This is really lovely, it looks like something I'd see in a Deus Ex game on a giant screen.
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.
Immediately dove in to the Foc and Foneria stations in Barcelona. I thought we had some long escalators here in Washington DC but after exiting there and taking escalator after escalator after escalator (repeating) to exit the station, my mind was sufficiently blown. http://estacions.albertguillaumes.cat/img/barcelona/foneria....
Relatedly, I just started playing this game where the concept is you're lost in the corridors of a Japanese subway station looking for Exit 8. Very authentic feel.
That’s so funny, I spent about an hour walking around Osaka station the first time I went there trying to figure out how to get out. Ended up back in same place quite a few times. Near the Hankyuu railway staircase.
I got lost in Kyoto station the day I had to catch a train to Osaka to take a plane from KIX. So many platforms, different train lines, exits. It's crazy.
Somehow I've always done fine at Shinjuku, although during rush hour it can be trickier.
Reminds me of the time I tried to leave a Japanese train station and wound up in an underground department store. Then I tried to leave the department store and I wound back up in the train station.
I had this experience in real life in Shinjuku station. It was the first station I needed to navigate when showing up to Japan. I didn’t care about which exit I went out of, I was just trying to get up to the surface so I could see where I was at with GPS and orient myself. After the flight (I don’t sleep on planes), I was very stressed out and sleep deprived. I tried to look like I knew what I was doing, but I was freaking out inside, I felt trapped. It was a really bad time. Thankfully, after some sleep, navigating the subway went much better.
This reminds me of an internet phenomenon I learnt about recently: the Backrooms [1]. The concept instantly reminded me of some psychedelic horrors from the 80s in terms of emotional response. I think this game might trigger a similar response.
such fun little puzzle games, I spent a good month absolutely absorbed in the latter, thought I was getting pretty skilled - only to look online and realize that there levels of strats I hadn't even considered.
I managed to get lost there. An incredibly nice person stopped and asked in English - I’m a tall white person - if I needed help and insisted on walking me to my exit, several minutes out of her way.
Shinjuku station is a special case because it is so huge.
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.
It's definitely possible. Try meitetsu station sometime. It's directly adjacent to the sprawling monstrosity that is Nagoya station (where it's also easy to get lost). Not only does it use a different, color-coded system of notation than other stations I've seen, trains stop at multiple platforms unlike virtually everywhere else. Consequently there are places where multiple signs are visible giving you different directions to the same train.
I also found in my recent two week vacation that it was easy 99% of the time, thanks to good signage and Google Maps. But I did miss one sign in a way that was difficult to recover from; if my partner hadn't noticed it I might have gone pretty far before I realized my mistake.
OT but since multiple others are mentioning Nagoya: what's the best place to get some sweetened miso in mayo bottle thing(the tsukete-miso) around or inside Nagoya station?
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.
Too bad it doesn't seem to include the railroad tracks and the staircases/escalators to the platforms, which are the most prominent features to people who use the station as passengers.
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.
I'm not sure (haven't been there in a long time), but isn't that what the flickering dashed blue lines are? In the legend, they're "歩行者ネットワーク", which Google says is the "pedestrian network".
There are some pedestrian routes here and there. (Yup, "歩行者ネットワーク" means "pedestrian network") But the 改札内 / the area inside the ticket gates seem to be missing the pedestrian network. Also, the platforms themselves are missing, as there are the upper (2F) and lower (B1F) connecting passages, but nothing in between.
The dashed lines are too steep to be escalators and they are not vertical so they can't be elevators either. Elsewhere in this thread, it has been suggested that perhaps the height between levels has been exaggerated for clarity, and that's why the escalators ended up looking impossibly steep.
I stayed at a capsule hotel just a block away from the station this summer, that was quite the experience. I was there for not even 3 full weeks but I think I'll feel nostalgic for Japan for the rest of my life, a strange and stunning country.
