Fares are generally based on distance and average out to 300-500 yen per km depending on the prefecture. Note that there are traffic jam surcharges, and any toll roads charges will get added to the bill.
They base is on time and kms so even if you sit in Traffic it costs money. I saw in another group where they went for a 10 min drive in Tokyo and it cost around 5600yen There are also lots of one way roads? So sometimes the driver looks like they might be taking you a really long way but actually it’s because it’s 1 way or you can’t turn.
It can rack up pretty quickly, especially if you are sitting in traffic or on a highway.
A 10-minute ride won’t be so bad if you have a few other travelers who will divide the fare with you.
My last 10-15 min ride in Shinjuku cost maybe 1100-1500 yen or so. Most of that time was spent sitting in traffic.
We didn’t find them that bad at all. In a pinch, they’re fantastic.
We took a few that were around 10-15 minutes each and the prices weren’t that outrageous. Maybe 1000-1500 yen? Well worth it for us in those situations.
Its the same as any other city. It’s just that Tokyo is so massive you think taking a taxi is a good idea. It isn’t. Taxis are good for short 10 min trips at most. But don’t Take a taxi from Shinjuku Station to Tsukiji Market for example.
I took a taxi from the hotel next to Hakata station to the International airport early in the morning before 6am. Distance was around 3.5km or 15 mins’ ride and it cost 1500yen.
We paid about $150 USD to go from Narita airport to Tokyo the first time there, have never taken a taxi since.
Edit: was probably actually closer to $200(or 20k Yen)
I only took a couple in Tokyo and Kyoto, but cannot remember the amounts being anything shocking compared to other major international cities (NYC, London). For example, taking a cab from our hotel near Ginza to Tokyo Station on our way out was approx 10min and was between ¥1000-2000, thats like $7-$14…no big deal.
I’ve found this with pricing across several categories – its all relative to your experiences. $5 for a beer is cheap coming from NYC (happy hour pricing), but “expensive” if you live in Indiana.
Anyone got advice on taxis for five people? Been looking at Uber XL for some unavoidable journeys, but would love to hear people’s actual experiences/advice. For Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto.
My husband and I took one in Kyoto and for 8.5 minutes we paid 1600 yen. Ehhh kinda pricey in my opinion but maybe because we also took it at a late hour (1 AM) 🤷♀️
I recently took a middle of the night taxi from Shinjuku to Ikebukuro, it was about ¥2800. Based on the current exchange rate I thought that was pretty good for a 20 minute drive
This past June/July, we took more cabs than usual because I was just melting in the heat and humidity.
I think our most expensive cab was around 3000 yen and it was from the Hyatt Regency Kyoto to Kitano Tenman-gu shrine. It’s around 8 km. We didn’t sit in traffic, it just took a while, It was much more comfortable and much faster than dealing with a bus.
We also took a taxi from the hotel to Kyoto Station 2x (1 trip was more like 1100 yen the other more like 800 yen), from Kawamachi to the Hyatt (around 800 yen), and from the Ascott in Tokyo to Tokyo Station (around 1000.) Outside of the one to Tenman-gu, I’ve walked the other routes, and it was just easier and less sweaty to take a cab.
So I guess it depends on your expectations for expensive and how tight your budget is? I definitely think taxis can be worth it and I don’t regret any of the times I took a cab. Time of year and how much stuff you have definitely makes a difference.
All my rides it was me and my daughter.
IMHO it’s pretty comparable to Uber now (I live in Atlanta). We stayed out drinking pretty late in Ebisu and took a 30ish min taxi back to Asakusa for $60. Not amazing but definitely worth it to stay out late for a night or 2. Like others have said, 1 hour+ is gonna be expensive, but if you plan out your night a bit you can make it reasonable.
It is about as bad as in a major / expensive city like LA/NY – reasonable ballpark is like $1-1.50 per minute. So a ten minute cab ride might be $10-15 bucks. We took them when we knew taking the various public transport options would be an extremely sweaty situation – good god the humidity on the subway is killer.
We took taxis in Kyoto and spent $5-$10 per trip. Definitely worth it when we had luggage to contend with.
I took one last time I was there from Shinjuku to Asakusa at about 2am and it was around 40 bucks CAD. I took another one in Osaka from Dontonburi to my air bnb and it was also around 25 bucks CAD. Pretty comparable to other large cities in which I have taken a cab. But when the trains stop you have no choice. Either keep drinking til they start again or take a cab hahahah.
In Kyoto a 10 min ride from the station to our hotel took over $15usd Same route on the way back, in the rain, took $25usd
It’s roughly $10-$20, depending on what part of Japan, traffic, and distance; and if its a relatively long distance, tolls.
If you are alone, and not in a hurry, expensive. If you are are in a small group and in a hurry, worth every penny. If there’s no train or bus, you have no other options.
If you are tired, or it’s late, or you have a lot of stuff from shopping all day, worth every penny.
If you have a group of 4 taxis are usually cheaper than public transport for short distances.
In my opinion, taxis in Japan are comparable in price to what you would pay in the US. Depending on your frame of reference, this is either reasonable or ridiculously expensive.
