The Most Famous Train Line in Japan

One of the more enjoyable aspects of getting used to life in Japan, at least coming from California, is the train culture. Trains run everywhere here, and they're very convenient to ride. While most people would need a car in the more rural areas like where J-List is located, anyone living in a major Japanese city would have no problem using them for all their travel needs. Trains can be crowded, of course, although there are strategies you can adopt to help avoid the worst of it. For example, whenever I take the hour-long train from Tokyo back to Gunma, I know to check the schedules ahead of time so I can be waiting on the platform when the train arrives, which allows me to grab a seat before they're all taken. The most famous train line in Japan is probably the Yamanote (yama-no-teh, lit. "mountain's hand"), the loop line that goes around the Tokyo area, which takes you to convenient places like Shinjuku, Shibuya and Akihabara and is just about the only train you need to go most places in the city. Since the train travels in an endless circle, you never reach the end of the line, and there are drinking games college students and gaijin play as they pass through each of the 27 stations. Right now Japan is having a "Yamanote Boom," with many products featuring the famous lime green coloring, like the official Yamanote towel, light-up Yamanote train signs, and a cool new watch we've just posted to the site today that has the names of all the stations written along the band.

The most famous train line in Japan is the Yamanote Line that goes around Tokyo.