Ueno to Shibuya

[King of Tokyo]

Hey, I am planning on going to Tokyo in about 2 years (need that time to save money lol) And I already have found a cheap hotel.. it is near Ueno.. I have a fascination with Shibuya (If you didn't know that is Shibuya in my avatar ;) lol) .. So I'll definitely be going there alot.. So I was wondering approximately how long it would take to get from Ueno to Shibuya by Train, Shinkansen, Subway or Car.. If anyone knows how long it takes by any of the means above please let me know :bow:

[PopCulturePooka]

Ueno to Shibuya - Yamanote line. 190 yen. Time = 30 minutes.

Buses would take forever, cars, dont bother. Shinkansen to travel across town? No.

[King of Tokyo]

Heh I was just saying that if anyone knew any way I'd be happy.. the shinkansen is a little to expensive for my taste anyway lol.. but anyway thanks very much for the info :bow: and is it really only 190 Yen ? Sounds good to me.. Thanks Again :v:

[PopCulturePooka]

Yeah only 190 yen. Thats actually the most expensive fare of the line. Eg Shibuya - Shinjuku = 150 yen.

That same line also stops at Shinjuku, Ikebukuro, Akihabara, Tokyo, the station for Ginza, Ebisu, Harajuku etc.

Its does a circut of Tokyo, so its the most useful train for tourists.

[m477]

You should use http://transit.yahoo.co.jp when you need to figure out how to get somewhere. FYI the Ginza line is also 190 yen but slightly faster.

[Elizabeth]

Hey, I am planning on going to Tokyo in about 2 years (need that time to save money lol) And I already have found a cheap hotel.. it is near Ueno..
The one I always stay at in Ueno is the Kinuya (there are two, this is the cheaper one), three minutes from the station for a single fare of just $45 per night.

[Maciamo]

Tokyo Metro - Ginza line - 25 min (190yen).
Bicycle => about 45min
Walking => 2h30min ?

Maps of the subway are available on Japan Reference here : http://www.jref.com/practical/transportation_tokyo.shtml

[King of Tokyo]

Thanks for everyone's help :) Actually for a hotel I found one that is 2500 en per night (a god send for the non-rich lol). And I have a Let's Go Japan Travel Guide 2004 (http://www.letsgo.com/JPN/01-teaser-01) Which has a good few maps (I looked up the Yamanote Line as soon as FirstHousePooka mentioned it and saw it does go all around Tokyo, looks like a good line) So I think I'm good for maps.. Anyway Thanks Again :bow: I am very anxious to get to Japan after all I have researched :cool:

[TwistedMac]

allthough the shinkansen might be too expensive too ride across town, isn't it an experience to be tried when in japan? i hear it's basically the best train ride in the world.. and that's gotta count for something?

[Maciamo]

allthough the shinkansen might be too expensive too ride across town, isn't it an experience to be tried when in japan? i hear it's basically the best train ride in the world.. and that's gotta count for something?

It's not that it is too expensive, it's just that there is no shinkansen stop in Shibuya !

[TwistedMac]

ooooh.. that sort of puts the whole thing in a different light XD

[sky888]

nice bus design on your signature!

[TwistedMac]

got it from hachiko ^^ just realized this myself... that's 2 busses =P
both pics are of the right side of the bus taken from the back...

[Elizabeth]

It's not that it is too expensive, it's just that there is no shinkansen stop in Shibuya !
Yeah, you'll have to start from Ueno or Tokyo stations if you want an out of town Shinkansen....unless it's to the airport and then you can use Shinjuku, depending on the line..... :)

[m477]

Shinjuku to the airport? That doesn't make any sense. If he's staying in Ueno, the Keisei line/Skyliner go directly from Ueno to Narita.

[Elizabeth]

Shinjuku to the airport? That doesn't make any sense. If he's staying in Ueno, the Keisei line/Skyliner go directly from Ueno to Narita.
I just meant in general there were more options for airport service. If I were King of Tokyo, I would buy a rail pass, which could be used for the Airport Express shuttle shinkansen to Ueno as well as on the Yamanote sen to Shibuya.

