Are Trains and Buses Running?
Tsukuba is having a rare snow day today. Since it doesn't snow a lot in this area of Japan, a little bit of snow can make it difficult to get anywhere. Trains are often delayed or stopped and buses sometimes can't run in the snow. If you are planning a trip and you want to know how the weather is going to affect your journey, please check the following pages. The pages are in Japanese, but when something is wrong, it is usually written in red (or bold or something) so you should at least be able to tell whether your chances of making it to your destination are good or bad without being able to read the page.
- Tsukuba Express
If everything is ok, it will say 「平常通り運行しております」. - Tokyo Metro
If everything is okay, it will say 「現在、平常どおり運転しています」. If there is something wrong, it will be written in red. The lines are written in this order: Ginza, Marunouchi, Hibiya, Tozai, Chiyoda, Yurakucho, Hanzomon, Nanboku. 一部直通運転中止 means some trains are not running. - JR East
- Tohoku Area
- Kanto Area (Tsukuba is in this area)
- Shinetsu Area
- Shinkansen
- Long-Distance Buses
If everything is okay, it will say 「現在、平常通り運転しています。」. Possible problems: 遅延 = delayed, 運転見合わせ = waiting for a decision, 一部運休 = some trains are not running, 運休 = trains are not running
Print This Post
Bus from Tsukuba to Narita Airport
There used to be an official English schedule for the Tsukuba to Narita Airport bus on the Kantetsu website, but it seems to have been removed. A kind person in Tsukuba (Yuka) has translated the schedule for us.
Tsukuba to Narita Airport Bus Schedule
Tsukuba to Narita Airport Bus Schedule (after November 20, 2008)
Please keep in mind that the bus schedule is subject to change, so keep an eye on the Japanese page for the updated schedules.
Print This Post
Cheaper Way to Get to Tokyo
I found this information in the "Plaza" magazine that gets delivered to homes in Tsukuba for free. I thought this might help people make plans for Golden Week.
==============
Kanto Tetsudo Bus and JR Bus Kanto (I am not sure if they intentionally made these names to confuse people) operate a joint bus route between Tsukuba and Tokyo. The tickets are usually 1150 yen, but from April 26, 2007 to March 31, 2008 you can buy 3 tickets to Tokyo for 1900 yen, which comes out to 633 yen per ticket. However, please note that these tickets can only be used for the trip to Tokyo and cannot be used on the way back from Tokyo to Tsukuba.
This tickets are on sale at the Tsukuba bus terminal, but they can also be purchased on board the bus. You cannot buy them at Tokyo Station.
The schedule is available here:
http://www.kantetsu.co.jp/bus/highway/center/center_jikoku.pdf
The first schedule is for the trip from Tsukuba to Tokyo (上り=nobori=going up).
Stops:
University of Tsukuba (筑波大学=tsukuba daigaku)
University of Tsukuba Hall (大学会館=daigaku kaikan)
University of Tsukuba Hospital (筑波大学病院=tsukuba daigaku byoin)
Tsukuba Center (つくばセンター)
Takezono 2-chome (竹園二丁目=takezono nichome)
Sengen 1-chome (千現一丁目=sengen itchome)
Namiki 1-chome (並木一丁目=namiki itchome)
Namiki 2-chome (並木二丁目=namiki nichome)
Namiki Ohashi (並木大橋=namiki ohashi)
Shimo Hirooka (下広岡)
(The above stops are all in Tsukuba)
Ueno Station (上野駅=ueno eki)
Tokyo Station (東京駅=tokyo eki)
On holidays, the bus does not stop at Ueno, so the last column in the first schedule shows what time you can expect to arrive at Tsukuba Station on holidays.
The second schedule is for the trip from Tokyo to Tsukuba (下り=kudari=going down). The bus leaves from Tokyo Station, then goes to Shimo Hirooka (which is in Tsukuba), Namiki Ohashi, Namiki 2-chome, Namiki 1-chome, Sengen 1-chome, Takezono 2-chome, Tsukuba Center, University of Tsukuba Hospital, University of Tsukuba Hall, and the final stop, University of Tsukuba. (This bus never stops at Ueno Station.)
"Nobori" and "kudari" are used to describe the direction that trains are travelling relative to Tokyo. Trains that are heading towards Tokyo are 上り and trains that are heading away from Tokyo are 下り. There are some exceptions, and there are other ways of labelling train lines (e.g. 北行=kita yuki=northbound, 南行=minami yuki=southbound), but often trains that travel on routes that end up outside of Tokyo are labelled like this.
Happy travels!
Print This Post
Closed for the Holidays
For those of you who are spending your first new year's in Tsukuba, please note that MANY businesses and services are closed during this holiday.
The most important things to remember are (1) to withdraw some money before the banks and ATMs close and (2) to make sure you take your garbage out before the trucks stop coming!
Garbage
The last day of garbage collection is tomorrow (Monday, December 29). The next garbage day will be Saturday, January 3 and burnable garbage will be collected on that day in all parts of Tsukuba. The Clean Center is also closed from December 30 to January 2 so if tomorrow is not a burnable garbage day in your area and you cannot take your garbage to the Clean Center, you have to keep it until January 3.
Source: http://www.city.tsukuba.ibaraki.jp/266/003391.html
Joyo Bank
Every bank is different, so I will just mention the situation for Joyo. The banks will be operating pretty much as normal on Monday (29) and Tuesday (30). They will then be closed from the 31 to the 4th and open up again on the 5th.
