On a different tip, this Catalan chap has done nearly 900 3D models of stations, ranging from huge and complex, to tiny and simple. They've been quite a hit in r/nycrail.

http://stations.albertguillaumes.cat/

Why don't you just print them then? The copyright police is not going to barge into your home, and even if so this might fall into fair use (depending on your circumstance/situation/etc).

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2653790/The_Exit_8/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1122120/STATIONflow/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2546690/Tram_Simulator_Ur...

Somehow I've always done fine at Shinjuku, although during rush hour it can be trickier.

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Backrooms

There's also a few metro station sims (more sim than horror):

STATIONflow: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1122120/STATIONflow/

Overcrowd: https://store.steampowered.com/app/726110/Overcrowd_A_Commut...

And of course Mini Metro: https://store.steampowered.com/app/287980/Mini_Metro/

I love Japan and traveling around there is easy.

More precisely, the problem is not the train/subway station part of the station, that part is surprisingly easy to navigate. The problem is when you leave the station. There are 200 exits, and there is a good chance you end up in a place you didn't expect.

And great, now I want red miso.

I mean, I'm guessing I can just buy online, but it's something Nagoyans refuse to admit that every household in Nagoya/Aichi has one despite all having one in their fridge. It's almost strange there isn't an akafuku and kakete-miso bundle package in souvenir shops.

I was able to make sense of the parts by looking at the surrounding road network, but without these, it's hard to make sense of.

It's quite easy to see why it's done, so you can easily look into each level without clutter

And still miss burnt miso ramen. Nowhere else in the world seems to do it.

What most people don't realize is everything there is around the capsules. Usually, when you enter the hotel, you start by going to the locker room. There you put in all the stuff you won't need for the night, that is, essentially everything. You may even get a yukata robe, a towel and some toiletries, so it can be literally everything, including your clothes.

Then you can take advantage of the amities and relax. You may find showers, hot baths, massage chairs, etc... Only when it is time to sleep you go to your capsule, which is essentially like a bunk bed with privacy, maybe with a bit of equipment like a TV, alarm clock, charging plug...

Now, I probably wouldn't stay in a capsule hotel for 3 weeks, but I could definitely spend 3 weeks backpacking, stopping in capsule hotels for the night. It is not really designed as a place to stay, more like a place to spend the night with no preparation. Also, while it is cheaper than regular hotels, it is not that cheap, and if you really want cheap, there are other options.

Often when I say that people tell me not to support the big hotelier chains and offer some independent options, which I might try next trip. I do think people might be a bit misguided though, independent or not they are still faceless hotel chains. Which one gets my $60 is hardly a matter of social responsibility.

If you are like me and are there for the urbanism, staying in a businesd hotel fits the atmosphere honestly. They're commoditized hotels, perfectly serviceable, pragmatic like much of urban life there.

It brings me to my other point. Capsule hotels are best when you are travelling alone. As a couple, they don't really make sense. In fact, some capsule hotels are for men only, or have men and women in separate areas. This is because they often feature public baths and there is some nudity involved, which is normal in Japan.

For a first timer, I suggest spending more time in Kyoto and Osaka and less time in Tokyo (but generally, you do Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka on your first trip there and then diverge from that if you go back).

That and it was all so friendly, easy to get around, beautiful, etc. It’s a wonderful vacation for people that just like to walk around and explore.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_syndrome

(I have lived in or spent significant time in all of these cities you listed)

Now that I have lived there, all of that was very much confirmed.

https://www.reddit.com/r/JuJutsuKaisen/comments/17w7v9x/juju...

story ended happily after finding a hotspot and sending an email, but this visualization makes that instruction seem even more hilarious in hindsight

a pin pointing out a location using this map would be a perfect waypoint!

