[chrischen]

Not everyone is standing on the train. The people who have the longest commutes usually also get on first, and thus have a seat. There are also express trains during rush hours... Do you have a source on the 50 minute average commute? 50 minutes on a non express train would be close to a last stop from the west side of Tokyo on one of the lines to the east side of Tokyo.

Here's an example involving one transfer and the last stop on one of the lines: https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Wako,+Saitama,+Japan/Tokyo+S... Currently it is 53 minutes.

[0x77x66]

This source says 59 min (in japanese). https://www.athome.co.jp/contents/at-research/vol33/

one in english is here: https://resources.realestate.co.jp/living/average-work-commu...

This one is 45 min ... though that is all of Japan, not Tokyo specific.

btw, I think Tokyo is great. But I think these articles set bad expectations sometimes and I have met a few foreigners that were totally disappointed/burnt out when moving to Tokyo.

[chrischen]

> 39.5 minutes each way

Ok that makes more sense if it's the one-way commute. US average commute seems to be about 27 minutes one way, with public transit rates going much higher.

I'd probably still take the train commute because it's self-driving and can potentially just sleep on the train (as many do).

[Seb-C]

50 minutes feels pretty standard to me here. That said, my 45 minutes of train in Tokyo are far more comfortable than the 20~30 minutes I once had in France.

The trains here are quiet, safe, does not stink, the air is conditioned in both winter and summer, the mobile network is always available and it's driven carefully.

I can just spend my time carelessly on my phone reading stuff (and HN!) or watching videos.