[Ewok85]

If you really wanted to ride the shinkansen there you could go Ueno - Tokyo on the yamanote then to Shinagawa on shinkansen and back on the yamanote to Shibuya :D

[Chipi]

Thanks for everyone's help :) Actually for a hotel I found one that is 2500 en per night (a god send for the non-rich lol).

Ooohh!! Would You King of Tokyo be so kind and nice and let me know some info on that hotel? Web-page,address,e-mail etc?
I should go to Tokyo in August, and I should make the reservations for hotels asap..(and to tell my boss if im going to go or not)
If you could for example e-mail those to me? Chipie@luukku.com
Id be so greatful.. :bow:

[Maciamo]

Chipi and all other interested in cheap hotels in Japan, you should sign up (free) for Club Tocoo! (http://www.jref.com/practical/ToCoo.shtml) and see what they have.

I have just seen they had a hotel from 1600yen in Kiba (Toza-line, pretty central, 10-15min from Ginza, Asakusa or Ueno).

[King of Tokyo]

Ooohh!! Would You King of Tokyo be so kind and nice and let me know some info on that hotel? Web-page,address,e-mail etc?
I should go to Tokyo in August, and I should make the reservations for hotels asap..(and to tell my boss if im going to go or not)
If you could for example e-mail those to me? Chipie@luukku.com
Id be so greatful.. :bow:

Email would take longer so I just PMed you.. Good Luck in Tokyo :cool:

[Arch]

Chipi and all other interested in cheap hotels in Japan, you should sign up (free) for Club Tocoo! (http://www.jref.com/practical/ToCoo.shtml) and see what they have.

I have just seen they had a hotel from 1600yen in Kiba (Toza-line, pretty central, 10-15min from Ginza, Asakusa or Ueno).

I agree club tocoo is really good so many cheap hotels.I have used it and i highly recommend it. I think i posted links for you on a early post chipi. But nevermind.

[Chipi]

King of Tokyo,Maciamo and Arch - thank you all for your tips and help!

I got your links Arch and i looked at them,thank you! I am just searching for several different options and then Im comparing them. I might actually combine it, so that i might stay in Koyo for the first 4 days and in the Baden hotel you recommended for the rest of my trip..

[Arch]

No problem chipi, hope everything works out for you ! good luck and enjoy ya self !

[King of Tokyo]

King of Tokyo,Maciamo and Arch - thank you all for your tips and help!

I got your links Arch and i looked at them,thank you! I am just searching for several different options and then Im comparing them. I might actually combine it, so that i might stay in Koyo for the first 4 days and in the Baden hotel you recommended for the rest of my trip..

Yeh, No problem, Enjoy your stay in Tokyo, Hopefully I'll follow soon after you :p

[King of Tokyo]

Umm.. When do the trains/subway stop running ? Early ? T_T Because I may need to get back to Ueno from Shibuya in an "Impaired State" Lmao.. So does that mean I'll have to leave early if I wanna get home.. these trains/subway are gonna ruin my fun lol..

[budd]

12 in the morning, sometimes a little bit earlier (11:45) for other lines?
option is to visit a club that's open till 4 or 5 in the morning

[King of Tokyo]

Yeh.. I heard they restart around 5.. so I'm good.. I'll chill till 5.. works out nicely.. heh.. no problem :beer:

[Mike Cash]

What is more likely to ruin your fun is the fact that you are far too young to be drinking (legally, anyway).

It used to be that the trains/subways stopped running around midnight or so, but it has been quite a while since I had to make use of them. I do have occasion to drive through Tokyo in the wee hours of the morning and notice that some stations are still lit up. Whether the trains or running or not, I don't really know.

If you really have serious need for this sort of info, how about doing a search on Google Japan?

