I wonder if they will start UberX. That would be a hoot in Japan. I wasn't really clear about the concept and was a bit surprised when a Honda Civic pulled up at my house in the US. It was black but that was a coincidence according to the driver.

Note that Uber has a default 20% tip in the system for UberTAXI, which you can adjust, so you might want to do that in Japan.

Tried Uber again today. Apparently the number of cars has increased significantly. Wait was only 5 minutes. In the past it was more like 15. No Taxi or TaxiLux, but I got a black car. It was a very nice nearly brand new Ranger Rover nicely decked out. The fare was about 30% higher than a hailing a taxi on the street.

Also the driver said that some companies in addition to MK have signed up. I also learned that MK has a fixed fare to/from Narita of Yen 17k plus tolls. You have to book this directly through MK. The Uber fixed fare to Narita is higher.

I have never been assigned foreign cars.

my record.

Toyota Crown Royal Saloon x10
Toyota Century x3
Nissan Fuga x2

Thanks. This is good to know. The fixed rate fare the concierge books me via MK is substantially more. I'll have to dig up an English contact email address for them.

They also have an iPhone app (apparently).

Uber is now gently pushing the envelope by piloting an UberX-like product in Fukuoka. They are getting around Japanese regulations (I suppose) by offering rides for free in the name of science (!)

http://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Comp...aring-in-Japan

Interesting. I do indeed see one car this morning near Fukuoka operating under the "Minna no Uber" banner -- and it appears to be free.

Uber has been ordered to stop "Everyone's Uber" service in Fukuoka: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...pilot-in-japan

UberBlack vs UberTaxi
 

Wondering which will be cheaper in Tokyo for a typical Shinjuku-Shibuya type run... UberBlack or UberTaxi?

UberBlack: BASE FARE ￥103 ￥67 PER MINUTE ￥308 PER KILOMETER
MIN FARE￥823
CANCELLATION FEE ￥1,029

UberTaxi: Use Uber to request and pay for a taxi, at standard taxi meter rates. Dispatch fee varies by taxi company.

My back of the envelope math tells me that UberBlack might be like 10% more expensive, but at night when there's a taxi surcharge they might be about the same. Any insights?

Generally, yes. You have to be careful because they do surge pricing now in Tokyo. It isn't always in effect late at night, but I have seen it a couple of times and it drives up the UberBlack rate to something like 1.8x normal levels, obviously way more expensive than a taxi with the late night surcharge.

edited to add: It's just after 5 pm on a Monday evening and Uber is currently surge pricing at 1.9x. The app quotes 3,000-4,000 yen to get from Ebisu to Aoyama 1-chome, more than twice the usual taxi fare. It's not like this is a difficult time to find a taxi on the street either.

edited again to add: Now it's 8 pm on a Wednesday, drizzling rain, and they are charging 2.8x! That's a flag drop of 2,300 yen!

Interesting about the surge. I guess money talks. Obviously 1.8x had too many people going 'yes, please!'

Another thing that makes Uber in TYO deceptively expensive is street speeds.

Forgive me if this is too nerdy, but I've crunched some numbers on my Ubers in different cities and how fast the cars are actually moving.

LAX = 18 mph
SFO = 13 mph
TYO = 7 mph (and I don't remember any of these Ubers being in the rain)
NYC = 6 mph

These aren't airport trips, of course. No highway. Surface streets.

Who says there's traffic in Los Angeles?

Checked my uber rides in Tokyo and they are all between 16 and 20kph.

Seems the fares from HND airport to the city are fixed rates, anybody tried it before?

I suppose Uber might be more comfortable if you are lucky enough to get one of their bigger cars, but taxis offer a significantly lower fixed rate from the airport, and most nowadays will accept credit cards.

Compare:
Taxi: http://www.taxi-tokyo.or.jp/teigaku/from.html
Uber: https://www.uber.com/cities/tokyo (scroll to bottom)

Perhaps people travel faster in their home towns.