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.

Thanks in advance!

I recommend the Tsukiji Fish Market:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsukiji_fish_market
It will be hopping by the time you get there. Recently, they've limited the number of people allowed in to see the auctioning of the big tunas, but even if you don't get it, there's great sushi restaurants that many people enjoy in the AM. It'll be a $50 cab fare both directions and about 20-25 minutes.

You're in luck. Public transit starts from Haneda at 5:18am, so you have an alternative to expensive taxi rides. Four hours isn't a lot of time, however, and not too much other than the fish market area will be open then. It might be best to just take a short train ride, get out, and wander around to get a flavor for the locale.

Struggling to think of a station on the lines out of Haneda airport that I'd be interested in wandering around... especially in the early AM.

Lots of the stations on the monorail are pure warehouse-land. One exception is Tennozu-Isle ... which is pure high-rise-office-cum-freeway-land.

There are a few "ordinary suburban" stations on the Keikyu line. Wandering around Kamata, for example, will give you the chance to see the suburbs wake up... very little will be open.

IIWY I might go into Tokyo itself - sushi at Tsukiji would be a nice adventure - or I might just kill a couple of hours wandering around Haneda airport. The domestic Terminals will have some open cafes with some nice foodie treats. Maybe the international one too.

The only thing that occurred to me was that they might be exercising the horses at the race track that lies along the monorail line.

That would be Oikeibajomae. I've wandered around the neighbourhood. Its warehouse-land with an odor of horse manure:

"I love the smell of horse manure in the morning ... It smells like ... manure."

Good point about the stations being boring, for some reason I hadn't thought about that.

You shouldn't have a problem, they'll stamp you with a 90 day temporary visitor's permit.

As for the signs, on the trains, train stations etc, it's virtually all Japanese/English(Romaji) signage at the stations.

If you haven't been in Japan in twenty years, then it might be worth taking the monorail to Hamamatsucho and back -- I always get a "ooh, I'm in Tokyo again!" kick out of it, especially if you snag one of the limited expresses that makes almost no stops along the way.

But I'm also drawing a blank for anything interesting else to do in the area in the early morning. If you had a bit more time and arrived a bit later, the gardens of Hama-rikyu Teien are not too far from Hamamatsucho, but they open at 9 AM so they're not really an option for you.

Sorry for taking so long to get back to this thread but thanks for all the replies!

I think my plan right now is, at the very least, to exit HND and take the monorail down to Hamamatsucho. Unfortunately, it looks like the express/limited service trains don't run so early in the morning but it still seems like that if worst comes to worst, I can at the very least get to Hamamatsucho and back. As for the rest, I'll do my best to hit up Tsukiji via the Oedo Line, but may walk depending on how much time I have as Google Maps is stating a walking time of twenty minutes or so. If not, my other idea is to just walk around the Hamamatsucho and Daimon stations just for a small sense of being back in Japan again.

Just checking if anyone has any idea if the SUICA card can be used on the monorail or train on Keikyu line out of Haneda airport?

Yes. Monorail and Keikyu accept Suica.

Came across this article about the Ota ward bathhouse association prepping for visitors from Haneda, which I thought was interesting.

Might be a worthy idea for people on short layovers, considering the lack of other activities nearby.

Hey all,

Thought I'd stop by to give an update for future reference as I imagine this topic will come up more and more.

Due to my NH flight arriving early, I was able to buy my Monorail ticket by 5:05am and waited for a rapid service to Hamamatsucho. As mentioned before, I hadn't been to Japan in over twenty years but found the process of buying the ticket, taking the monorail, transferring to the Oedo Line at Daimon and ultimately getting to Tsukijishijo station. Unfortunately for me, the market was closed today but I wandered nearby and eventually had a nice sushi breakfast for about 3300 Yen. I started to head back around 7am, and definitely noticed that both the Monorail and Daimon station were much busier than when I was first heading into town.

As for immigration and customs, I wasn't sure what to put down for my purpose of visit and also left the address blank. After explaining to the man at immigration that I just wanted to leave the airport for a few hours, he told me to write down "Haneda transfer". Customs stopped me and I had to explain once more that I had a flight later in the day but wanted to leave for a bit. In addition, customs also inquired as to the whereabouts of my luggage.

In addition, I was surprised by the length of the lines at security when I was leaving. They moved at a reasonable pace but I wasn't sure why they couldn't open a few more lanes. Just leave some time to get through security as I didn't notice any lanes for elite flyers.

Thanks for all who supplied advice and suggestions. I had a great time and definitely want to visit Tokyo for a longer period in the future. For those who are unsure about leaving Haneda, my advice is to go ahead and do it.