JR pass line at Haneda was long and took almost 2 hours to get my pass at in the morning, almost didn't get back to the Villa Fontaine in time for checkout lol. They have signs encouraging visitors to exchange at other points like Tokyo or Shinagawa station.
With the recent increase in price, I can't get any value out of it anymore though.

Yeah, value is hard to get now. You really have to move a lot around, and the no Nozomi restrictions are pretty annoying.

Your note and a couple others.

We just returned from Japan via Haneda. We got our 3x Green SUICA cards on arrival by walking right to the Easygo counter across from arrival/Customs door, picking them up and then vanishing into Tokyo. Klook is your friend here - if you arrive during regular hours. The small fee is worth it. Have enough preloaded value to get you to your hotel anywhere in Tokyo. Literally no line and you get the 10 year Green SUICAs.

Regarding JR Pass, we exchanged our orders for passes and seat reservations (Hokuriku Arch) at Ueno Station the next morning at 0820. One person in front of us, got everything done and went about our business. 10 minutes with tickets and seats for 3 persons on a five-leg journey from Tokyo-Kurobe-Toyama-Kyoto-Osaka (including Tsruga change to Thunderbird) - First thing in the morning at a JR station is better. Airport JR line is a disaster and waste of time. The Hokuriku Arch Pass was even money plus a little. The full JR pass would not have been worth it.

Coming back - Itami / Osaka to Haneda to SFO the Haneda airside bus takes 20 minutes once you get to the bus zone and the bus arrives. You will clear security again, but airside, not the full check in counter - that takes 5-10 minutes. So minimum 30 minutes, max 45 with no delay is possible.

Hello,

Wanting to get some advice on the best way to get from Kyoto to HND, same day for a JL flight at 4:25pm back to the US.

Is it best to take the bullet train back to say, Shinagawa, and change for the HND tram to the airport or would it be best to go to say, Osaka, and fly to HND?

Thanks for any replies

Hi,
Do you have large /heavy luggage.? If you have a large case you may need to reserve an oversize luggage space on the shinkansen.
It is about 2hr 5 mins from Kyoto to Shinagawa then maybe 20-25mins on the train to HND

About 55mins by bus to Osaka Itami airport. ( not kansai) If choosing to fly JL from ITM to HND then JL will tag the bag through on separate tickets to the US

With a 4.25pm flight, either option would be good as you can leave kyoto mid morning.

I personally like exploring airports (and have lounge access) so would probably take the bus to ITM then fly ( if only hand baggage then i would take the shinkansen)

Regards

TBS

Thank you TBS very much for your reply.

Very helpful.

I too, like airports, my wife, not so much

Flying J so lounge access would be available at HND.

I will have to look into the relative costs for either option, but since we will have some larger pieces of luggage with us, I myself would like to check them in at ITM and be done with it!

Thanks again for your help,

Sincerely,

If you are flying business class long haul from HND that will also get you lounge access in Itami. Though with separate tickets, you will have to have both boarding passes handy, as the system likely will not recognise it automatically....

Thank you CPH-Flyer for that info. Much appreciated.

Do you think the domestic check-in at ITM will be able to print our J HND boarding passes as well so that we can use the lounge at ITM?

Thanks for any replies

Hi ,
They should be able to.

JAL at Itami airport has special desks for international connecting flights ( although you are on separate tickets i think you can use it ( have not flown out of Itami on a international connecting flight)

Regards

TBS

​​​​​​
You have to use it, single or separate tickets. The standard desks will send you there if you want to check the luggage to international.

They will print all boarding passes related to your JAL tickets.

Thank you CPH-Flyer and TBS for your replies.

I�m leaning towards the flying option for this leg of our journey,

Thanks again

I've got a HIJ-HND-ORD itinerary with an overnight layover in Tokyo (land at HND at 325pm, depart at 1055am the next day). My plan was to leave the airport, explore Tokyo, and get a cheap airport hotel for the night. When I've done this in the past it's been as part of separate reservations -- since it's all on one reservation would I be allowed to leave the secure area (and/or would you recommend it)? And if I can't leave the secure area, do I meet the qualifications to use the transit hotel?

Thanks!

You are "forced" to leave the secure area. As the domestic and international departure areas are separated and you need to pass through security and passport control before entering the international departure area.

Ah perfect, cheap airport hotel it is -- thank you!

Good luck with the tsunami warnings today.