Much of the issues with HND / NRT began about 20’years ago - the government vastly underestimated the power of local protest in Narita - and NRT is still vastly under capacity compared to where they should have been 10 years ago - they still only have two runways and have taxiways constrained by protestors / farms to this day lol….

It’s a hot mess here and the government knows it - but they don’t seem to want to do much about it….

Also felt it was important to add something here - we live in central Tokyo - it takes us only 10 more minutes to get home from NRT than HND due to traffic and congestion / NRT isn’t nearly the time penalty most make it out to be unless you live in southern Tokyo….

20 years ago? Try more like 50 years ago the protests stared in the late 60ies and carried on from there. The first terminal building was completed in 1972, the airport opened in 1978. But yes some resistance is still there in terms of the high metal structures and weird little spots of land not available to the airport.

But yeah, the transport time is so overly hyped in favour of Haneda in the foreign view. But it really depends on your location, I also live in central Tokyo, and have 15-20 minutes difference in transport time between the two airports. The main difference is that people tend to compare the Haneda to Hamatsucho monorail with the Narita to hotel bus.....

We live n Hatchobori -- we take a taxi to / from Haneda as the limousine bus to TCAT takes almost the same time as NRT -- and we spend 7k yen.... From NRT it take us 10 minutes more and costs way less than 7k lol... Yesterday morning it took us an hour to get to HND from home -- and cost even more -- traffic was awful... NRT is actually the same in our minds and always cheaper -- which is why we try to fly from there more.... The original goal was for HND to become domestic hub and NRT to become International hub -- but NRT never built their third and fourth runways -- so they are capacity constrained in addition to time constrained. Truth is -- that is why they build airports in the ocean now in Japan -- no more dealing with taking peoples land....

For a country that totally values the "we" over the "me" -- this has always been a confounding cultural situation....

As you say, it depends on your location in Tokyo. In my case:
By public transportation, HND is at least 20 minutes closer, but what an awful trip - A walk, a subway ride, a transfer to JR, and then the monorail.
By contrast, NRT requires only one transfer, and I get a reserved seat on the Skyliner - that beats standing in a crowded Yamanote line car.

Thinking about taxis - NRT is more or less out of the question, whereas I sometimes take a cab to or from HND. It's quick, easy, and doesn't break the bank. Arriving by taxi half an hour before a domestic departure is a great feeling. I think that's probably one of the reasons that I have a better feeling about HND than about NRT, and it's not a fair criterion to use when comparing the airports because I'm almost always flying international when I use NRT.

Speaking of domestic departures -- isn't the automated bag check machine the coolest thing ever? We use it a lot as when we visit family in western Japan -- my wife feels it necessary to buy half of HND's confections prior to departure and stuffs them in our massive Rimowa check in bag which the machine somehow willingly gobbles up - until I have to deal with it upon arrival...

You could hop on the Asakusa Line at Takaracho and be at Haneda T3 in about 35 minutes with no change of train for just a few hundred yen. Undoubtedly much faster than the route to NRT.

NRT is building the third runway soon; it's supposed to come online around 2029 last I heard.

We live at Shinkawa Nichome- do you know how long a walk that is with bags lol? That's a 1km walk on busy streets - 36 minutes lol....

We live here - we travel weekly - and we've tried it all to save money -- NRT just isn't the penalty it's made out to be -- for on average 10 more minutes we save money without the hassle = no brainer....

For some people, I also think there might be some sort of prejudice against NRT.

I know someone who lived in Tokyo for 10-15 years, always on the west/south side (eg, Minato-ku, Meguro).
She no longer lives in Tokyo. But when she flies to TYO, she still avoids flying NRT if at all possible. Always HND.
If Yamanote line were a clock, she just does not care for the 10a-3p portion and associates NRT with people from those areas and Chiba and yonder.

The horror!

From now on I’ll associate the YaNeSen area with garlic.

I’m very fond of garlic.

Does T3 have airside shuttle buses and security INTL-INTL for connection? If so, how long does it take to go between T3 and T1?

Update: There is a T3 airside shuttle bus, however the schedule is limited and only starts at 4pm onward.

There is no INTL INTL connection between T3 and T1, that would be INTL DOM.

If you are going to T2, ANA operated international flight, yes there is an airside bus running all day. But you will need to go through security in T2 when getting there.

What are your specific flights, might be easier to give a specific answer.

Arriving on AirAsia and departing on United. I totally forgot to include the airport, NRT, in my previous comment so that probably caused confusion with HND.

And somehow I got an impression of HND, I guess I am not used to thinking of 3 terminals in Narita.

Some Air Asia Flights arrive in T2, that has more busses to T1. Bangkok for instance arrives in T2.
But if not Bangkok, and not when the bus runs, you'll have to land side and take a bus to T1. They are pretty frequent. Though there may be a point to walking to T2 and catching a bus from there. Could seem they are more frequent.

Great idea! I've never flown into T3 at NRT. Is it possible to do transit security at T3, walk to T2 to catch the bus to T1? Looks like T2 and T3 are connected externally but not sure if it's possible to walk between the two airside. Thanks for your help!