ATMs will have limited or no service between December 30 and January 4. All ATMs will be closed on January 1. This includes accessing your Joyo account through an ATM at 7-11. Some ATMs will be in operation on the other dates, but not all, and the ones that are in operation will mostly be on "holiday" hours. Regular ATM service will resume on Monday, January 5.
Online banking will be completely unavailable on January 1 and will have limited availability on December 31, and January 2 to 4th. All online transactions that occur after December 30 will not be processed until January 5. (So if you want to send money to someone by online furikomi and you want it to arrive before January 5, you will have to send it on December 30 at the latest.)
Sources: http://www.joyobank.co.jp/top/20081217.html and http://www.joyobank.co.jp/access-j/info.html
Postal Banking
Postal banking will be available as usual on Monday (29) and Tuesday (30). Teller services will not be available between December 31 and January 4. Regular teller services will resume on January 5.
Postal ATMs will be available as usual on Monday (29) and Tuesday (30) and they will close early (between 5pm and 8pm) on Wednesday (31). ATMs will not be available between January 1 and 3. They will open again between 7am and 9am on January 4. They will operate as usual on January 5.
Online banking will not be available from 11:50pm on December 31 to 6:30am on January 4.
Source: http://www.jp-bank.japanpost.jp/news/2008/news_id000345.html
City Hall
Tsukuba City Hall is closed from December 27 to January 4. The Sakura Branch office will be open on Sunday January 4 for limited services relating to issuing certificates such as inkan certificates or certificates of registered matters for foreigners. All branches will resume normal operations on January 5.
Source: http://www.city.tsukuba.ibaraki.jp/266/003391.html
Library
Tsukuba Public Library is closed from December 28 to January 5.
Source: http://www.city.tsukuba.ibaraki.jp/266/003391.html
Community Centers
All community centers (公民館, kominkan) will be closed from December 29 to January 3.
Source: http://www.city.tsukuba.ibaraki.jp/266/003391.html
Children's Centers
All children's centers (児童館, jidokan) will be closed from December 27 to January 4.
Source: http://www.city.tsukuba.ibaraki.jp/266/003391.html
Tsukuba Express
The trains will continue to run throughout the holidays, but will be on "holiday" schedules from December 30 to January 4.
Some extra trains have been scheduled on December 31. The last train that will reach Tsukuba on the night of December 31 will leave at 12:40am from Akihabara and arrive in Tsukuba at 1:37am. It will stop at every station. (Three trains will leave after that time, but they will all terminate at Moriya and will not come to Tsukuba.)
The last train to leave Tsukuba will be at 11:47pm and it will arrive in Akihabara at 12:45am, stopping at every station.
Source: https://www.mir.co.jp/uploads/20081211092155.pdf
TsukuBus
TsukuBus will run as usual.
Source: http://www.city.tsukuba.ibaraki.jp/266/003391.html
Emergency Services
Call an ambulance (119) if there is an emergency where time is of the essence. In case you ever need to call an ambulance, you should memorize how to say your address in Japanese, and keep a copy of your address in romaji posted near the phone or on the refrigerator so others can call from your house.
Call 029-241-4199 to find out where to bring a sick person whose condition is not in need of urgent attention.
There is also a hotline to call for advice about whether your sick child needs immediate medical care or not: 029-254-9900 (or #8000 from a regular phone or cellphone).
In all cases, you will most likely have to speak Japanese.
The following hospitals will have some services available on the following days (but it is probably better to call 029-241-4199 to find out where to bring a person first).
December 30: Tsukuba Kinen Hospital
January 1: Tsukuba Soai Hospital
January 2: Tsukuba Gakuen Hospital, Tsukuba Kinen Hospital
January 3: Tsukuba Chuo Hospital
January 4: Tsukuba Soai Hospital
Source: http://www.city.tsukuba.ibaraki.jp/266/003391.html
I hope you have a very happy holiday! (Just don't forget to get some money out before the banks close!!!)
Print This Post
Densha-mo, Bus-mo, Pasmo
Pasmo, a card that you can use to travel on trains and buses in Japan, debuted on March 18 of this year. I tried out the card for the first time on Saturday, and I can say that I am quite pleased with the results.
Pasmo works seamlessly with the Suica network, so you can use this one card to take the Tsukuba Express, any JR trains, the subway, and even (I assume) the bus from Tsukuba to Tokyo. (I'm not sure of the situation with intra- and inter-city buses in Tsukuba. Can any of our readers confirm whether they have been able to use Pasmo on buses in the city?)
You can buy the card with a 500 yen deposit at ticket vending machines along the Tsukuba Express line (and presumably elsewhere). You can embed your name in the card (meaning that only you can use it, and you may be able to get it back if you lose it) or just leave it blank. You can put money on the card at the same vending machines. The machine that I used had English instructions, and the procedure is fairly straightforward.
If you really want to make things easy for yourself, you can associate your Pasmo card with a credit card, so that 3000 yen will be added to the card every time it gets below 2000 yen. This means that you wouldn't even have to wait in line to add more money to the card. Very convenient!
It is definitely worth getting one of these cards in my opinion because it decreases the amount of time that you have to fiddle with little tickets and it makes your travel go a lot more smoothly. It is especially helpful when you are trying to catch a train at the last minute and don't have enough time to wait in the line for a ticket. You can even keep the card in your wallet and just slide your wallet across the panel, so you don't have to go fishing about for the card.
I don't travel to Tokyo very often, but whenever I have gone in the past, I have been jealous of the people who have Suica cards, since they don't have to wait in any lines or look up the fares before they board the train. I am glad that that level of convenience has finally spread to Tsukuba.
Print This Post