Many trains feed into subway lines from suburban railway lines (and vice versa) that are not on your map. Unless you plan to travel beyond central Tokyo, don't let it worry you.

Thanks, will check it out.

If you can't find those stations on your map, then you as a first-time tourist to Tokyo will not need to find them on any map.

I was just playing around on google maps. It's amazing. I searched for the shinjuku hilton. Then I zoomed in until I saw these pink areas on the map. I believe these are underground passages that connect subway stations to various buildings in the area. The Google map also shows exit labels such as B5 or N6. Assuming that I can locate the signs directing me to these exits, I would have a relatively easy time finding my way to the hotel.

I am planning on staying at the shinjuku hilton. There are multiple page threads directing others how to negotiate these passageways. Now that I have this Google map Rescource I have a visual to go with the directions.

I hope this helps the OP. I have not been to Tokyo, but I am confident of the accuracy of these maps.

To put it in perspective I first travelled to Tokyo in 2000 with my 7 year old daughter, by the second day she was in charge of all subway navigation (deciding the lines we'd take to get from one place to another, navigating within the station when changing lines etc). It's a big system but the signage is excellent and easy to follow. As has been mentioned the key for navigating when you leave the station is to know your exit and one of the things I love about the Tokyo subway system is that the maps at the station you start your trip (for that line) will tell you what carriage is best for the exit at your destination station. Brilliant!

After my first trip to Japan I started travelling very regularly as I was racing cars at the time and it was much cheaper to fly to japan to buy parts and 'suitcase import' them back to australia. This meant travelling out to some pretty far flung places and I managed all of this with the kodansha atlas which has been recommended. No smartphones and GPS, just a good map and some common sense. It's really not hard.

In terms of directions the one bit of advice I give everyone these days is that if they are lost rather than asking someone it's best to stand there with a map in your hand looking confused. If you ask someone you'll get someone who can't understand you, who now has an obligation to help you and will flap about being useless for 30 minutes. Worse than that the person who can help you will see that you're being helped and not stop. By standing there looking hopeless within a couple of minutes someone will stop, ask if you need help and get you pointed in the right direction (or actually take you there, thats surprisingly common).

And finally it's tokyo, not the sahara. The worst thing that can happen is you might need to pay $10 for a cab to get you back to a station, maybe stopping off at an izakaya for a couple of beers and some food. You'll survive.

Thanks for the clever tips and kind words of encouragement.

I hate to sound like I am a naive newcomer to international travel. Far from it. I've been to 18 countries, some of which were very confusing and/or remote. I came out in one piece.
I guess the reason I am concerned is because Tokyo will be the only city I've ever been to whose streets have no names (most of them, anyway). This will definitely be a new experience for me.

By the way, I have a Borch street map of Tokyo that is fairly detailed. Not sure if you're familiar with it, but I'm wondering what advantages getting the Tokyo City Atlas: Bilingual Guide would have over this map (besides being bilingual) in terms of detailed illustrations of the streets and landmarks.

Is this the map you mean?
http://eu.mapscompany.com/shop/maps-...p-tokyo-borch/

Kodansha atlas shows you each of the numbered blocks in each cho/district. It even shows you the numbers of many of the buildings, this allows you to pinpoint your destination, or at least make a decent guess.

The Borch map is extremely vague in comparison. I would neither use it myself nor recommend it.

In comparison, a sample of the Kodansha map:
http://stanfords.s3.amazonaws.com/sa...o_KI_carto.jpg
And a sample address: Senshu University, 3-8 Kanda Jinbocho, Chiyoda, Tokyo 101-0051, Japan
The map shows the Kanda Jinbocho (3) area. Within this area are different blocks. Up at the top, between blocks 6 and 10 is block 8. (8th block of the 3rd area in Kanda Jinbocho)

This was already explained, in the very first reply to your first post at the beginning of this thread.

For all the comforting reassurances in this thread, I think it's incumbent on me to mention one famous case of a family of foreigners who got lost in a godforsaken corner of Katsushika Ward. Nobody really knows what became of them, but there is some speculation that they got trapped in a labyrinth with no street names and were eaten by the minotaur. It's also possible that they fell into one of the snake filled pits that were installed by the Shogun to stymie invading armies. It's a wonder that nobody has dismantled those. I recommend carrying some wax as you travel around Tokyo. If you find yourself really stuck somewhere you can grab some feathers from the crows that are picking at the trash in the streets, and fashion yourself a pair of wings to soar above the city and escape.

Oh come on, that's ridiculous. If you tried that, the radiation from Fukushima would melt the wax as soon as you made it above rooftop level. :td:

Yes. Melting wax has been a problem for people who tried this before.

Yes, that's the map I have.
I will order the atlas right now. Hopefully, it will arrive before Sunday.

You will probably have to pay extra for 2-day shipping. The regular Amazon shipping takes about a week.

Tokyo is probably the most English friendly city I have visited. signage and audio announcements are at worst equal occasionally seemed skewed more toward English. Beyond walking a few extra blocks as a consequence of choosing the wrong station exit, I got lost exactly once in my week there. It was a very enjoyable afternoon as I was willing to toss the planned schedule and let Tokyo happen. I highly encourge it.

I return this month, I still know very little Japanese, and fully plan on going out and about with just a map and guidebook.

+1