Trains are not always the easiest en devour and took me a while to learn to navigate with ease. You would be surprised when I say most Japanese don’t even know the train systems that well but overall its a true statement and understandably so. Theirs so many train lines in Japan its hard to know which is best.

I used to do trial and error because I wasn’t worried about making a mistake and getting on the wrong train but now that I have a family I use more planed methods.

First off would have to be 09 Tokyo Zuti This is a iPhone App where you simple type in the location you are heading and from what station they have all of the stations pre programed in in case of spelling errors or confusion.
It works Online as well as offline so it works wonderfully on a iPhone or iPod touch.

Built into this app also has a list of most popular destinations as well as airports and other useful places you simple click on one of them and you can find the best train from your location.

Now this program is pre destined trains and it cannot compensate for train delay’s or suicide’s on the tracks that cause lines to stop.

A website I often use before heading out is Japanese Train Route Finder I use this just to make sure that I’m getting on the best train and i use the Tokyo zuti to check for alternate trains and how long the train will take.