NGO, Central Japan Airport - 24 hours on the ground
Apr 6, 2005, 11:19 pm
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 546
NGO, Central Japan Airport - 24 hours on the ground
Along with many other people, I decided to take advantage of the cheap NW or (in my case) UA fares and double miles promo to NGO, the new airport near Nagoya, Japan. The airport is built on an artificial island and opened in February, and made for an enjoyable mileage run.
I flew out of SBA at 8:31 am on Friday April 1 (April Fool's Day, coincidentally), happily skipping out on the end of the workweek. I flew into SFO on a Skywest CRJ. They served "Plane Cookies" (frosted oatmeal cookies) which I was extremely disappointed to find out were not in airplane shapes like the "Plane Cheesy" goldfish cracker knockoffs they also serve. I went straight to the international terminal (will they ever finish that construction on the food court in the domestic side?) and hung out in the Red Carpet Club, where I met up with CDG1, who was on the same flights to NGO, but had come from CDG the day before - a much harder trip than I faced! The Red Carpet Club wasn't especially nice, but fairly typical from my limited experience (JFK, LAX, SFO, LHR), although it did have a decent view. CDG1 is the first FlyerTalker I've met - it was fun to put a face to a screen name and emails, and to learn about somebody with so many interesting experiences.
As we descended the escalator to the gate, they were calling for a number of passengers to come to the podium, which turned out to be for upgrades - the best kind, operational. Both CDG1 and I got op-ups on our super-cheap eFare! I gave up my window seat for a middle, but it was well worth it. The breakfast served before arrival was especially good, "Chicken, spinach, and ricotta crepes with fresh fruit." It was probably the best airplane breakfast I've ever had (not that that's saying a lot, but still...) After we landed, I took the train (850 yen) and headed straight for the city because I wanted to get there and start walking around (and taking pictures) while it was still light - which sort of worked, but it was completely overcast so there was little dramatic lighting. Nagoya seems a pleasant enough city, from what I was able to tell in my very short time there. My time was spent mainly in three pursuits: 1) walking around 2) sleeping 3) going up in tall buildings. I walked a lot, both Saturday night and Sunday morning, and stopped to go up the TV tower Saturday night (750 yen, with an observation deck completely surrounded by chain-link fencing) and the JR Towers over the main train station (700 yen) Sunday morning. If you only want to do one of those (probably wise) I'd recommend the Panorama House in the JR Towers, especially if the air is clear. I went up Sunday morning when it was pretty hazy, and the view was still pretty spectacular. With a little more time I'd have visited the Nagoya Castle and at least one shrine or temple.
I stayed at the Nagoya Kanaya hotel, which I booked through the Octopus Travel website. It wasn't the authentic experience it sounds like ryokans can be, but it was perfectly fine. I was all messed up on time zones anyway and slept from about 10 pm to 5 am, a time I would never voluntarily get up at home. The room was fairly small, but very clean. The TV had 10 channels of Japanese programming, which allowed me to watch some Japanese baseball. Lots of things carry over directly from American baseball, including names like "Home run." But the crowds were strangely organized in their cheering and lots of guys were batting Ichiro-style, i.e. left-handed slap hitters who fell away from the plate as they swatted at the ball. It appears to be difficult or impossible to find information about Japanese baseball leagues in English, but when I go back to Japan again I'd really like to see a game in person. So many things in Japan are much the same as I'm used to, but still completely different. I bought some buns at a bakery without knowing what the fillings were. One was a lurid, disturbingly purple paste of unknown origin (at least, unknown to me). Still pretty tasty, but not a color I like to see in my food.
I took the train back to the airport on Sunday for another 850 yen (looking back, I think I was supposed to pay the supplement of 350 yen for the faster express train I took, but nobody asked me - appearing as big dumb white guy can occasionally have advantages). When I arrived back at the airport around 11:30 the check-in lines for our 3:35 pm flight weren't open yet; they opened something like 1 pm, I think, but I'm not sure. The airport has many great amenities, but I first went to the sky deck with many thousands of local tourists who had taken trains, boats, or cars to check out the still new airport, shop in its mall, and eat in its restaurants. The sky deck juts out between the international and domestic sides of the terminal and has good views of the runway. I wish airports in the US had similar observation decks. I bought a bowl of soup from one of the food-court type places inside; I'd estimate half or fewer of the restaurant employees spoke English, but I was able to get what I wanted with little trouble. I walked around a little more, then checked in and escaped from the crowds to the quiet peace of the nearly deserted international terminal. There is one lounge for all *A flights, which was decent, but smallish - no showers and little food, although it did have the vaunted beer machine (not as impressive as some make it out to be).
