Great idea for a thread!
I have two first experiences with visiting Japan. One was when I was a child and we visited the
1990 International Garden and Greenery Exposition in Osaka. I don't remember too much of that trip since it's been over thirty years ago, but I do remember things like being impressed by the underground shopping streets, walking so much that I had to soak my feet in the tub after we got back to the hotel, being impressed by the technology on display at the Panasonic Museum and getting to ride a sled in the snow at an exhibit at the Expo. We flew Japan Asia Airways there and also had a domestic seg to Haneda, which I recall being disappointed about because we didn't get to take the Shinkansen due to high costs and because we flew into the "lesser" (haha) airport in Tokyo. As for Tokyo, I have a feint memory of staying near Sunshine City in Ikebukuro and taking the Limousine Bus back to Haneda when it was time to head home and while I don't remember any of it, we have family photos of our trip to Tokyo Disneyland.
After that, we had what seemed like many years of travel between HKG & HNL via NRT courtesy of JL, whom I loved flying. I remember running around NRT collecting discarded phone cards (yes, I was weird), some of which I still have in my possession.
My second first experience with visiting Japan started when my girlfriend at the time moved to Taipei and I would visit her from the States during all of my university holidays. I usually travelled via NRT on UA but my last visit involved an itinerary on NH via HND to TSA. In fact, it was this very forum in which I posed a question to:
Originally Posted by
kevincrumbs
I have upcoming flights on NH (LAX-HND-TSA vv) that will give me a decent layover at HND prior to my next flight and I was wondering if anyone had recommendations in regards to leaving the airport for a little bit. I arrive at HND at 5:15am on Wednesday, December 8th and my flight to TSA departs at 9:40am. Ideally I am looking for something somewhat near the airport instead of heading all the way into the central parts of Tokyo and am planning to use either the Keikyu Airport Line or the Monorail's Haneda Line. However, I would be more than happy to rethink that (modes of transport, areas of town, etc) if someone has a better suggestion
1) Will I encounter any problems in finding anything to do at that time of the morning? I would be happy merely walking around, taking some pictures and maybe grabbing a bite to eat.
2) Would getting back to HND an hour before scheduled departure time give me enough time to get through security and immigration? I'm also working under the assumption that as an US passport holder, I won't have any problems with immigration in regards to entering Japan for three and a half hours or so.
3) I do have the option of leaving the airport on New Year's instead but I figured New Year's combined with a 20:40 arrival and a departure half past midnight would mean that I'd be better off leaving the airport on my first trip through HND. Would I be correct in this assessment?
FWIW, I haven't been to Japan in over twenty years but at the very least can read Chinese, so that will help with some signs and whatnot, at least more than someone who doesn't read Chinese.
I had a really lovely time in those few hours, with my destination being the old Tsukiji Market:
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That brief layover and all my travels on NH started to pique my interest in Japan as a grown up and after my girlfriend and I broke up, I started what I now think of as my glorious decade of travel to Japan in
May 2012 with a Kagoshima/Osaka/Fukuoka loop along with a few hours in Tokyo on my way out of the country. I enjoyed myself so much and had so much fun that I returned all throughout the 2010s, travelling to different parts of the country, including Tokyo, Sendai, Sapporo, etc. Some of my favourite memories of that first proper trip to Japan as a grown up include drunkenly making friends at the various yatai in Fukuoka, visiting the Suntory Yamazaki factory at the start of the Japanese whiskey boom (when Yamazaki 12 was so, so cheap in comparison to what it goes for now), two Hanshin Tigers games (none at Koshien, sadly) and visiting JR West's railway museum (now moved out near Kyoto).
I do really miss visiting Japan, especially with my home of Hong Kong being off limits for what feels like decades, but even when I am able to visit Japan again, I won't ever have a decade of getting to visit every year. I guess part of this is nostalgia for Japan itself and the other part is nostalgia for my carefree thirties when the world seemed like it was in much, much better shape.