Tokyo's New Subway Line: Fukutoshin

As soon as I heard that there was a new subway line opening while I was in Tokyo, I knew I wanted to take it on its first day.

The Fukutoshin line (副都心線) literally means "secondary city centre line" and is the most recent addition to Tokyo Metro's other lines:

Chiyoda line (千代田線)
Marunouchi line (丸ノ内線)
Hanzomon line (半蔵門線)
Namboku line (南北線)
Tozai line (東西線)
Yurakucho line (有楽町線)
Hibiya line (日比谷線)
Ginza line (銀座線)

There are also four Metropolitan lines, called Toei (都営) lines.

These are the:

Toei Asakusa line (都営浅草線)
Toei Shinjuku line (都営新宿線)
Toei Mita line (都営三田線)
Toei Oedo line (都営大江戸線)

You can transfer between the Toei and Metro lines, but it is expensive as you have to pay your fare, and the starting fare for the next line too.

I have been on all the subway lines in Tokyo except the Namboku line, so I will try to get on that one at least once before I leave Japan. I'm so sad. You can see a map of the Tokyo subway system here.

The Fukutoshin line now connects Shibuya (渋谷) with Ikebukuro (池袋), and then goes north to Saitama prefecture (埼玉県).

In typical Japanese efficiency, the signs all appeared over night with the new line on them. I got on at Shibuya.

It all looked so clean and brand new, and it had that fresh paint smell too.

As we went down to the platform, there was a recording of birds singing, just for good measure.

It didn't all work perfectly, because at one point it announced that the next station was one we had passed three stations before. It was funny, when the announcement came on it got halfway through the station's name before it was cut off.

The new line connects existing stations, and even created some new ones, like Kita-sando (北参道駅) and Nishi-Waseda (西早稲田駅).
I had never been to Ikebukuro before, so today was a good opportunity. And, even though I was surprised Tokyo had room for a new train line, it was fun to be one of the first people in the world to ride it. Who knows how many years it will be before they make another one? Or will they even need to make another?

This line isn't hugely useful for me, but it will definitely make transportation between Ikebukuro and Shibuya much quicker and easier. Signs in literally every station in Tokyo proclaim that it takes just 16 minutes by local train, and 11 by express. Hopefully this will ease some congestion in the big centres like Shibuya, Shinjuku (it goes through Shinjuku San-chome and Higashi-Shinjuku stations) and Ikebukuro.