How to get around? (From the Airport)

So you've bought your ticket, packed your essentials, went through all the trouble, sat on the plane, got through the customs, and arrived!
Now what?
Well, now you are suppose to find a way out of the airport and to your choice of accommodations.

How?
How to get to your hotel from the airport should be the first thing you look up when you are deciding on where and which hotels to stay at. This can be tedious, frustrating, and disastrous all combined. I will list out ways of getting out of the airport from most expensive to least pricey.

1. Taxi
Taxi rates are quite high in Japan. According to sources, the rate starts at approximately $6 00 yen ($6 dollars) and increase every 274 meters by $80 yen ($0.8 dollar) . Not to mention if you arrive at the peak hours, the traffic would be horrible, and you would still be charged $80 yen ($0.8 dollar) every 2 minutes when the taxi is traveling at less then 10 km/hr. Also, you would have to be able to speak Japanese, clearly indicating where you want to go, which is a problem for most tourists. So this is the least recommended mode of transportation. Also, because you have almost nothing in your luggage, getting around would be relatively easy compared to when are are prepared to leave for the airport. This mode of transportation is more suitable for people who are familiar with Japan and are willing to spend a bit more to get around faster.

2. Limousine Buses This is a great way to travel, because you just give them your luggage, they give you a tag for your luggage, and sit back, relax, and enjoy the view. The cost taking a limousine bus to your stop is around $3000 yen ($30 dollars). Sounds great right? Not really, because the downside to this mode of transportation is that the bus only stops at designated stops. Mostly on more established hotels. If your hotel is not listed in its website, then you will have to find a way around it. This can be done by either getting off at a stop nearest to your hotel and walk there, or finding another mode of transportation. However, I would recommend Limousine buses as the mode of transportation for leaving for the airport. Why? Because I really didn't like my experience of dragging the 2 heavy luggage cases down and up the stairs, through the JR station, and find the trains to take. It is really not pleasant, and it isn't a good way to end your trip. You should pre-order the tickets to ensure that there's room available when you are ready to leave. Usually you just tell the hotels where the buses stops at that you want to buy a ticket from the hotel to the Narita airport on the date at your preferred time. You should also leave early in case of road congestion.

3. Narita Express (N'EX)
This is the express train from Narita airport to major JR stations, run by the JR (Japan Rail) group. You can check out the lists of stops on their website. However, it does stop at Tokyo station, Shinjuku, and Ikebukuro, where most people tend to stay, and where it is easy to change trains. N'EX is one of the favorites among backpackers because it is comfortable, fast, convenient, and has space on the train for luggage. The cost of taking the train is about $3110 yen ($31.10) to Shinjuku, and sometimes they have promotions that give discount for foreign tourists. You can take the N'EX directly to one of the bigger JR stations such as Ikebukuro, Shinjuku, Shinagawa, Tokyo, etc. Right now there is a promotion for the Suica+N'EX package, where foreign tourists can buy the N'EX express ticket and $2000 yen in their suica card for $3500 yen ($35 dollars) at the airport .

Note:

• Suica card: Suica is an IC card by the JR group which can be used as a ticket for pretty much any type of train. You just need to pay or fill your card with money and you are set to go. This reduces the need of buying a ticket, because Tokyo has private and public owned train lines, and it would be very confusing for a tourist to figure out how much to pay for tickets. Suica can also be used as a method of payment in selected chain of convenient stores, lockers in train stations, some vending machines, etc. There's a $500 yen ($5 dollar) deposit you need to pay when you buy the card for the first time, but you can refund them when you leave the country. However, I think the suica card is a goodsouvenir, and you can still use it the next time you go to Japan since they don't expire.
  The way to use suica is to just tap it on a screen on the entrance and exit of train stations. It is very simple, and you'll get it once you see how it is done.
• Passomo: Passmo is also an IC card, but it is by the private train line Tokyo metro. Everything about it is pretty much the same with suica, and you can use it like a suica. However, when I was in Japan, they ran out of the issuing of passmo, so I wasn't able to get one. I think it would be cool to have a passmo card too. Passmo can also be used in selected chains of convinent stores. Passmo can be used in some buses, but they also take suica, because the issuing of passmo was on halt for a while.

