You May Hate Tokyo’s Shibuya Station More Than Shinjuku (Part II of II)

(Continued from Part I)

The Yamanote Line, which circles around the city of Tokyo, shouldn’t cause you any issues because it has its own platform. The problem is with Saikyo Line, Narita Express, and Shonan Shinjuku Line. With these, you have to pay close attention before getting on the train because they all use the same platform.

Let’s start with the Saikyo Line. This goes to Saitama Prefecture, which, relative to Tokyo, is akin to what New Jersey is to New York. You have no business being on this train because even people in Tokyo mock the people who take this train, much like how people in New York City mock commuters who take the NJ Transit.

Next train you can ignore is the Narita Express, which goes to the dreaded Tokyo Narita Airport. Despite its name, Narita Airport is actually not in Tokyo. It’s in a prefecture called Chiba, which, relative to Tokyo, is akin to what Connecticut is to New York. You have no business being on this train unless you have the misfortune of booking a flight that departs from Narita and not Haneda.

That leaves the Shonan Shinkjuku Line, which may be of interest to you because it goes to nice tourist locations like Kamakura and Odawara. They’re both in Kanagawa Prefecture, to the south of Tokyo; it makes sense that trains going to these two places leave from the same platform. The problem is, no single train goes to both cities.

This confusing situation occurs because the Shonan Shinjuku Line is actually a nomenclature used to describe a combination of four separate lines: the Yokosuka Line and the Tokaido Line, which go south, and the Utsunomiya Line and the Taksaki Line, which go north. The city of Kamakura is on the Yokosuka Line while Odawara is on the Tokaido Line.

God have mercy if you ever get on the wrong train on the Shonan Shinjuku Line; the interval between stations are very long and trains don’t come that often. If you don’t realize your mistake quickly, you can easily lose an hour doubling back and waiting for the right train once you get back to Shibuya.

In all this discussion about the nine… I mean 12… lines coming into Shibuya station, I haven’t mentioned the once-in-a-century, decades-in-the-making redevelopment of the Shibuya station and area surrounding it.

Construction began in 2009, continued right through the 2020/2021 Tokyo Olympics, remains in full swing now, and won’t end until mid-2030s. Along the way, the platform for the Ginza Line moved a bit to the east, the Toyoko Line platform moved from two floors above to its current location five floors below, and numerous exits have opened and closed to make room for construction. Even Tokyo residents get lost if they haven’t visited the station in a while.

It happen to be that I like Shibuya. It’s the station I use the most. I really don’t get lost there like I do at Shinjuku because I use the station so often.

But after reading this, you may disagree that Shinjuku is worse than Shibuya.