[King of Tokyo]

I will be 18 at the time I go to Japan. In Canada, that is the legal drinking age, and in Japan, I'm a foreigner so it won't matter that I have to be 20. I doubt I will have any trouble being able to drink.. I have the information I need now so I dont need to Google it. Plus, asking on this forum is a better way, it saves the trouble of searching all around, it contributes to making new threads, and this is what this section is for, if everyone was told to google everything why not just redirect this forum to google. So I think I made the right choice. :)

P.S. Thankyou for your help :bow:

[Mike Cash]

It will matter in that the legal drinking age in Japan is 20. It has been quite a while since I was anywhere near that age, and back then they didn't bother with checking ID. I have no idea if they check now or not. I strongly suspect, though, that the issue won't come up. In the last couple of years they have started putting up signs in stores which sell liquor strongly pointing out that the legal age is 20 and that ID will be required for liquor sales. Like so many things in Japan, though, I wouldn't be surprised if the actual action begins and ends with putting up the signs. I would be surprised if you have trouble getting served in drinking establishments.

However, should you get stinko and for whatever reason come to the attention of the police, it could cause problems. What those problems might be, I have no real idea.

Googling info straight from actual Japanese sources (for instance, train info from sites put up and maintained by the railroads) is always a more sure source of information than just asking folks who are either guessing or relying on memories which may either be faulty or out of date.

Always happy to help (really), even if much of the time I do come across as a total ass.

[King of Tokyo]

It will matter in that the legal drinking age in Japan is 20. It has been quite a while since I was anywhere near that age, and back then they didn't bother with checking ID. I have no idea if they check now or not. I strongly suspect, though, that the issue won't come up. In the last couple of years they have started putting up signs in stores which sell liquor strongly pointing out that the legal age is 20 and that ID will be required for liquor sales. Like so many things in Japan, though, I wouldn't be surprised if the actual action begins and ends with putting up the signs. I would be surprised if you have trouble getting served in drinking establishments.

However, should you get stinko and for whatever reason come to the attention of the police, it could cause problems. What those problems might be, I have no real idea.

Googling info straight from actual Japanese sources (for instance, train info from sites put up and maintained by the railroads) is always a more sure source of information than just asking folks who are either guessing or relying on memories which may either be faulty or out of date.

Always happy to help (really), even if much of the time I do come across as a total ass.

Hmm.. well I don't predict any real problems with having to be 20 but I guess I'll have to deal with them if they arise.

Same with police catching me.. I'm not gonna walk around being a complete drunken fool.. Oh wait, yes I am.. crap, this could be a problem.. lol But naw I think I'll avoid getting into any trouble that would cause police to have to talk to me.. and if they do I can always try pretending not to speak any japanese.. like say "Nihangooo Waagareemazen" in a really bad gaijin accent lmao.. Or speaking really fast and loud in english.. heh.. but anyway this is just foolish brainstorming should their be any problem.. but I don't expect any.. heh.

I do use Google frequently, but it can't hurt to try the forums too, that's what they're here for after all :-)

And yeh I'm sure you mean well most of the time.. unfortunately meaning well doesn't guarantee words of kindness :D

[Mike Cash]

I've been extraordinarily civil on these jref forums. I'd rather my comments here be frank and useful than kind and vapid any day of the week, so the fact that my posts don't drip with words of kindness doesn't particulary bother me. I invite you to join me on usenet if you want to see what a ***** I normally am. <imagine an asinine smilie here>

A serious note on the cop thing, though....

Becoming the object of their interest is very akin to being involved in a traffic accident. By that I mean that you needn't necessarily be the one who caused it in order for it to happen to you anyway. You can be the most careful driver in the world, and some other guy can WHAM! drag you into his accident. In the same way, you could be the most peacable easygoing drunk on the scene, and the behavior of those around you (and not necessarily even those with you) can have the cops offering you their unwanted attention and hospitality.

You don't have to be the one who causes trouble in order to suffer from it, to put it more succinctly.

