Tokyo Metro passes

Can I purchase 2 2-day foreign tourist Tokyo metro open tickets for 980 yen each? I will be in Tokyo for 4 days so I wanted to use the 2 tickets for my 4 day stay. Or will the ticket be good only for the 2 days from time of purchase? If so then I should purchase the 3 day 1500 yen Tokyo subway ticket at Narita but since I arrive in the afternoon will the ticket again be good for the 3 days at time of purchase (including the day I arrive)? thank you in advance.

The passes activate when you first use it and that's your day 1 of 2 or 3 depending on the pass you buy. But beware, those passes aren't good for JR travel. No Yamanote line or Chuo Line, etc. They only work for Tokyo Metro and therefore are very hard to make them worthwhile. I would skip them and get a SUICA or PASMO instead.

It depends on where you want to go in Tokyo. Certain places are more accessible from JR trains as opposed to subways.

The 3 day subway ticket can be used on all subway lines but as John B said it may be hard to make them pay off. Have a look on hyperdia and work out where you are wanting to go and whether buying individual tickets or using a suica card would suit you better.

Hope this helps.

It really depends on preferences, I personally use Metro a lot more than JR, however, there are times that JR is more convenient to reach certain place.

Personally, I use metro a lot in Tokyo as compared to JR, but was never bothered with buying the pass, sounds like a lot of hassle to me. Plus, Pasmo and Suica can be really convenient in Tokyo, you could use it for purchasing in convenient store or other store that allows you to do it, vending machines and even use them in JR. I would just get Suica or Pasmo unless you are sure your itinerary will take a lot of Metro and very expensive etc.

The major part of the trip from Narita Airport to Tokyo city area will not be covered by the Tokyo Metro Pass or the Tokyo Subway Ticket. Unless you arrive at Narita really early in the day, it is difficult to make using a Pass worthwhile for the day of arrival. Again it depends a lot on your arrival time, location of your hotel and places you want to visit. You should plan your trip, calculate the fares before deciding whether passes should be used.

Forgot to mention : the day of departure will be in a similar or worse situation as the day of arrival, because you need to be at the airport say two hours before time of departure. That does not leave you much time for travelling on that day.

Thanks for your responses. Basically I'm going to be travelling around Tokyo so I figure the metro should work for me. I'm staying near Shinjuku (yotsuya) so plan on hopping on and off when I do the tourist things, making short hops to shibuya, odaiba, asakusa, Shinjuku, roppongi, imp palace, ueno, ikebukuro and other places. Buying the metro all day passes I don't have to worry about hopping on and off or how much is left on my card. With the tourist 2 day pass at 980 yen (490 a day), 3 trips will pay for itself. Glad that it will be activated when I first use it, sounds like 2 2 day passes will work. As for Travel from Narita, I plan to just pay that separately from the metro pass and use the metro pass when I get into Tokyo. will probably take the keisei main line into Tokyo. thanks for your help!

You do realize that the Yurikamone line (Odaiba) is Toei Subway, you have to pay for that outta your pocket.

And if you wanna visit Shibuya and Shinjuku (+ maybe Ikebukuro) on the same day, which would make sense, since they are quite near each other, the Yamanote line would make more sense, time wise.

Ueno + Asakusa are best reached in a combo of Metro and Toei Subway lines (from Yotsuya station I assume), so be prepared to pay for single tickets.

I personally would take the most convenient route and by only using Tokyo Metro? Be prepared to take some detours.

I do mostly use the Tokyo Metro lines when in Tokyo but always in combination with JR and Toei.

And this 'hopping on and off', maybe I'm not understanding you correctly but even when using only Tokyo Metro lines you would have to transfer to reach some places in Tokyo...

Like from Yotsuya station to Ginza station with Marunouchi line, then transfer to Ginza line to get to Ueno station.

Yurikamome is NOT Toei subway. It's an entirely separate company.