Another benefit of being a tourist is the various discounts you can receive. If you plan on going to other cities, buy the JR rail pass , because a trip to Kyoto would cost almost as much as buying a regular bullet train ticket.


4. The Keisei Skyliner
This line is by a private train company. This is also a popular choice among backpackers because of it's cheaper prices and decreased travel time. The cost of a ticket is $1920 yen ($19.20 dollars), and travel time is relatively short. However, you would need to transfer trains at Ueno station or Naporri station if you want to go to inner Tokyo, though the cost combined is still less than taking N'EX. Ueno station and Naporri station aren't as busy as Shinjuku or Ikebukuro station, so traveling with luggage is still easy. The skyliner has comfortable seating and luggage room. The tickets can be bought online before you leave the country or at the airport.


5. JR Airport express Line.
This is also by JR. The cost is about $1280 yen ($12.80 dollar) , but it is less frequent, more time consuming, and doesn't go to Shinjuku and Ikebukuro. It goes to the Tokyo station, so you would have to transfer to different trains there. Overall, if you are not very good with directions, you should not take this train, because Tokyo station is pretty busy anytime. The website to this train line is the same as the N'EX but the price is at the bottom of the page.


6. The Keisei limited Express
This is the cheaper version of the Skyliner mentioned above. The cost of a ticket to Ueno/Naporri is $1000 yen ($10 dollars) and it takes about 70 minutes to get there. You would also need to transfer to other trains at Ueno station or Naporri station. The seats on the limited express are not reserved, so you might have to stand. This is also a popular choice of leaving the airport among backpackers because it is still convenient and fast. Plus you can save a bit more for shopping.


7. Conditionally free (This is also the way I left the airport)
How did I leave the Airport?
This is a good question. I didn't go with the above choices, because at the time I went to Japan, there was a promotion from a travel to Japan website that offers free transportation from the airport to Akihabara or Shinjuku. Some people have already tried the service and said some good things about it. So, to save a bit on commuting, I tried it. It is similar to the Limousine bus but less frequent. At the time, not a lot of people knew about it, so only my sister and I were on the bus to Akihabara, kinda awkward if you ask me. The ride to Akihabara was pretty good, and I didn't need to carry the luggage to the bus. However, it is at the Akihabara station where things got more complicated. Akihabara station is quite busy at the time we arrived, so it was a bit difficult to drag our luggage through the crowd to reach a phone that can used to make international phone calls. Oh, by the way, international phone cards are very expensive. I bought a card for $1000 yen ($10 dollars) and I could only talk for less then 10 minutes. It was a rip-off, but I still had to buy them because my parents would worry and we've promised to call everyday. So when we got to Akihabara station, we called. I went to buy the suica card while my sister made the call. Figuring out how to use the phone cards takes a while. So I grabbed a few thousand dollar yen bills and went to the machine. The process was surprisingly simple, due to the fact that there are English instructions. It was so simple that I pretty much forgot the details of operating the machine. Pretty much you select that you want to get a suica, put in the bill, press done, and out comes a brand new shiny suica card. After that, we took the escalators to the platform where the JR yamanote line runs and took the train to Shinjuku. The train was pretty clean, but not a lot of seats available. I think it is because they want to optimize the number of passengers in a train car during peak hours.

There are rules you should follow on Japan's trains. One is to not use electronic devices near the seats designated to the elderly and the disabled. Another is not to speak loudly, so you won't disturb other people. And also, no eating or drinking. One thing about the trains I like is the fact that they have TV near the door. So if you are bored, you can watch the commercials or the news. Also, they announce the stops in both Japanese and English with subtitles, so it's less likely that you would miss your stop. I will write another post about the train system and how to get around Tokyo city and how to not get lost in the stations later.

I hope this simple guide is some what helpful to you.