==Getting off in Tokyo==
95% of the time, once on the expressway, getting back to Tokyo is a piece of cake: your driver is also going to Tokyo, so he'll drop you off at the nearest train or subway station, and you can find your way home. Problems arise the other 5% of the time, when your driver is going either through Tokyo or to a part of Tokyo extremely far from your part of Tokyo. What to do?
Your driver may exit the expressway just so you can get off, but this is a waste of time and money for him, as he has to fight his way back and pay an extra toll, so don't count on it. The driver may also try to drop you off at a tollbooth or at an interchange, which will either get you in hot water from the authorities or dead from being hit by a car. The least of three evils is thus getting dropped off at a service area.
Moral of the story: when near a big city, feel free to reject rides that aren't going close enough. There will be more.
===Shuto Service Areas===
If the service area is one of those listed above, you know how to get back. If not, you have been left at a service area not listed for a good reason. Almost all the 15+ parking areas on the Shuto are tiny (space for around 20 cars max), suspended multiple stories above the earth with entrance/exit possible only through staff quarters, and inconviniently located to boot. However, as getting out is a lesser crime, you may be able to sweet-talk somebody into unlocking those staff-only doors and letting you out, as long as you promise not to come back in.
The Shuto network is an indecipherable tangle that looks vaguely similar to the Tokyo subway system, except that most stations are accessible only when going in one direction and you have 5 seconds to decide whether to exit. The parking areas are omitted from most maps, only specialty maps will usually show them. One convention worth learning quickly: all routes and lanes going towards the center are ''nobori'' (上り, going up), whereas routes and lanes exiting Tokyo are ''kudari'' (下り, going down). The majority of Shuto parking areas are ''nobori''-only, a small saving grace for the hitchhiker coming in, but yet another reason why they're useless for exiting Tokyo.
At any rate, I've only ended up in this situation once so far, so here's the beginning of a new list, sorted by route number.
===Shuto 3 (高速3号)===
'''Connecting to''': Tōmei
''Unknown''
===Shuto 4 (高速4号)===
'''Connecting to''': Chūō
====Eifuku PA (永福)====
'''Access''': Nobori only<br>
'''Last verified''': Never
Small. Somewhat oddly located right next to a row of tollbooths and an exit (which thus cannot be used even illegally, since they'll spot you if you try to walk it!). If you do find your way out, Meidaimae station at the crossing of both Keio lines is nearby (ask for directions).
====Yoyogi PA (代々木)====
'''Access''': Nobori only<br>
'''Last verified''': August 2000
A pathetic one-lane excuse for a parking area quite literally suspended three stories above the earth. Climbing over the fence would be easy if the drop weren't likely to kill you; there's also an expressway entrance nearby, but as noted earlier, walking on it is highly illegal and dangerous to boot. The third option was shown to me by a janitor to whom I pleaded my distress: at the furthestmost tip (from your arrival point) of the building is a door, which leads to a staircase, which leads outside. The doors along the route may, or may not, be locked. Once you do get out, one block straight and a few to the right will get you to Yoyogi station on the Yamanote/O-Edo lines. (Odakyu line Minami-Shinjuku station is also nearby.)
Note that it might theoretically even be possible to get into the PA this way, literally through the back door, but I wouldn't recommend it -- if the doors are locked you're out of luck, westbound is towards Tokyo, not out of it, the Shuto splits into about 17 different directions soon after the PA, and the PA deservedly gets little enough traffic as it is. And you'll annoy the friendly janitor.
===Shuto 6 (高速6号)===
'''Connecting to''': Jōban
====Kahei PA (加平）====
'''Access''': Kudari only<br>
'''Last verified''': Never
Located inside a highway entrance spiral, this one may actually be accessible from the ground. Kita-Ayase (北綾瀬) station on the Eidan Chiyoda subway line is about half a kilometer to the east along the large road that crosses under the highway between the entrances.
===Shuto S1/C2===
'''Connecting to''': Tōhoku, Jōban
Shuto S1 becomes C2 and merges briefly with 6 before splitting off again and heading off to Tokyo Bay. Confused? You will be.
====Kawaguchi PA (川口）====
'''Last verified''': Never
Well, I can offer you the reassuring advice that it exists. And you even have a 50% chance of going in the right direction.
===Tokyo Gaikan Expressway (東京外環自動車道)===
'''Connecting to''': Kan'etsu, Tōhoku, Jōban
====Niikura PA (新倉）====
'''Access''': Both directions<br>
'''Last verified''': Never
Small. Close to Wakō-shi. Often omitted even from highway maps since it doesn't belong to either the kousokudouro or the shuto systems!
==See also==