Get an IC card first
Any Japanese IC card works here — Suica, ICOCA, or the local manaca. Buy one at a station machine, charge it with cash, and tap through the gates for every subway, train and city bus in this guide. iPhones can hold a Suica in Apple Wallet without a physical card, charged from Apple Pay.
The card also pays at convenience stores, vending machines and most chain restaurants, which quietly solves the “cash only” problem for half the day.
The subway is enough in Nagoya
Six colour-coded lines cover nearly every restaurant in the city, and the two that matter most — Higashiyama (yellow) and Meijo (purple) — connect at Sakae. Trains run every few minutes from around 5:30am to just after midnight.
A 24-hour subway pass costs ¥760 and pays for itself on the third ride; on weekends and holidays the Donichi Eco Kippu covers subway and bus for ¥620. Both come out of the ordinary ticket machines, no ID needed.
Buses, for the two places the subway misses
The city bus network fills the gaps, takes the same IC card, and charges a flat fare within the city. The one route worth knowing by name is the Me~guru sightseeing loop, which links the castle, the Tokugawa Art Museum and the station on one ticket.
Board at the middle door, tap when you get off. If in doubt, follow what everyone else does — bus etiquette here is observational learning.
Taxis, for everywhere else
The meter starts around ¥500 and cards are accepted. The GO app works in Nagoya and shows a fare estimate before you ride; a cross-town hop rarely passes ¥2,000. After the last train, taxis are the only game, and the rank outside any station has them.
Show the driver the taxi card that every shop page here carries — it puts the name and address in Japanese on one screen, which is what the driver actually needs.
Trains beyond the city
Meitetsu covers Inuyama, Tokoname, the airport and Toyota; JR is fastest to Okazaki and Toyohashi. Both leave from Nagoya Station and take the same IC card, so the only decision is which platform.
The transit button on every shop page plans the route for you, with the transfer stations spelled out. Trust it over the station maps — Nagoya Station is enormous and the shortest path through it is never obvious.
When to travel, and when not to
Rush hour peaks 7:30–9:00 and 17:30–19:00 on weekdays; with luggage, aim outside those windows. Escalator custom here is to stand on the left. Eating while walking is mildly frowned on — benches and station concourses are the accepted spots.
None of this is policed and nobody will scold a visitor. But a traveller who queues where the platform markings say and lets passengers off first has, as far as Nagoya is concerned, already learned Japanese.