Overview

The Oedo Line (E) links Shinjuku-nishiguchi and Hikarigaoka over about 40.7 km and 38 stations — Toei's longest line, and the deepest subway in all of Tokyo. Its magenta trains trace a giant "6"-shaped loop.

Depth is its defining feature and its curse. By the time it was built in the 1990s, every shallow route under central Tokyo was taken, so the Oedo Line went under everything else — Roppongi's platforms sit about 42 metres down, the deepest in the country. It uses linear-motor propulsion and a smaller tunnel bore to keep the excavation affordable, which is why the trains look and sound different from every other line in Tokyo.

Along the route

The line passes Roppongi, Ryogoku, and Tsukishima, tracing nearly a full loop around central Tokyo before stretching out to Hikarigaoka near Nerima. Few lines in the game carry more stations, and some of its platforms sit deep enough to need genuinely long escalators.

Being late has advantages. Because the Oedo Line was drawn after every other line existed, it fills the gaps between them: Kiyosumi-shirakawa, Ushigome-yanagicho, Wakamatsu-kawada, Akabanebashi — neighbourhoods that had no station at all until 2000. If you want to see the parts of central Tokyo that tourism has not reached, this is the line that stops there.

Where the typing gets hard

Thirty-eight stations, 459 keystrokes, an average of 12.1 per stop. Both numbers are the highest in this guide by a wide margin: the Oedo Line asks for nearly twice the Yamanote's total keystrokes, and its average station name is 45% longer.

The names are long because they are compounds of compounds. Nishi-shinjuku-gochome (nishishinjukugochoume) is 21 keystrokes — the longest station name on the line. Ochiai-minami-nagasaki (ochiaiminaminagasaki) is 20. Then four names at 18: Shinjuku-nishiguchi, Ushigome-yanagicho, Ushigome-kagurazaka and Kokuritsu-kyogijo.

Thirteen stations carry a small ゃ/ゅ/ょ, three end in ん, and two carry a sokuon (Roppongi and Aoyama-itchome). There is no relief stretch: the shortest name on the whole line is Nakai at five keystrokes, and it is one station out of thirty-eight.

The two Ushigome stations are the specific hazard. Ushigome-yanagicho and Ushigome-kagurazaka are adjacent, both 18 keystrokes, both starting ushigome — nine identical characters before they diverge. Typing the wrong second half is the single most common Oedo mistake.

How to practise it

Treat it as a distance event, not a sprint. A full Oedo run takes most players two to three times as long as a Yamanote loop, and the mistake almost everyone makes is opening at Yamanote pace and losing accuracy around stop 20.

Learn the run in segments. The Ushigome pair, the Nishi-shinjuku-gochome / Tochomae stretch, and Ochiai-minami-nagasaki are where runs are lost — practise those names on their own and the rest of the line takes care of itself.

Despite the "6" shape on the map, this is a linear line in the game, so every run covers all 38 stations terminal to terminal. There is no shortcut and no partial course: finishing it at all is an achievement, and finishing it clean is the real test in this game.

Why play it

At 38 stations, this is one of the longest runs in the game — the ultimate test of endurance and focus, and prime territory for chasing a marathon-length personal best.