We'll be in Japan this summer. My wife was talking to someone who told her that the train to/from NRT is always crowded. Crowded so that the men on the platform 'push' you into the cars.

I've seen that on television; but always had the impression that was for rush hour.

I 'suggested' that to my wife. She didn't buy it. So I told her I'd ask the experts.

Pictures are as valuable as Talk is cheap.

Terence Fung's brilliant trip report that he posted earlier this year included a photo of the Narita Express train, and there's no indication of any crowd. (You'll need a login name and password to access the report. According to Terence's note in FT, the login name is ft and the password is flyertalk.)

That's the subways and commuter trains you are hearing about. The N'Ex (Narita Express) is reservation-only so you're guaranteed a seat. if you take the local commuter train to Tokyo on weekday mornings, I'd imagine you'd face such a crush.

Just spent a week in Tokyo. The crowds in the subway stations are incredible but we did not find the crush in the cars as bad as advertised.

I've been in standing room only cars filled to the max on the Washington Metro, the Ny Subway, BART, the Paris Metro, the Tube ...

Most of the workers in the subway stations are busy making sure that everyone is standing where a door will open and that a train doesn't leave empty.

Go and have fun!

JR also sells a limited number of standing-room tickets on sold-out NEX trains which, IIRC, force the buyer to stand at the end of a specific carriage (cannot stand in seating area or in another carriage).

As far as commuter trains go, they are manageable except:
- between 7 and 9am inbound
- between 5:45pm and 7pm outbound
- last outbound trains after 11:30pm (the worst, as many of the passengers are drunk)

For the subway and Yamanote line, there is no real inbound/outbound; they are crowded at similar times.

Crowded means up to 400 people squeezed into a car designed for 150. Large station attendants with white gloves do help pack in at some stations


If you have to take a train at those times, you should:

- not have any bags
- know where your destination station is, and inch towards the door 2 stations before; there usually is a bilingual route map at least above the two end doors
- know which side to get off (sometimes indicated on map or LED)
- stand where you can brace yourself. I go for a wide stance with my feet forming a line 45 deg. from the axis of the train. JR trains have slower acceleration and wider turns (no hands ok), some private lines with older rolling stock are much bumpier (no hands very difficult)
- keep your hands up in order not to be accused of groping
- in the summer, you'll sweat. Locate AC exhausts and stand under them, unless you care more about your hairdo. In my experience, Keikyu has the best AC, followed by JR, subways, and last, Tokyu lines, which turn off AC before the last station to save electricity
- try to avoid being behind a shorter man with greasy hair, it can make trips quite unpleasant


The next steps in the fine art of Tokyo commuting include:

- knowing which carriage and door will be exactly in front of your exit stairs; all trains stop at the exact same position
- choosing an unpowered carriage to minimize exposure to magnetic fields
- learning how to take a nap while standing, and magically waking up right before your station
- moving to a place from which you can commute against the flow


As a westerner, you'll be given a little more room than locals.

As others say, Narita Express and Keisei's Skyliner services are reservations-only. So they'll never get packed.

But if you take Keisei's regular limited express services even from Narita airport departing around 7 a.m., you can certainly and truely experience what it is like to be on a crowded -- mildly put -- train.

These Keisei trains are simply quite empty with only few passengers at Narita airport but it will pick up people and get full after a few stops. They were built as commuter train services. Narita airport happened to be built be at the end of the line that was extended.

You can add "being in someone's personal space while somehow managing not to intrude" to that list.