The rush hour in the large Japanese cities reaches its peaks in the morning before 9 o'clock and in the evening. But also during the 'non peak hours' it's usually crowded. The trains are very long; nevertheless, they depart every 1 to 5 minutes and are completely full. You will experience close body contact with 10 persons and the door at the same time. New cars of the Yama(no)te Line, the most important line of Tokyo are almost only made of doors to decrease the time taken by the passengers to enter and exit. This is neccessary to keep up with the immense crowds using these line everyday. During the rush hour you might even encounter railway stuff pushing the people into the subway cars to enable the train to close its doors. Some stairs and narrow passages are bottlenecks. Traffic jams of pedestrians are permanent there during the rush hour even though the traffic flow is organized by signs and even lanes painted on the floor.
