One name, several stations: finding the right Umeda, Namba or Asakusa

The hotel confirmation says five minutes from Namba Station, and the map app agrees. Then you come up from the Nankai platforms into a department-store food hall, the blue dot jumps, and the five minutes turns into fifteen. You walk through an underground mall to a different building that also calls itself Namba. The trains did nothing wrong. The name misled you.

Why one name covers several stations

In Japan a station belongs to a railway company, not to a place. JR, a private railway, a city subway and sometimes a second subway operator can each build a station at the same crossroads and give it the same name. Each one has its own gates, staff and fare table. Where two of them share a concourse, you hardly notice the join. Where they don't, the gap can be a corridor, a street crossing or a whole block.

同じ名前でも、改札が違えば別の駅だと考えたほうがいい。

Roughly: same name, different gate, so treat it as a different station. The clue is usually in small type. Signs and route results often put the company name first, such as Hankyu, Nankai, Toei or Metro, or add a direction like Higashi (東, east) or Nishi (西, west). Station numbers are more precise. On Tokyo Metro the Ginza Line is G, and G-19 is Asakusa on that line and nowhere else. The Toei Asakusa Line stop of the same name is A-18.

Osaka: Umeda and Namba

Umeda (梅田) is the hardest test, and locals call it the Umeda Dungeon (梅田ダンジョン, Umeda danjon) only half as a joke. JR's main station here is called Ōsaka (大阪), and the Midōsuji Line stop under it is Umeda. Hankyu and Hanshin each have a terminal named Ōsaka-Umeda, in separate buildings. The Tanimachi Line stops at Higashi-Umeda (東梅田), the Yotsubashi Line at Nishi-Umeda (西梅田), and the JR Tōzai Line, a different JR line, at Kitashinchi (北新地). Most of them connect underground through shopping passages such as Whity Umeda and Diamor Osaka, but the signs point to shops as often as to platforms.

Namba (難波, also written なんば) works the same way. Nankai's Namba terminal, where airport trains leave for Kansai, sits under the Takashimaya department store. Kintetsu and Hanshin share Ōsaka-Namba (大阪難波). The subway's Namba serves three lines. JR Namba (JR難波) lies further west under the OCAT bus terminal building, far enough that it matters if you're pulling a suitcase.

Tokyo: Asakusa, Ryōgoku and the stations with two names

At Asakusa (浅草), the Ginza Line, the Toei Asakusa Line and the Tobu terminal are close to each other near the river. The Tsukuba Express station is also called Asakusa, but it stands on its own along Kokusai-dōri (国際通り), a real walk from the Kaminarimon gate. Ryōgoku (両国) splits the same way: the JR Sōbu Line station is beside the Kokugikan sumo hall, and the Ōedo Line station is a few streets away. In Shinjuku, Seibu-Shinjuku (西武新宿) is a separate terminal at the edge of Kabukichō, outside the main complex.

It also works the other way round: one place can have two names. JR's Hamamatsuchō (浜松町) is Daimon (大門) on the Toei lines. Kōrakuen (後楽園) on the Marunouchi and Namboku lines is Kasuga (春日) on the Mita and Ōedo lines. Kyoto has its own pair: Hankyu's Karasuma (烏丸) and the subway's Shijō (四条) sit under the same intersection. When a route app tells you to change from one to the other, it means a walk through a passage. The app has not made a mistake.

What your IC card does between the gates

Where two companies share a building, there is sometimes a transfer gate (乗換改札, norikae kaisatsu), signed for the other company with のりかえ or 乗換. One tap of a Suica or ICOCA there closes your first trip and starts the second, and you never go outside. On a paper ticket it's less simple. A ticket from one company won't necessarily open another company's gate, so you may need a through ticket (連絡きっぷ, renraku kippu) from the machine or two separate tickets.

Some stations make you leave the gates and enter again elsewhere, called an out-of-station transfer (改札外乗換, kaisatsu-gai norikae). At stations the operator has designated, a quick exit and re-entry counts as one continuous trip, and an IC card does the sums for you. Each operator sets which stations qualify, the time limit, and whether it works across companies, and lists the details on its own site and at the gate. Anywhere else, walking out ends one fare and your next tap starts a new one. Changing companies usually means paying two fares, each with its own starting charge, so a short trip across a company boundary can cost more than its distance suggests.

Before you leave the platform

Sort it out when you book. Check which line your hotel's directions actually name, and check the company name next to each step in your route results, not just the station. Inside, follow the signs carrying that company's logo and line colour, and use the exit numbers posted at the top of the stairs. If you ask at a staffed window, name the company and the exit: "Hankyu Ōsaka-Umeda" gets a clearer answer than "Umeda". Each operator's site has floor maps with transfer routes for its larger stations: JR West, Osaka Metro, Tokyo Metro and Toei. Fares and any transfer rules are listed there and on the boards above the ticket machines.

Leave extra time at rush hour, when the underground passages at Umeda and Namba move at commuter pace. Add more if you're carrying bags, because the long connecting routes are not always step-free and the lifts are not always where the stairs are. In rain, the underground routes are worth the extra walk. The one mistake to avoid is agreeing to meet someone at Shinjuku Station or Umeda with nothing more. Name the company and the gate, for example JR Shinjuku's East Exit (東口), or you may each spend half an hour waiting at a different Shinjuku.