OP, I hope you realize that the two-day Metro pass that sells for 980 yen at the airport only covers Metro lines and NOT Toei lines. The Tokyo Subway Ticket that costs 1200 for 2 days or 1500 for three days covers both companies, so it is a better buy. If you want to get one of these passes, don't let people discourage you from doing so (inevitably they will try), but make sure you understand what will be covered and what won't. Generally speaking you can get almost everywhere without using JR, but it really helps to have both subway companies covered. Sooner or later (probably sooner) you are going to want to use one of the Toei lines, and if you get the two-day Metro pass that doesn't cover Toei it will be an inconvenience and an added expense.

The most convenient thing is to get a Suica card that covers JR, both subway lines, Yurikamome, and more. But it doesn't save any money over individual tickets. If you want to be able to just get off and on wherever you want for no extra money, go with the Tokyo Subway Ticket and stick to the two subway lines.

Except for Aasakusa, Roppongi and Odaiba, the Yamanote line goes to all the places you want to go and then some more.

I always walk from Ueno to Asakusa by side streets to see the houses, shops etc. and also the area where they make replica of food (forgot the name..)

From Asakusa I take a boat to Odaiba. It is not terribly expensive, and is a relaxing and interesting trip.

I don't like Roppongi at all and prefer to see the areas around Nippori, Ebisu and other areas along the Yamanote.

Oop sorry. I read somewhere that Toei is the owner of Yurikamome

Still, if you really wanna get a pass OP, get the one which covers both Toei Subway and Tokyo Metro.

I will probably get the 3 day Tokyo subway ticket (1500 yen) which allows unlimited use of Toei and Tokyo Metro. I understand that many metro and toei trips involve taking more than one line to get to my destination but I may have to sometimes take more than one JR line to get somewhere also. I checked Jorudan to see how to get from one place to another and my jaunts all look reasonable. The JR lines might be a few minutes faster but since I'm hopping on and off to get to my destinations I figure the metro would be more cost effective. I'm grouping my jaunts according to area, like Shinjuku, meiji, harajuku, shibuya one day, ueno, asakusa, roppongi and ikebukuro another day, odaiba area on another day. This doesn't count my evening joints to roppongi, Kabukicho, etc. so the metro might be the best value for me to travel.

We always use Tokyo Metro passes and have no difficulty getting around using them - just because another metroline or Yamanote line goes a bit closer to your destination doesn't mean that you can't do a bit of walking as well!

These day passes sound convenient, but at the same time you're restricting yourself because you can only ride the metro OR JR lines with them. Walk? Just because you can't use your pass? (facepalm)

Btw, if you're visiting shinjuku/tokyo for the first time the metro system can be rather overwhelming. For newcomers IMO JR is much easier to travel with.

My advice: get an IC card (Suica/Pasmo) you can ride whatever you want without limiting yourself. Adding money to your IC card is really easy, ticket machines always have this handy [english] button.

If you're going to be using the Metro frequently, I'd suggest a Pasmo. It's Tokyo's rechargeable smart card which can be used more than once. If your hotel or apartment is near a large subway station, they'll most definitely sell it. If you're planning on using the JR lines more, a Suica is their version. They can be used interchangeably, JR on the Metro and vice versa. And, they make for a nice souvenir as well because you can get your name personalized on the card! Hope this helps!

Thank you all for your assistance!

I just got back from my vacation. In Tokyo I purchased the 3 day subway/metro pass at narita for 1500+ yen. I also purchased a suica card just in case (since I was going to Osaka and knew I would use it there) but I never used it on those 3 days I used the other pass in Tokyo. I had no problems using the subway/metro pass and it took me to just about all the areas that I wanted to visit. If you want to save a little money I would highly recommend picking up this 3 day pass to get around Tokyo. I know others don't recommend it but it served me well and I got my money's worth from it. I would have spent a lot more had I just used the Suica card instead so the 3 day subway/metro pass was perfect for my needs. Thanks again all for your input.