[budd]

^ pretty true
if two foreigners are fighting, police just toss them both in the clink -- maybe let the one who looks more worse for wear go free eventually. bad idea to get into trouble on an island -- get away how?
if a foreigner and a native are fighting? well, who has better command of the language (and can reason with the authorities)?
as for using info found in the forums, fine, but i still think it's better to get the opinions of many than just a few. there are maybe ten/twenty people who can answer questions in these forums reliably. what if only two answer the question due to whatever reasons?
plus this is internet forum. really hard to tell what another person will encounter/desire/break in a completely different country than what was raised in
i vote search engine/google (in addition) also

[King of Tokyo]

Once again, I have already searched google, so I was just doing both.. it can't hurt to try Jref.. -_-'

[PopCulturePooka]

Jref may be better than google as there ARE people who live in Japan and can give up too date info or who know a variety of decent weblinks they use themselves.

Eg my two train timetable pages I use. No way could I find them via google. Someone had to give them too me.

[King of Tokyo]

Jref may be better than google as there ARE people who live in Japan and can give up too date info or who know a variety of decent weblinks they use themselves.

Eg my two train timetable pages I use. No way could I find them via google. Someone had to give them too me.

See, atleast someone agrees, plus, I got my answer for the first question I asked from FirstHousePooka in only 7 minutes after I posted.. way easier than google.. :v:

[budd]

well, i'm done with it
*exits thread*

[Mike Cash]

^ pretty true
if two foreigners are fighting, police just toss them both in the clink -- maybe let the one who looks more worse for wear go free eventually. bad idea to get into trouble on an island -- get away how?
if a foreigner and a native are fighting? well, who has better command of the language (and can reason with the authorities)?


Another point to keep in mind.....

I wonder if King is aware of how long the Japanese (in)justice system can hold people without filing charges?

Initial police hold: 48 hours
Extension: 24 hours
Initial prosecutor's hold 10 days
Extension: 10 days

So you can be held for a total of 23 days before they have to either file charges or release you.

Further points to keep in mind:

1. You are not entitled to phone anyone and tell them where you are and what has happened to you. If they want, they can hold you 100% incommunicado
2. You do not have the right to contact an attorney until such time as charges are actually filed. You do not have the right to have an attorney present during questioning.
3. Pre-trial bail is routinely denied, and cases proceed at a geological pace. Confinement can continue even through any appeals process. I know of one case where a woman spent 13 years in jail while her case proceeded through the original trial and the two appeals that one can file. When it was all wrapped up, she was sentenced to 8 years. Judges have full discretion whether to credit all, some, or none of the time already confined toward the final sentence. In this woman's case, despite having already been locked up for 13 years for a crime that got her a sentence of 8 years, the judge decided to send her to prison for six months anyway.
4. Illegally obtained evidence is routinely admitted in Japanese trials.
5. Judges largely view trials as a formality, and already have an idea how much time they're going to give you before opening statements are even made.
6. Defense attorneys routinely feed damaging information about their clients to the prosecutor. So that whole attorney-client privilege thing is something of a farce.
7. Prosecutors enjoy a conviction rate of (last I read) about 98.8%. If you go to trial, you can count on being convicted. It's pretty much a foregone conclusion.
8. Investigators face little or no restrictions about how they question you. Sleep and food deprivation are par for the course, with detectives being perfectly content to interrogate you in shifts, perhaps up to 18 or 20 hours per day.
9. Police reports sent to the prosecutor, in which you give your statement, are supposed to be written by the detainee, but in actual fact they are written by the police, who know just how to word them to put you in the most damning position posible.
10. Police reports are routinely falsified and forged. The pages are not sequentially numbered, and it is normal practice for them to write one up which fits with the detainee's take on the matter, have them sign it, and then remove all the interior pages and rewrite them with damning material.

Believe me, King, I have done rather extensive study on the Japanese criminal justice system through reading numerous Japanese language materials on the subject. They not only hold all the aces, they make up the rules as they go along. You absolutely do not want to be the object of their attention. I have no idea how long a visit to Japan you may have planned, but do you really want to waste 23 days of it sitting in the pokey and sleeping on a concrete floor in a cell where the lights are on 24/7, your every move directly observed by cops?

[King of Tokyo]

Another point to keep in mind.....

I wonder if King is aware of how long the Japanese (in)justice system can hold people without filing charges?

Initial police hold: 48 hours
Extension: 24 hours
Initial prosecutor's hold 10 days
Extension: 10 days

So you can be held for a total of 23 days before they have to either file charges or release you.

