I've usually drive from downtown to the airport. Typically takes door to check-in 50 minutes (last time it was door to gate in 59 minutes). The longest it ever took was when I got broadsided in the Narita parking lot by a DHL truck... had to call the car dealer, wrecker service, insurance agent, ambulance, and police and then wait for the wrecker. Still made door to check-in in 90 minutes. Fastest was door to check-in in 40 minutes. Driving slow it will take 60.

I've gotten stopped twice, but no tickets. Once when I was over 160kph... "What officer I thought the speed limit was 100 miles per hour, I didn't know you used the metric system over here."

Heli is OK for the scenery, but it's slower and a huge hassle....take a car to the Mori Bldg., wait, take the heli, take another car to the terminal. Driving beats anything. Walk out your door, quick drive, surface park 50 meters from the terminal entrance, check-in and your done.

That said, if they had heli service to plane side, it would be a great way to go.

Depends on where you have to go in Tokyo, and also on your definition of "driving slow." I've gotten into some killer traffic jams coming in from NRT -- usually around Koto-ku or Edogawa-ku somewhere, but sometimes around Ginza, Shinjuku or Roppongi as well.

Totally agreed on the convenience of surface parking, though. If you fly UA you also have the option of curbside check-in, which is awesomely fast.

If something had gone horribly wrong whilst you were committing this illegal act, I wonder if you would have pulled this bull with your unfortunate victims or their mourning relatives.
I read this and getter a better understanding of where Japanese racists get their ammunition from. Thanks a lot! :rolleyes:

I watched a police videos show on TV a while back where a Russian woman was speeding way over the limit on an expressway somewhere in Kanagawa, got pulled over, acted like she could only speak very broken English, and was finally arrested after wasting the cops' time for a while. So it's a dangerous game on many levels.

I agree, getting back is slower. It usually takes me about 70 minutes, but you have to sometimes get on and off the highway. I find times are about the same for anywhere within the Yamanote Line give or take 5 minutes.

I would define slow as 120.

Re: curbside check-in. Yes, but don't you still have to park so I don't see the time savings.

Oh and I just remembered, the longest time outbound was 7 hours (day after the quake). People were reporting 10 hours for the train that day.

No because I drive a lot slower when I am anywhere near other vehicles.

I wouldn't recommend doing it while using a Japanese license.