Compared to other costs in Japan (food, hotel), taxis are quite expensive and I generally avoided them. I saved them for short trips if I had a lot of luggage, or middle of the night after the subway was closed.
Took cabs in several Japanese cities during my last trip and they were always much cheaper than I expected compared to what I pay in Canada.
Tokyo has the best cabs I’ve ever experienced. Incredibly clean. Very helpful drivers. The meters tell you exactly how much the fare is rising. All the cars have video screens with translation devices.
We didn’t find taxis to be that expensive. I think the reason people say it’s expensive because Japan has great public transportation so in comparison of course is more expensive.
We used Didi over Uber it is just easier to put the address rather than try to communicate with the driver since we don’t speak fluent Japanese. We did took cabs out of the hotel various times but we had the staff that helped with communication.
At the end of the day you are paying for convenience and time savings at times. In Osaka we took the most taxis because often a 10-15 minute ride will be over 30 minutes in public transport and that time savings was worth the up charge to us.
We took a couple in Kyoto for our group of four (my husband, me, our then 3 year old, and my mother) and I believe they were about 1400-2000 yen. For us it was worth it at that point in our trip because our feet were tired, and especially when we had all of our luggage (since we used Kyoto as a “hub” for half of our trip). I can’t remember how much the car from our hotel in Tokyo to Haneda airport was (I think maybe 70$?), but for us it was worth it since we had a lot of bags, a toddler, and a senior.
3 best ways to get around in Tokyo, in my experience are:
1 – riding a bike since most of the infrastructure in Tokyo is designed for pedestrian/cyclist convenience over motor vehicles (opposite of North America). But if your destination is too far and you don’t have a bike..
2 – taking transit. Buses and trains are very reasonably priced and are by far the most convenient and comfortable way to get around Tokyo IMO. Much cheaper than driving too, which is purposefully made to be expensive in the Tokyo area, and most of Japan to be honest. I would avoid driving unless it’s your only option or you’re going somewhere really remote.
3 – in a pinch, if I miss the last train, or can’t find a suitable bus route I’ll resort to Taxi, but it’s not usually too expensive. For a 15 min ride I think I paid like $20 last time? My memory is hazy so that’s a very rough estimate, but I believe it was about that much.
5-10 minute drives are usually reasonable. longer rides can get more costly pretty quickly.
Been to Japan 13 times. Never needed a cab.
I’m an Australian, so in my opinion the taxis are fine. Not sure why people act like they cost an arm and a leg.
29 comments
Fares are generally based on distance and average out to 300-500 yen per km depending on the prefecture. Note that there are traffic jam surcharges, and any toll roads charges will get added to the bill.
They base is on time and kms so even if you sit in Traffic it costs money.
I saw in another group where they went for a 10 min drive in Tokyo and it cost around 5600yen
There are also lots of one way roads? So sometimes the driver looks like they might be taking you a really long way but actually it’s because it’s 1 way or you can’t turn.
It can rack up pretty quickly, especially if you are sitting in traffic or on a highway.
A 10-minute ride won’t be so bad if you have a few other travelers who will divide the fare with you.
My last 10-15 min ride in Shinjuku cost maybe 1100-1500 yen or so. Most of that time was spent sitting in traffic.
We didn’t find them that bad at all. In a pinch, they’re fantastic.
We took a few that were around 10-15 minutes each and the prices weren’t that outrageous. Maybe 1000-1500 yen? Well worth it for us in those situations.
Its the same as any other city. It’s just that Tokyo is so massive you think taking a taxi is a good idea. It isn’t. Taxis are good for short 10 min trips at most. But don’t Take a taxi from Shinjuku Station to Tsukiji Market for example.
I took a taxi from the hotel next to Hakata station to the International airport early in the morning before 6am. Distance was around 3.5km or 15 mins’ ride and it cost 1500yen.
We paid about $150 USD to go from Narita airport to Tokyo the first time there, have never taken a taxi since.
Edit: was probably actually closer to $200(or 20k Yen)
I only took a couple in Tokyo and Kyoto, but cannot remember the amounts being anything shocking compared to other major international cities (NYC, London). For example, taking a cab from our hotel near Ginza to Tokyo Station on our way out was approx 10min and was between ¥1000-2000, thats like $7-$14…no big deal.
I’ve found this with pricing across several categories – its all relative to your experiences. $5 for a beer is cheap coming from NYC (happy hour pricing), but “expensive” if you live in Indiana.
Anyone got advice on taxis for five people? Been looking at Uber XL for some unavoidable journeys, but would love to hear people’s actual experiences/advice. For Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto.
My husband and I took one in Kyoto and for 8.5 minutes we paid 1600 yen. Ehhh kinda pricey in my opinion but maybe because we also took it at a late hour (1 AM) 🤷♀️
I recently took a middle of the night taxi from Shinjuku to Ikebukuro, it was about ¥2800. Based on the current exchange rate I thought that was pretty good for a 20 minute drive
This past June/July, we took more cabs than usual because I was just melting in the heat and humidity.