As it happens, I will be going to Shinjuku later today for the first time in four years to meet an old friend for lunch. I spent some time online yesterday looking at photos and streetview of the area. My friend has been living in the Tokyo area as long as I have and used to go to Shinjuku a lot, too. But he doesn't use a smartphone and we're meeting on the south side of the station, which has changed a lot. So I prepared a four-page PDF with maps and pictures showing where we will meet, and I told my friend to print it out and bring it along. I hope we're able to find each other.

Later, I walked through Shinjuku and Kabukicho up to Shin Okubo to see how the city had changed. It was good to see that the Shin Okubo area is still as multiethnic and ungentrified as it was twenty years ago. A couple of backstreet one-person coffee shops I used to frequent were still there, though closed for the New Year's holiday.

If you're getting directions via google maps and you have to exit a subway station in Tokyo (and maybe some other cities), it will give you directions underground to the proper exit. It will even tell you which subway car you should be on so you will be closest to the proper exit.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Shinjuku+Station/@35.69166...

obvious to someone who goes there every day yes, but not to a jet-lagged traveler visiting for the first time :)

i enjoyed being in the first cohort of airbnb guests, quirks and all; felt more 'personable'

but yea I also remember that being probably the last year I felt comfortable traveling somewhere without a mobile device constantly connected

Then the fun started since I couldn't spot the hotel a kind Japanese couple decided to help. Their "crippling helpfulness" became clear only after 5 minutes that they were tourists and had no idea where the hotel was, but it took even longer for me to extract myself politely by pointing towards a taxi stand saying I knew where it was. I got in a taxi and gave him the address... he looked at me like I was crazy, drove forward 1.5 blocks and pointed to the hotel sign. Best Y300 ever spent.

A famous and much easier one in Tokyo is to meet at the dog [1]. Now, granted, it's in Shibuya and not in Shinjuku.

Darn do I miss Tokyo...

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hachik%C5%8D

I firmly believe that the only people who can truly navigate Shinjuku station, are people who work there and people who live there. Seems like no matter what, Google maps/Yahoo will tell you exit via b14 and every exit sign will helpfully guide you to North East, East, and all the exits a1 through a10.

It's always easier to exit the station and then figure out your final destination, which can still be annoyingly hard.

It never makes sense. If it's a landmark or sizeable train/bus station there must be a cafe or a park with notable features nearby. If it's in the middle of nowhere there will be a bench at an easy to describe place.

Telling people to stand in wide and potentially crowded areas for a significant amount of time if they dare coming early is just cruel.

PS: for people using Hachiko as a meeting place, there's a Starbucks right the other side of the crosswalk dammit.

Hachiko is a small enough area that’s pretty much proven to work and is a location that any confused tourist can get pointed to easily enough - and signs inside Shibuya station will literally label it.

https://www.wired.com/2016/07/lose-tomoyuki-tanakas-x-ray-il...

(Tokyo Station, Shibuya Station, Shinjuku Station)

Fun side note: I liked these so much I contacted Tanaka-san directly and he agreed to sell me prints :)

You don't need to get separate paper tickets to transfer across companies, but you do need to get a special transfer ticket, which can be complicated. The good news is there's really no reason to deal with them these days, just get a Suica/Pasmo card and tap on/off.

The one complication is that there are extensive through services, meaning companies running on each other's tracks. This is super convenient, because it avoids having to transfer, but can be confusing. You can board a train in the Yokohama Minatomirai line and travel smoothly through the Tokyu Toyoko, Metro Fukutoshin and Tōbu Tōjō Lines to emerge right on the other side of the metropolis.

But it was never a problem to get one at the airport, which where a vast majority of people should get them.

If you skipped that part, it was quite painful in the past few months because of the IC chip shortage.

> Sales of JR East's Suica card (image of a penguin on the front) will be discontinued for the time being as of June 8 due to a worldwide semiconductor shortage. [1]

Welcome Suica (for short-term visits):

> Welcome Suica sales will be limited to the following for the time being from December 18th:

> * JR EAST Travel Service Center, Haneda Airport Terminal 3 Station

> * Welcome Suica exclusive vending machine, Tokyo Monorail Haneda Airport Line Haneda Airport Terminal 3 Station

> Please note that only one Welcome Suica will be sold per person.

