Arrival by planeArriving by plane from Europe or America, you are likely to fly into Tokyo Haneda or Narita airport (although there are other international airports, such as Osaka). All things being equal, we would recommend arriving into Haneda as it is just 25 km from Tokyo city and onward connections by train. In general, taxis over anything but a short distance are expensive, so we tend to use public transport in Japan. Trains run to Shinagawa or Hamamatsucha stations in just 13 minutes, from where you can connect to the underground network.
From Narita, you can take either the Narita Express or Keisei Skyliner trains, which take just under an hour, or the limousine bus, which takes 1-2 hours, depending on traffic. The latter is just a bus but does drop off at a number of hotels. |
Train travelJapan is famous for its bullet trains, which are fast, efficient and also pretty expensive. For international visitors planning to travel to a number of cities, it may be worth buying a rail pass, priced at approx 300 euro for 7 days in first class (in Japan this is known as green card).
Within Tokyo, the metro system is reasonably easy to master, although be aware of what time you are travelling. Shinjuku station is the busiest transport hub in the world (serving over 3 million passengers per day) and it is very easy to get lost when trying to work out which of the over 200 exits you need. At rush-hour, the stream of commuters makes it even harder to navigate, so it may be worth taking your nearest exit and hailing a cab for the final part of your journey, if you can't navigate on the streets. |