Buses, Planes, and Trains, Oh My

Tokyo, Japan known for its beautiful sky line, neon lights and.... rice paddies?

When I flew into Japan I landed at Narita airport, which is an hour outside of Tokyo. The only view you get is rice paddies, small towns, and greener for miles, which has a natural beautiful.

After departing the plane you have to go through immigration before being directed off to a room that is on the back wall with one room and and a desk in order to get your residency card.The whole process is fast and easy, you just hand over your documents, scan your fingers and then bam, you got yourself a brand new card. This card will act as your ID card in the country so you do not have carry around your passport if you don't want to.
P.S. The room has a no cellphone use policy so don't be like me and use your cellphone and get stared at by the other people in the room. 😨

Luckily for me, my buddy met me at the airport to help me with the next step of my arrival journey, getting to my place of residence. Due to Aoyama Gakuin assigning you a tutor/guide/buddy before you leave, you are able to have a local's advise, knowledge, and assistance. I HIGHLY recommend you take advantage of that and ask them about anything and everything. Also ask them if they would mind meeting you at the airport. My amazing buddy Soari, better known as Tommy, helped me so much.

I know that many people,myself included, can figure it out on our own if we have to, but why not have help. I know I was kinda of tried from my long flight, and it is a daunting task to figure out not only a foreign public transportation system, but what do with your luggage and where to go, and being slightly starstruck in this new place.

Now the next thing you should think about is cash and what to do with those pesky bags of yours. I recommend keeping either your carry on or whatever small bag you have, and filling it with a two days worth of clothes and send the rest to your residence via the baggage delivery services in the airport. There two companies just to left of the main lobby once you come out of customs. Now the cost depends on how many bags you have and how heavy they are. For me I had a medium and large suitcases both just under 50lbs., for which I paid about $45. Now that may seem a bit much but I was happy because it freed up my hands, made my journey easier, and it was nice not to worry about it.

For more info check out the list on the Narita airport website.
Another tip make sure you get a drop off time from the company you pick encase there is no intercom or front desk attendant to receive your luggage at your place. This is because if no one is there they will not drop off your luggage and you will have to call and reschedule a new drop off time.

Next thing is getting ¥ (yen). It easier to get ¥ (if you don't already have it) in the airport, remember Tokyo is mostly cash operated, so it is best to have cash whenever possible (plus it saves you from those additional charges banks like give when you use your card).

From that point you can move to planning our route, if you haven't already. When in Japan I agree with most local opinions on NOT taking a taxi until you are much closer to your destination, if at all. The taxi system in Tokyo is much like in America, where it is very expense and better to avoid when possible. There is no Uber, Lift, or any other ride sharing services so will have have to take shuttles and public transportation.  I started off my journey to m new home by riding the hour bus shuttle to Tokyo station, I recommend the shuttle because it is cheaper and drops you off a mere 5 minute walk to the station.

For more information on the different options check out the website.

In the station you can buy your train pass. It costs 1,000¥ to buy the pass its self, and then you can put however much you want. I arrived about a week before the semester starts, which means I had a week before I could get my discount student train pass, so I didn't want to put too much on it. For me I put 1,000¥ on my pass so I can go out and explore before that time. Obviously that cost will change depending on how much traveling you plan on doing before you can get your student pass.

Now when you are on the train it can be very busy, especially if get on the train during rush time. The rush time can go from 7 to 9 in the morning and 5 pm (17:00) to 10 pm (22:00). Also note the stories are true they will squish and cram you into the the train to pack as many people as possible. Which why it is better to have less bags with you, so the easier it will be for to move around the train but also the station.

And again I have to say a huge thank you to Tommy for helping me with that last part, so I say it again get to know your own Tommy if you can and they will be your life saver.

After the we had conquered the trains we sat down and ate at a popular conveyor belt sushi place call
Sushi Roll (スシロル) and had an amazing time with great sushi, especially the cheese and salmon. 😋 Before calling it a night.

またね

trains trams and buses

When you arrive in Mannheim, you will have 5 options for getting around other than your feet.  The taxi (which is expensive for long term use), a bike-share (which you will have to sign up for from Nextbike, so you probably won’t have this option until you get access to the internet), and of course the train, tram, and bus. 

After you get your matriculation number from the international office (when you register with them), it is best if you get your semester pass, which will allow you to use the trains which travel out to about 50km (about 31 miles…get used to hearing things in the metric system, they don’t use the standard system here) from Mannheim, trams and buses.  But, the RNV/VRN will only allow the use of the semester ticket from the times dated on your paperwork saying you are a student at Mannheim.  Assuming you arrive a few days prior to the beginning of the semester, or are taking the summer or winter academy, which begins about a month prior to the regular semester, how do you get around since the semester pass is still not valid?

Purchasing an individual ticket cost 2.50 euro PER VEHICLE you board.  That gets expensive fast as well.  But you can also purchase a day pass for 6.5 euros, which is only good from 12:00am until 11:59pm.  Keep the time in mind when purchasing the daily pass.  If you know you are going to go home after midnight, your ticket won’t be valid, and you will have to pay again.  But if you are traveling around for the day and will need more than 3 different rides, it will be worth it.  Simple math gives you a ride to, and then back from 1 location, it would be best to get individual tickets for the rides (since you boarded only 2 different vehicles).  However, if you will need to get on more than 3 vehicles to get to your location (and then back), get the day pass if you can get it all done before 11:59pm.  This ticket allows you to get around by tram and bus, but not the train (you will need to purchase tickets at the train station for those rides).

The other option that NO ONE at the RNV/VRN will share or hint at is to purchase a weekly pass.  Apparently, you can only get this pass on Monday.  It cost 19 euros for the week, and will enables you to get around by train, tram and bus for the week (again, Monday from time of purchase until Sunday at 11:59pm).  This makes exploring for the week much more affordable, assuming you were to purchase a daily pass for the 7 days (45.50 euros compared to 19 euros).  Additionally, this pass will give you more range in that you can also use it on trains, although only on regional trains which generally go up to 50Km, and not the Inter-City (IC) or Inter-City Express (ICE) trains.

You can of course try (I highly recommend you NOT do this thou) just jumping on the trains and buses during the day, and hope you don’t get asked to present your ticket.  The Germans do however, have people who’s job it is (on the trains mostly) to check to see if you have a ticket.  If you get caught riding around without a ticket on the trains, trams or buses, it’s a 60 euro fine for the 1^st offense.  Apparently the subsequent fines after are more expensive, and the police also get involved.  Bus drivers tend not to check your pass during the day, but at night they won’t let you on without checking, so you would have to pay upon boarding anyway.  Trams rarely have ticket checkers, but it does happen.  Trains almost always have those employees checking for “free riders” and they will eventually catch you.  I’ve witnessed a number of people getting caught, and besides the embarrassment of everyone around you (well, those who speak German) knowing you weren’t following the rules and got caught, there is the 60 euro fine as well which is much more expensive than having bought a ticket would have been.