Comment by olalonde

I guess it does for locals but talking as a tourist who has been there for 3 days, using the train is confusing as hell. First, you have to pay your tickets in cash every time (the "IC cards" are not sold anywhere due to a chip shortage) and the machines do not accept foreign credit cards. Second, when you purchase your ticket, your destination station may or may not be in the list of available destination stations, so you sometimes have to pick an intermediary station instead. Then when you leave, you have to go to a ticket counter and pay whatever you owe (again, in cash only). Lastly, the similarity in station names, such as Nippori Station and Nishi-Nippori Station, added to the confusion. I apologize for the venting.