Explore everyday life in Japan
Public transportation in Japan is incredibly punctual, so much so that, when it comes to riding city buses, it can cause problems for tourists and people who are new to Japan.
Unlike train stations, where only one train can use a specific platform at a certain time, many buses are able to use the same stop within minutes of each other.
That means that you can have three or four busses picking people up from the same location within a matter of five or ten minutes. For people who aren’t accustomed to the promptness of Japanese buses, seeing a bus come to the stop where they are waiting one minute before their bus is scheduled to come often creates a moment of panic.
It doesn’t matter that the bus clearly has a number written on the front of it, or that the direction the bus is heading is prominently displayed on the front as well (generally in kanji), the fact that a bus has come to the bus stop at 9:53 when the bus that that person wants to ride is scheduled to come at 9:55 creates enough of a conundrum to make many people get on the wrong bus. That’s why it is very important in Japan to double check the buses’ numbers and have complete faith in the buses’ time schedules.
In addition to this, there are some other aspects of riding public buses in Japan that, depending on the country you are from, may cause confusion.
For one, buses in Japan are entered from the middle of the bus and are exited from the front. Upon entering the bus, you have an option. If you are carrying a Suica card, which can be obtained at any train station in Japan with a deposit of 200 yen and can be used to ride both trains and buses, you can simply scan the Suica card upon entering the bus and take a seat without worry.
If you aren’t carrying a Suica card, you will have to check the ticket-dispensing machine that is located just inside the doors of the bus, next to the stairs. If a ticket has been dispensed, you must take it. This ticket dictates the fare that you will have to pay.
Sometimes, however, a ticket isn’t dispensed. This can be a little troubling, but it is nothing to worry about. It merely means that you have gotten on the bus at the beginning of its route and will be expected to pay the highest fare displayed on the monitor in the front of the bus. Unlike in some countries, bus fares in Japan are based on the distance traveled, not on single rides.
Lastly, when you exit the bus, you will have to pay your fare. Again, if you have a Suica card (which is highly advisable), you will just have to scan your card and exit the bus. If you are paying in cash, though, you will need to pay in exact change.
There is a money exchanger at the front of the bus, next to the bus driver. If you don’t have exact change to pay your bus fare, you can exchange your money here. However, if you wait to change your money until you are exiting the bus, you will most likely hold the bus up and upset a few people in the process (Bus drivers, particularly, don’t like it when people do this.).
The proper thing to do in this situation is to move to the front of the bus while it is moving and exchange your bills for coins between stops. Then, when you are exiting the bus, put your exact change, along with the ticket you received as you entered the bus (if there was one to take) into a plastic box that is mounted to the top of the money exchanger. Exchanging your money before you exit the bus and pay your fare is very easy to forget, so if you come to Japan and find yourself riding a city bus, please try to keep this in mind.
This is an ongoing series that will explore various aspects of daily life in Japan. My hope is that this series will not only reveal to its followers, image by image, what Japan looks like, but that it will also inform its followers about unique Japanese items and various cultural and societal practices. If you are interested in getting regular updates about life in Japan, please consider following me at @boxcarblue. If you have any questions about life in Japan, please don’t hesitate to ask. I will do my best to answer all of your questions.