The rail network is the best reason to visit Japan and the fastest way to get lost in it. The vocabulary that matters is small: which platform, which train, does this one stop there, and where do I change.

One distinction is worth memorising before you arrive. Express services skip stations, so the fast train on your platform may not stop where you are going — kono densha wa … ni ikimasu ka is the question that prevents it. Reserved and unreserved seating are separate carriages, and boarding the wrong one on a busy line means standing.