Tokyo’s Marunouchi Line is one of Japan’s oldest and busiest subway routes, linking major commercial and governmental districts through a network that dates back to 1954. This view shows the Series 2000 rolling stock, a modernized fleet introduced by Tokyo Metro beginning in 2019 to replace aging Series 02 cars.

The trains feature energy-efficient LED lighting, regenerative braking, and improved accessibility through wider doorways and level boarding. Their bright yellow exterior, trimmed with red and blue stripes, preserves the line’s traditional color while emphasizing the sleek, minimalist design typical of contemporary Japanese transit engineering.

Inside, the cabin layout prioritizes capacity and passenger flow, with longitudinal bench seating covered in patterned orange upholstery and overhead digital route displays in both Japanese and English. The Marunouchi Line operates on a 1,500 V DC overhead catenary and runs entirely underground except for a brief surface section near Nakano-Sakaue, connecting Ikebukuro to Ogikubo over a 24.2-kilometer route that handles hundreds of thousands of passengers daily.

Commuters wait for the next train on the Tokyo Metro Ginza Line, Japan’s oldest underground subway line and one of the city’s most heavily traveled routes. This platform—serving trains toward Toranomon, Akasaka-mitsuke, Omote-sando, and Shibuya—captures a typical weekday scene with riders lining up at designated doors, phones in hand, as screen doors stand ready to open with the arriving train.

Opened progressively between 1927 and 1939, the Ginza Line was Asia’s first subway, modeled after London’s Underground and New York’s early lines. Its development helped shape modern Tokyo by linking emerging commercial districts—including Asakusa, Ginza, and Shibuya—into a cohesive urban network. Today, despite being nearly a century old, the line remains a backbone of the city’s transportation system, continually upgraded with platform doors, advanced signaling, and refreshed stations to meet the demands of one of the world’s busiest transit cities.