It's super duper easy, actually. I've been to a bunch of cities and Tokyo has - hands down - the easiest system to navigate and understand, even though its massive. In fact, it's so easy that people often get confused and make it harder because they can't believe how easy this system is.
I'll break it down... We have machines like these near every train gate. Look up in that picture, See the circle and lines? That's the fare chart. It'll tell you under the name of your destination the price of the ticket you wanna buy.Here's a larger picture that shows what I mean.. So, if you're at the big red square, Ikebukuro station (the maps are bilingual, this is an older picture), going to Shinjuku four stops down would cost you 150.
So the next step is to buy the ticket, you go to the machine and press 150. Then just throw 150 yen (roughly $1.50 into the machine and take your ticket when its spat out.) There are a bunch of other options and numbers off to the side, if you're travelling solo, everything is already set to the default, optimal selections for you, so you just have to press your fare amount, grab your ticket and head out... the whole process takes 5-ish seconds.
Next, go to the gates, and put your ticket into the machines. You'll see a yellow square below the glowing green circles, put your ticket in and walk through. As you walk through, your ticket will nearly instantly pop up on the other side, grab it as you walk through.
When you become a pro, you'll be able to do it without stopping.
Go find your train and relax. To leave at your destination, just put your ticket into the gate. But the ticket won't come out as it has been spent. If the gate slams shut (they're made of foam, so they don't hurt) go see the attendant.
If this seems like too much of a hassle, here's pro-tip. Just buy the lowest fare ticket, They do not check tickets on a local train, since that's what the gates are for. They do check tickets on special service trains, but don't worry about it for local trains.
With the lowest fare ticket, next to the exit gates, you'll see some yellow framed ticket machines. Go to those. Put your ticket into the machine. It'll tell you how much money you owe, you only have to press one button with the amount you owe on it. Throw the change into the machine and then grab your new ticket... go to the exit gate, and it'll open right up! Again, all settings are defaulted to the cheapest fare.
Do I have to worry about buying the ticket from the wrong company etc?
Yes, but don't fret too much about it. So many of the lines have agreements and so many services run through onto other lines from other corporations that separate fares would be a nightmare. Instead, all you really need to do is simply have the correct ticket for the line you start on.
If you start on... Keio, for example, and end up on the Odakyu line, it's OK and the computers that examine your ticket at the gate won't even beep at you.
To be honest, the most convenient thing you can do is buy a PASMO or SUICA card. It completely eliminates this problem. For 5$ they are prepaid, reusable, rechargeable cards that you can 'tap' onto any entry or exit gate and they'll figure out all of the fare stuff automatically.
It really is the best option if you're staying for longer than one day and eliminates the problem completely.
If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to ask. But it is almost 3AM here, so I am going to take a nap.
Oh, also, here's a video on how to get from Narita to central Tokyo via the Keisei Skyliner, it'll show you a lot of what I talked about. Except instead of going to the machines (which you can see off to the side) you have to buy from a person.
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