about the low traffic accident and traffic fatality rates compared to major cities in the US. The combination of high barrier to car ownership, smaller cars, and journey modal split points at different priorities in street design. Streets are safer, and people have choices in how they want to get to places.

Sources:

https://www.tomtom.com/en_gb/traffic-index/tokyo-traffic/

https://jalopnik.com/you-will-definitely-fail-your-japanese-driving-test-1707574079

https://www.gotokyo.org/en/plan/getting-around/index.html

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0386111215000199#t0005

https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/insights/us/articles/4331_Deloitte-City-Mobility-Index/Tokyo_GlobalCityMobility_WEB.pdf 

https://www.nippon.com/en/japan-data/h00368/annual-traffic-fatalities-in-japan-reach-record-low.html

https://tokyocheapo.com/travel/pasmo-suica-cards-tokyo-travel/

https://www.mlit.go.jp/jtsb/statistics_rail.html 

https://safecities.economist.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/NEC_Safer_Cities_whitepaper_ENG.pdf