Travel

Tokyo's Yamanote Line (Ikebukuro to Uguisudani)

(Part II) Travel round Tokyo's famous loop line, the Yamanote, which is operated by the East Japan Railway Company. In this second section (Part II) we travel clockwise along the line and stop at: Ikebukuro, Ōtsuka, Sugamo, Komagome, Tabata, Nishi Nippori, Nippori, and Uguisudani. Along the way, you can get a good idea of the individual stations (both on the inside as well as the surrounding area). Each station has it's own unique character and style. We start in the major hub station of Ikebukuro, which is the gateway to the Northern suburbs of Saitama and beyond. More information --------------------------------------------------------------------------------­--------------- The Yamanote is one of Tokyo's busiest and most important lines, connecting most of Tokyo's major stations and urban centres, including the Yūrakuchō/Ginza area, Shibuya, Shinjuku, and Ikebukuro, with all but two of its 29 stations connecting to other railway or underground (subway) lines. Trains run from 04:26 to 01:18 the next day at intervals as short as 2.5 minutes during peak periods and four minutes at other times. A complete loop takes 59 to 65 minutes. All trains stop at each station. Trains which run clockwise are known as sotomawari (外回り) outer circle and those counter-clockwise as uchi-mawari (内回り) inner circle. (Trains travel on the left in Japan, as with road traffic.) An estimated 3.7 million passengers ride every day on Tokyo's Yamanote Line, with its 29 stations. For comparison, the New York City Subway carries 5.08 million passengers per day on 26 lines serving 468 stations, and the London Underground carries 2.7 million passengers per day on 12 lines serving 275 stations Yamanote literally refers to inland, hillier districts or foothills (as distinct from areas close to the sea). In Tokyo Yamanote lies along the western side of the Yamanote Line loop. The word consists of the Japanese morphemes yama 'mountain', no genitive suffix, and te 'hand', thus mountain's hand (means Hillside). (from Wikipedia)