Since the faster trains do not stop at all stations, you must determine whether your destination is serviced by an express train before boarding it. However, there is usually a board on the platform indicating exactly which trains stop where, in both English and Japanese.

Most of Tokyo’s train lines now reserve women-only carriages at weekday rush hours and on weekend nights. The carriages are marked with signs (usually pink) in both Japanese and English, or in some cases by illustrations showing the silhouette of a man standing outside of a women-only carriage. Boys older than 12 are not allowed on women-only carriages.

Bicycle
Despite the tangled traffic and often narrow roads, bicycles are still one of the most common forms of transport in Tokyo. Theft does happen, especially of cheap bicycles, so go ahead and lock up your bike. Ride with your bag or pack on your person, as opportunists on motorbikes do swipe stuff from those front-mounted baskets.

Some ryokan (traditional Japanese inns) and inns rent bicycles to their guests, but if your lodgings don’t, you can rent a bicycle in Asakusa for ¥200 per day. There’s a bicycle-rental lot on the Sumida-gawa bank near Azumabashi (the bridge just outside Asakusa Station).

Economy
Although it looked as if Japan was going to take over the world economically through the 1980s, by the 1990s Japan’s economy was in a certifiable recession and remained so until very recently. Unemployment hovered around 5% (high by national standards), homelessness rose (visible in major encampments in districts such as Ueno and Shinjuku), and corporations approached bankruptcy and bank loans turned into bad debts. The result: deflation, increased public debt and growing concern over how to support a graying populace (Japan has one of the world’s oldest populations, with life expectancies over 77 years for men and 85 for women). However, 2005 marked the beginning of a turnaround, which appears, finally, to have traction – land values in the city rose for the first time since 1991, and the Nikkei index is once again climbing high.
Some smart Tokyoites used the bubble to regenerate. People under 40 began to reject the stability of lifetime employment in favor of more compelling, often more flexible, independent jobs. The emblem of this movement was Horie Takafumi, who in 1995 dropped out of Tokyo University (Japan’s most prestigious) at the age of 23 to found a consulting company that eventually morphed into Livedoor, one of Japan’s leading internet services and DVD-rental empires. Horie’s showy personal trappings – fast cars, T-shirts instead of suits, brash corporate takeover bids and being a general media hound – infuriated the old-line corporate world. They also landed him in a book-cooking scandal that has periodically splashed across the headlines in recent times.

Money
Be warned that cold hard cash is the way to pay in Tokyo. Although credit cards are becoming more common, cash is still the payment of choice, and traveler’s checks are rarely accepted outside of large hotels and department stores. Do not assume that you can pay with a credit card, and always carry sufficient cash.

The currency in Japan is the yen (¥), and banknotes and coins are easily distinguishable. There are ¥1, ¥5, ¥10, ¥50, ¥100 and ¥500 coins; and ¥1000, ¥2000, ¥5000 and ¥10, 000 banknotes (the ¥2000 note is very rarely seen). The ¥1 coin is an aluminum lightweight coin; the bronze-colored ¥5 and silver-colored ¥50 coins both have a hole punched in the middle. Note that some vending machines do not accept older ¥500 coins. Prices may be listed using the kanji for yen ().