I hear the first impression that is the dominant experience most foreigners get is very superficial. When you live there it's actually very different and it doesn't quite match up to the initial illusion you get from vacationing there. But I wouldn't know, I just vacationed there and had the exact same experience as you.
I spent a few nights in capsule hotels, I was surprised at how not claustrophobic it was.
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.
Japan has a weird mix of nice people, affordable/good food, historical structures that are well preserved, and modern/futuristic buildings/transportation. It is an "easy" place to visit, not expensive, good public transportation, and lots of well known things to go see (that are more than just tourist traps).
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).
For me, it was simply how it was incredibly alien and incredibly familiar at the same time. Everything was different, but if you’re at all a nerd (and you’re on HN so…) you’ve been exposed to Japanese culture.
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.
I don't know the overlap of anime & HN, but it would be really cool to see the events of Jujutsu Kaisen mapped out on here too. They do a really good job of using real landmarks and scenery in the show.
I moved to Japan in 1983, and for the first few years I lived and worked near Shinjuku Station and passed through it every day. I also spent most of my free time in the Shinjuku area and wandered around exploring a lot. It took a full year before I really knew the area and could find any entrance or tunnel without getting lost. The station has changed and grown a lot since, and acquiring that sense would take even longer today.
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.
I might have suggested meeting at the "farm" above the South side of the station. I think it's on the fourth or fifth floor. Of course, theres only one farm in the vicinity and it's small enough that you won't miss each other.
Zoom in on shunjuku station with google maps. All those yellow boxes with letters and numbers are various exits/entrances. I wonder which one which entrance was meant as "the" entrance. I'm sure it was the one they use every day, but that wouldn't help a visitor. It's kinda surprising someone like an AirBnB host, who presumably has to communicate this with many travelers from many places, is so vague about it.
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.
In 2010 AirBnB would have been more novel, so maybe there wasn’t the same expectation. I stayed on Seoul a few months ago and in addition to a specific entrance number, my host had made a YouTube video showing a first person walk from the subway exit to his place.
Similar experience before the era of ubiquitous smart phones ~2006. The hotel was nice enough to say how to get there from Shinjuku exit E8 (at least it wasn't the A series which I think goes to 15) and it took we half an hour to even exit the subway with my rolling bag. But I was completely disoriented and actual street numbering and signage unhelpful.
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.
Shinjuku station has also changed dramatically from all the construction over the last 10 or so years. I lived in Shinjuku (the ward; I was actually a few stations north on the Oedo line) in 2009/2010; was back there a few weeks ago and it was unrecognizeable. Right now, the whole area over by the Yodobashi Camera, and where they used to have the night bus pickup is all walled off under active construction (if they haven't finished already).
Shibuya station atleast vaguely makes sense, even after all the construction.
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.
I learned to never let people dictate rendez-vous points at landmarks or stations if I can.
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.
The Tsutaya building that closed for renovations…? I don’t believe that Starbucks is currently an option due to that.
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.
the smart way to do it is to name an exit like Exit B5 or A12. The signs in the station, and Google Maps, will generally tell how to get to a specific exit. Or probably better would be a famous landmarks tho there aren't many to pick from in Shinjuku. A common one used to be "in front of the Alta building on the east exit" another still is "in front of the police station just outside the east exit
Pretty confusing to have a map that doesn't show the train lines - of course a station doesn't make much sense once you leave out what a station is for. Also the area around the Miraina Tower exit looks smaller than it should be? It seems weirdly inconsistent about what's included or not too - the Odakyu station isn't there, but the Toei and Tokyo Metro ones (and even the bus station) are?
Readit News
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/
Dead Comment
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/
and of course, mini motorways
such fun little puzzle games, I spent a good month absolutely absorbed in the latter, thought I was getting pretty skilled - only to look online and realize that there levels of strats I hadn't even considered.
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.
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.
And still miss burnt miso ramen. Nowhere else in the world seems to do it.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_syndrome
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.