Further points to keep in mind:

1. You are not entitled to phone anyone and tell them where you are and what has happened to you. If they want, they can hold you 100% incommunicado
2. You do not have the right to contact an attorney until such time as charges are actually filed. You do not have the right to have an attorney present during questioning.
3. Pre-trial bail is routinely denied, and cases proceed at a geological pace. Confinement can continue even through any appeals process. I know of one case where a woman spent 13 years in jail while her case proceeded through the original trial and the two appeals that one can file. When it was all wrapped up, she was sentenced to 8 years. Judges have full discretion whether to credit all, some, or none of the time already confined toward the final sentence. In this woman's case, despite having already been locked up for 13 years for a crime that got her a sentence of 8 years, the judge decided to send her to prison for six months anyway.
4. Illegally obtained evidence is routinely admitted in Japanese trials.
5. Judges largely view trials as a formality, and already have an idea how much time they're going to give you before opening statements are even made.
6. Defense attorneys routinely feed damaging information about their clients to the prosecutor. So that whole attorney-client privilege thing is something of a farce.
7. Prosecutors enjoy a conviction rate of (last I read) about 98.8%. If you go to trial, you can count on being convicted. It's pretty much a foregone conclusion.
8. Investigators face little or no restrictions about how they question you. Sleep and food deprivation are par for the course, with detectives being perfectly content to interrogate you in shifts, perhaps up to 18 or 20 hours per day.
9. Police reports sent to the prosecutor, in which you give your statement, are supposed to be written by the detainee, but in actual fact they are written by the police, who know just how to word them to put you in the most damning position posible.
10. Police reports are routinely falsified and forged. The pages are not sequentially numbered, and it is normal practice for them to write one up which fits with the detainee's take on the matter, have them sign it, and then remove all the interior pages and rewrite them with damning material.

Believe me, King, I have done rather extensive study on the Japanese criminal justice system through reading numerous Japanese language materials on the subject. They not only hold all the aces, they make up the rules as they go along. You absolutely do not want to be the object of their attention. I have no idea how long a visit to Japan you may have planned, but do you really want to waste 23 days of it sitting in the pokey and sleeping on a concrete floor in a cell where the lights are on 24/7, your every move directly observed by cops?

Well... I must say.. this post.. has.. really.. made me feel.. good?..Lol.. Ok well I know you're only telling the truth so I guess I won't count it as raining on my parade lol.. well yeh I'm going to have to take the risks I suppose because I am definitely going to be drinking when I go there, it would just be unlogical not to.. lol.. but yeh.. I can't say I wanna go to prison for 23 days for drinking.. well it all depends, and I am going for 3 months/90 days the maximum without a visa or whatever.. I don't plan on spending 23 days in prison though, I'll try to be as careful as possible.. ah man mikecash you have a way of causing paranoia lol.. but it's all good, your only telling facts, but I am afraid I'll have to take my chances.. :relief:

[Mike Cash]

The chances that you will actually have anything at all to be worried about are so close to zero that it isn't worth worrying about. But it is always good to have as many of the practical facts as possible. The non-practical stuff, I wouldn't dream of telling you about. Finding that stuff on your own is 99% of the fun of the trip.

[King of Tokyo]

The chances that you will actually have anything at all to be worried about are so close to zero that it isn't worth worrying about. But it is always good to have as many of the practical facts as possible. The non-practical stuff, I wouldn't dream of telling you about. Finding that stuff on your own is 99% of the fun of the trip.

Yup, Never hurts to have knowledge of what could happen, even if it isn't highly likely. Before I started to study japan, I was like the average japan-fanatic who thinks Japan is a heavenly place where nothing can go wrong. heh. now even though I still can't compare to someone who has been there, I atleast know it is not perfect, but is still a really great place. I plan to enjoy a little vacation and try not to worry about things too much. I know a good amountabout japan and I've still got another two years of learning before the trip. But if I get thrown in jail, then I'll just have to be really pissed off and wish I was more careful, heh.