Japan's Shinkansen gateway, and a station where the wrong entrance costs you ten minutes and the Narita Express is five floors underground. Here is the structure, before you need it.
Tokyo Station has two faces, and almost every problem people have here comes from being on the wrong one. The station's own guidance puts the walk between them at about ten minutes.
The restored red-brick building from 1914, facing the Imperial Palace. This is the one in the photographs. The Tokyo Metro Marunouchi line, the Tokyo Station Hotel and the business district sit on this side, and it is the gateway for the Narita Express descent.
The modern side: bus terminals, the Shinkansen entrances, the Daimaru department store and the underground food and shopping streets. If you are catching a bullet train or looking for ramen, you want Yaesu.
Agree a side before you agree a time. "Meet me at Tokyo Station" is not a plan — it is a ten-minute walk apart. Name the side and the gate.
Boarding the Shinkansen with a Smart EX QR code? The station recommends using the Yaesu side rather than Marunouchi, precisely because of that ten-minute walk. Platform detail below →
Two different companies run Shinkansen out of Tokyo Station, from two separate blocks of platforms with separate ticket gates. Getting this wrong means walking back out through one gate and round to the other.
| Platforms | Lines | Bound for |
|---|---|---|
| 14–19 | Tōkaidō · Sanyō JR Central | Nagoya, Kyoto, Shin-Ōsaka, Hiroshima, Hakata |
| 20–23 | Tōhoku · Jōetsu · Hokuriku JR East | Sendai, Nagano, Echigo-Yuzawa, Kanazawa |
Source: Tokyo Station City — How to board the Shinkansen.
The practical rule: west and south is 14–19, north is 20–23. Kyoto, Osaka and Hiroshima leave from the lower numbers; Sendai, Nagano and the ski country from the higher ones.
Holding a Japan Rail Pass? Platforms 14–19 are where the Nozomi problem lives. The Tōkaidō Shinkansen is where Nozomi runs, and the pass does not cover it without an extra ticket bought before boarding — ¥4,960 to Kyoto or Shin-Ōsaka. A Hikari from the same platforms is fully covered and slower. The full catch →
The Narita Express does not leave from the main concourse. It leaves from underground platforms 3 and 4, on B5F — five basement levels below the station floor.
The station's own directions from ground level:
Source: Tokyo Station City — How to board the Narita Express.
This is the single most common way to miss a train to the airport. Arriving with five minutes to spare works at most stations. It does not work here — you have three escalator transitions and a lot of corridor between you and the platform, and the signage only starts helping once you are already descending. Budget fifteen minutes from the ticket gate, more with luggage.
The N'EX round trip to Narita is ¥6,280, or ¥5,200 with the N'EX TOKYO Round Trip Ticket if you are returning within 14 days. Narita options compared →
The Keiyō line takes you to Maihama for Tokyo Disney Resort, and it is the other great Tokyo Station trap. JR East's own station map treats the Keiyō line as a separate level entirely, alongside the Sōbu line — not as another platform on the main concourse.
In practice its platforms sit on their own underground concourse a long way south of the main station, reached by a lengthy corridor and several moving walkways. It is a substantial walk, and one you cannot see coming from a route planner that simply says "change at Tokyo".
Allow far more time than a normal platform change, especially with children, a pushchair or luggage. If you are heading to Disney with a family and a tight schedule, this walk is the part of the journey that will surprise you.
Source: JR East — Tokyo Station guide map, which lists Keiyō Line and Sōbu Line as their own map levels alongside 1F, M2F, 2F and B1F.
For a station this central, Tokyo Station is surprisingly poorly served by the subway. Exactly one Tokyo Metro line stops inside it: the Marunouchi line.
Everything else you might think of as "the subway at Tokyo Station" is really at Ōtemachi or Nihombashi — separate stations a few minutes' walk away, which between them carry most of the remaining lines. Route planners will happily tell you to "change at Ōtemachi" without mentioning that this means leaving the building.
This matters for fares as well as time: stepping out of JR and into Tokyo Metro is two operators and two fares, not a transfer. Why one journey costs two fares →
If you are moving around central Tokyo and the subway is your main mode, Shinjuku and the Ōtemachi cluster are better interchanges than Tokyo Station itself. Tokyo Station is a long-distance station that happens to be central.
Third busiest on the JR East network. Source: JR East — average daily passengers by station.
| JR East boardings per day, FY2024 | Total | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Shinjuku | 666,809 | 1 |
| Ikebukuro | 499,128 | 2 |
| Tōkyō | 434,564 | 3 |
| Yokohama | 373,010 | 4 |
| Shibuya | 324,414 | 5 |
As with all JR East station figures, this counts boardings only on JR East lines — it excludes people getting off, and excludes the Tokyo Metro Marunouchi line entirely. The true throughput is considerably higher. Why Shinjuku's numbers vary so wildly →
Tokyo Station is one of the few stations where "eat at the station" is genuinely good advice. Tokyo Station Ichibangai — signed in English as First Avenue Tokyo Station — runs beneath the Yaesu side and is directly connected to the station.
Source: First Avenue Tokyo Station (Tokyo Station Ichibangai). Individual shop hours vary — check the shop guide rather than assuming.
The practical version: if you have a Shinkansen to catch from platforms 14–23, you are already on the Yaesu side and Ramen Street is directly below you. Buying an ekiben lunchbox on the concourse and eating it on the train is the other classic move, and the platforms are lined with sellers.
Tokyo Station is better equipped than most. Alongside ordinary coin lockers there is a Shinkansen Parcel Service and baggage storage counter open 05:30–23:00, storage at the JR EAST Travel Service Center, a temporary storage point at the Shinkansen South Transfer Gate, and a same-day baggage delivery service to hotels.
Unusually for a city station, Tokyo Station's Suica lockers publish real-time availability online, and there is a locker reservation service — both worth using before you arrive rather than walking the floors hunting.
Source: Tokyo Station City — coin lockers and baggage storage. Full luggage storage guide, with prices →
There is a JR EAST Travel Service Center at Tokyo Station, which sells and collects JR East regional passes, exchanges Japan Rail Pass vouchers, and is one of the listed sales points for the Welcome Suica. For Shinkansen tickets, the reserved-seat machines with passport readers are the fastest route if you booked online.
If you are collecting a Japan Rail Pass, doing it here or at Shinjuku avoids the airport arrivals queue — and Tokyo Station is where you will start using it.
Tokyo Station is a strong base if your trip involves day trips by Shinkansen, and a weaker one for nightlife — Marunouchi is a business district that empties in the evening. Check which side of the station a hotel is on before booking; "near Tokyo Station" spans that ten-minute walk.
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Verified July 2026. Something outdated or incorrect? Report an error →