Tips for traveling in Japan

Taxi fare

Last Updated (Sunday, 31 August 2008 22:26) Friday, 20 June 2008 00:00

Taxis are useful for tourists all over the world, but Japanese taxis are more expensive than in other Asian countries.
Even you only use a taxi for short trip, you will need about 1,000 yen.
You can choose a low price taxis where the basic fare is between 500 yen and 680 yen.
But you can't always find 500 yen taxis.

When you try to hail the taxi on the road, will see that some taxis have "500" written on the roof sign.
That means the first 2km only costs 500 yen.

 

When you have reached you destination, you don’t have to worry about the driver trying to cheat you as all taxis are metered.  You only have to worry about the cost.
Taxi maters are always accurate.  When it stops at the traffic lights or is stuck in a traffic jam, the meter stops running.

I guess Japanese taxis are not for short distance travel.
I saw many women using taxis for shopping in other countries in Asia, but they are only for the rich in Japan.

At midnight, after last trains have finished, taxi drivers sometimes refuse to take you if you are only going a short distance.  They try to find passengers whose homes are far from the station.

We have to think about these things every time when we want to take taxi, whether it is a short or long distance.