Is it easy to hail a taxi in Tokyo?

Major thoroughfares usually have taxis aplenty and you can flag one down pretty much anywhere as long as it's not obstructing traffic. Hailing a taxi on a small local street however, can be difficult. So walk to the nearest hotel, shopping centre or train station.



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Many taxis accept payment by credit card, and an increasing number accept payment by IC card, such as Suica. Stickers on the door often indicate accepted payment methods. When paying in cash, try to avoid paying small amounts with large bills. Tipping is not done in Japan.

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Most taxi drivers in Tokyo understand English, and you can simply tell them where you want to go. However, perhaps you can still ask someone at your hotel to help you write your destination on a piece of paper in Japanese.

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Most Japanese taxi drivers do not speak English, so you should try and show the driver a name card showing your destination in Japanese characters, or point out the place you wish to go on a map. Japanese cabs also now often have SAT NAV which will aid finding your destination if you know the telephone number of the ...

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However, in Tokyo, you'll notice that using the Uber app for rides isn't as common as you'd think. In short, yes, you can use Uber in Tokyo, but mostly to hail a taxi. But, more often than not, stopping a random taxi on the street might be faster (and cheaper) than requesting a taxi via the ubiquitous app.

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Yes. Most taxi business operators in Tokyo accept credit cards. Are tips necessary? No.

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Tipping in Japan is not expected, and attempts to leave a tip will almost certainly be turned down (a potentially awkward moment). In Japan, it's thought that by dining out or drinking at a bar, you are already paying the establishment for good service.

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Yes, drinking water from taps in Japan is safe. For environmental reasons, try to use a refillable water bottle rather than buying bottled water in Japan. Metro train stations have public water fountains, but otherwise these can be hard to find (this is the land of vending machines after all).

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Go is Japan's highly successful taxi app, with a network of 100,000 cabs aggregated from multiple local taxi companies. Thanks to regulation that effectively bans Uber and Didi from operating private car-sharing services, Go commands 70% of the mobility market in Japan.

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Sure you can. In big cities and at major landmarks and popular tourist sights, you'll be just fine most of the time. Of course, once you get off the beaten path a bit, things will get a little more challenging.

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These days all the main tourist sites are well signposted in English as well as Japanese, as are all the main transport options that you'll likely take. So you can totally get by with only english.

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When you enter the taxi, you let the driver know the destination by saying: (Placename) + ?? ??? ???? (made onegai shimasu) (… ?????????).

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Cash still plays a major role in Tokyo, although more places accept credit cards now. Travel IC cards such as Suica and PASMO are also common forms of cashless payment.

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As I explained, if you're visiting as a non-Japanese speaker, you'll generally have no trouble finding someone who speaks English in restaurants, hotels, and public transport in big cities like Tokyo or tourist cities like Kyoto.

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Do you need to speak any Japanese to travel around Japan? Absolutely not. You can travel to Japan without learning any of these words and have a great time. People ask us about the Japanese language barrier all the time, with common questions such as, Do Japanese people speak English?

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