I think our most expensive cab was around 3000 yen and it was from the Hyatt Regency Kyoto to Kitano Tenman-gu shrine. It’s around 8 km. We didn’t sit in traffic, it just took a while, It was much more comfortable and much faster than dealing with a bus.
We also took a taxi from the hotel to Kyoto Station 2x (1 trip was more like 1100 yen the other more like 800 yen), from Kawamachi to the Hyatt (around 800 yen), and from the Ascott in Tokyo to Tokyo Station (around 1000.) Outside of the one to Tenman-gu, I’ve walked the other routes, and it was just easier and less sweaty to take a cab.
So I guess it depends on your expectations for expensive and how tight your budget is? I definitely think taxis can be worth it and I don’t regret any of the times I took a cab. Time of year and how much stuff you have definitely makes a difference.
All my rides it was me and my daughter.
IMHO it’s pretty comparable to Uber now (I live in Atlanta). We stayed out drinking pretty late in Ebisu and took a 30ish min taxi back to Asakusa for $60. Not amazing but definitely worth it to stay out late for a night or 2. Like others have said, 1 hour+ is gonna be expensive, but if you plan out your night a bit you can make it reasonable.
It is about as bad as in a major / expensive city like LA/NY – reasonable ballpark is like $1-1.50 per minute. So a ten minute cab ride might be $10-15 bucks. We took them when we knew taking the various public transport options would be an extremely sweaty situation – good god the humidity on the subway is killer.
We took taxis in Kyoto and spent $5-$10 per trip. Definitely worth it when we had luggage to contend with.
I took one last time I was there from Shinjuku to Asakusa at about 2am and it was around 40 bucks CAD. I took another one in Osaka from Dontonburi to my air bnb and it was also around 25 bucks CAD. Pretty comparable to other large cities in which I have taken a cab. But when the trains stop you have no choice. Either keep drinking til they start again or take a cab hahahah.
In Kyoto a 10 min ride from the station to our hotel took over $15usd
Same route on the way back, in the rain, took $25usd
It’s roughly $10-$20, depending on what part of Japan, traffic, and distance; and if its a relatively long distance, tolls.
If you are alone, and not in a hurry, expensive. If you are are in a small group and in a hurry, worth every penny. If there’s no train or bus, you have no other options.
If you are tired, or it’s late, or you have a lot of stuff from shopping all day, worth every penny.
If you have a group of 4 taxis are usually cheaper than public transport for short distances.
In my opinion, taxis in Japan are comparable in price to what you would pay in the US. Depending on your frame of reference, this is either reasonable or ridiculously expensive.
Compared to other costs in Japan (food, hotel), taxis are quite expensive and I generally avoided them. I saved them for short trips if I had a lot of luggage, or middle of the night after the subway was closed.
Took cabs in several Japanese cities during my last trip and they were always much cheaper than I expected compared to what I pay in Canada.
Tokyo has the best cabs I’ve ever experienced. Incredibly clean. Very helpful drivers. The meters tell you exactly how much the fare is rising. All the cars have video screens with translation devices.
We didn’t find taxis to be that expensive. I think the reason people say it’s expensive because Japan has great public transportation so in comparison of course is more expensive.
We used Didi over Uber it is just easier to put the address rather than try to communicate with the driver since we don’t speak fluent Japanese. We did took cabs out of the hotel various times but we had the staff that helped with communication.
At the end of the day you are paying for convenience and time savings at times. In Osaka we took the most taxis because often a 10-15 minute ride will be over 30 minutes in public transport and that time savings was worth the up charge to us.
We took a couple in Kyoto for our group of four (my husband, me, our then 3 year old, and my mother) and I believe they were about 1400-2000 yen. For us it was worth it at that point in our trip because our feet were tired, and especially when we had all of our luggage (since we used Kyoto as a “hub” for half of our trip). I can’t remember how much the car from our hotel in Tokyo to Haneda airport was (I think maybe 70$?), but for us it was worth it since we had a lot of bags, a toddler, and a senior.
3 best ways to get around in Tokyo, in my experience are:
1 – riding a bike since most of the infrastructure in Tokyo is designed for pedestrian/cyclist convenience over motor vehicles (opposite of North America). But if your destination is too far and you don’t have a bike..
2 – taking transit. Buses and trains are very reasonably priced and are by far the most convenient and comfortable way to get around Tokyo IMO. Much cheaper than driving too, which is purposefully made to be expensive in the Tokyo area, and most of Japan to be honest. I would avoid driving unless it’s your only option or you’re going somewhere really remote.
3 – in a pinch, if I miss the last train, or can’t find a suitable bus route I’ll resort to Taxi, but it’s not usually too expensive. For a 15 min ride I think I paid like $20 last time? My memory is hazy so that’s a very rough estimate, but I believe it was about that much.
5-10 minute drives are usually reasonable. longer rides can get more costly pretty quickly.
Been to Japan 13 times. Never needed a cab.
I’m an Australian, so in my opinion the taxis are fine. Not sure why people act like they cost an arm and a leg.