> Please note that IC cards will not be sold at Narita Airport after the 18th. [2]

PASMO:

> The sale of blank PASMO has been temporarily suspended.

> The sale of Personalized PASMO has been temporarily suspended. [3]

PASMO PASSPORT (for short-term visits):

> The card is available for purchase at 21 locations. [4]

[1] https://www.jreast.co.jp/e/pass/suica.html

[2] https://www.jreast.co.jp/multi/en/welcomesuica/welcomesuica....

[3] https://www.pasmo.co.jp/visitors/en/normalpasmo/

[4] https://www.pasmo.co.jp/visitors/en/buy/

Tourists should get a physical card at the airport. There are too many caveats and exceptions to phone wallet support for non-residents.

And I think recently when you look up directions in Apple Maps, it even suggests adding a transit card if you don't have one!

Here, under Transit Cards in Maps. https://www.macrumors.com/guide/ios-16-maps/

It would be a _fantastic_ feature if I wasn't a control freak and didn't add one before I even boarded the plane, but still a very nice touch.

I passed through visiting old friends last week and they had them at some stations but not all.

Paper tickets are confusing but basically nobody uses them. I don’t think it’s true that you need to get separate tickets for separate train lines. You do need to adjust your ticket if you prepaid the wrong distance.

Unless you mean two entirely separate lines separated by different gates.

I don’t know many who ride that line unless living out on it or wanting to take the less crowded way to ‘Baba tho.

Because it's not just one company.

Off topic: I like how I understood the technical article below despite not knowing a single Japanese word, only by reading the code, would be interesting sometime in the future that people are using programming languages as a mean of universal communication!

  void deleteCartes(Map[] cartes)

To reuse your example, I've seen things like that:

    void deleteお問い合わせ(Map[] otoiawase)

OTOH, with some travel experience, Google Maps and my very basic Japanese, it was quite easy to navigate these. I only got lost once in Tokyo central area for 5-10 minutes (out of

And this 3D scanning makes things much easier. I'm looking forward to see Shibuya and Tokyo central versions.

e.g. London Bank - nowhere near as insane, but even after going through it for years daily I still couldn't make heads or tails out of the 3D internet map.

Reality Internet

I also like these hand drawn 3d illustrations of stations: https://architizer.com/blog/inspiration/industry/x-ray-visio...

http://tassaa.html.xdomain.jp/index.html

Even just showing the general shape of the station in 2D on the map would be helpful, though obviously this can be tricky when there's other points of interest above/below the train line.

Open Street map is so much better for this but that totally lacks live public transport info with delays etc. So I end up switching between both which doesn't help.

How often to metro exits change???

It may have only changed a few times over the last 2 years, but it's certainly a rude awakening when you're running to catch the train and you find out your stop is now a block away from where you thought it was.

0: https://www.transitchicago.com/redahead/

1: https://www.transitchicago.com/ctas-red-and-purple-moderniza...

I think this is probably a local issue: Google Maps is better in some places than others. Google has a huge office in Tokyo, in Shibuya overlooking Shibuya Crossing, so Tokyo is probably one of the best-supported cities in GMaps for this reason. Other cities might not have such accurate information.

If league or even TFT was as accessible as a tab like this it'd be the end of me.

But yeah, it's an awesome JS demo!!

I feel like 3d visualisations are under utilised in general, for wayfinding, for organising stuff or files, revealing flows like here.

It's like we're stuck in a 2d paradigm somehow, but everytime i see even rather simple visualizations like this, i'm reminded of 90's cybernetic future that never happened.

I think something like this would have helped me build a mental model of the station.

That's not on you at all, I just wonder if there's active UX research in this specific area (3D viewing on the web, as opposed to in games or VR).

Came back later, and had to spend almost an hour to find the place where we left them

That place is big

This place has to be my nemesis when it comes to public transport :D