The flight back to SFO was far more turbulent than on the way over, but I slept most of the way (even being stuck in Y). Three of my four international flights this year have been in C, and I'm afraid I'm spoiled forever - I'll find out when I go to LIM this summer on Lan with zero status. We arrived about an hour early, so I hustled to try to make the 9:00 am flight from SFO back to SBA, and missed it by a few minutes (after going from the int. terminal to the domestic, going a long ways across the terminal, and taking the bus to the express terminal). So I had to wait until the 12:15 pm flight I was originally scheduled on, and spent the time napping in the Red Carpet Club.
All in all, a very successful trip; I'd do something like that every weekend if I could (but maybe not crossing so many time zones). Some people here were very reluctant to believe I had gone to Japan for the weekend, especially the ones that saw me at work on Thursday and again on Sunday evening. They just don't have the imagination required - or FlyerTalk to encourage them.
Pictures, pictures, pictures!
I flew out of SBA at 8:31 am on Friday April 1 (April Fool's Day, coincidentally), happily skipping out on the end of the workweek. I flew into SFO on a Skywest CRJ. They served "Plane Cookies" (frosted oatmeal cookies) which I was extremely disappointed to find out were not in airplane shapes like the "Plane Cheesy" goldfish cracker knockoffs they also serve. I went straight to the international terminal (will they ever finish that construction on the food court in the domestic side?) and hung out in the Red Carpet Club, where I met up with CDG1, who was on the same flights to NGO, but had come from CDG the day before - a much harder trip than I faced! The Red Carpet Club wasn't especially nice, but fairly typical from my limited experience (JFK, LAX, SFO, LHR), although it did have a decent view. CDG1 is the first FlyerTalker I've met - it was fun to put a face to a screen name and emails, and to learn about somebody with so many interesting experiences.
As we descended the escalator to the gate, they were calling for a number of passengers to come to the podium, which turned out to be for upgrades - the best kind, operational. Both CDG1 and I got op-ups on our super-cheap eFare! I gave up my window seat for a middle, but it was well worth it. The breakfast served before arrival was especially good, "Chicken, spinach, and ricotta crepes with fresh fruit." It was probably the best airplane breakfast I've ever had (not that that's saying a lot, but still...) After we landed, I took the train (850 yen) and headed straight for the city because I wanted to get there and start walking around (and taking pictures) while it was still light - which sort of worked, but it was completely overcast so there was little dramatic lighting. Nagoya seems a pleasant enough city, from what I was able to tell in my very short time there. My time was spent mainly in three pursuits: 1) walking around 2) sleeping 3) going up in tall buildings. I walked a lot, both Saturday night and Sunday morning, and stopped to go up the TV tower Saturday night (750 yen, with an observation deck completely surrounded by chain-link fencing) and the JR Towers over the main train station (700 yen) Sunday morning. If you only want to do one of those (probably wise) I'd recommend the Panorama House in the JR Towers, especially if the air is clear. I went up Sunday morning when it was pretty hazy, and the view was still pretty spectacular. With a little more time I'd have visited the Nagoya Castle and at least one shrine or temple.
I stayed at the Nagoya Kanaya hotel, which I booked through the Octopus Travel website. It wasn't the authentic experience it sounds like ryokans can be, but it was perfectly fine. I was all messed up on time zones anyway and slept from about 10 pm to 5 am, a time I would never voluntarily get up at home. The room was fairly small, but very clean. The TV had 10 channels of Japanese programming, which allowed me to watch some Japanese baseball. Lots of things carry over directly from American baseball, including names like "Home run." But the crowds were strangely organized in their cheering and lots of guys were batting Ichiro-style, i.e. left-handed slap hitters who fell away from the plate as they swatted at the ball. It appears to be difficult or impossible to find information about Japanese baseball leagues in English, but when I go back to Japan again I'd really like to see a game in person. So many things in Japan are much the same as I'm used to, but still completely different. I bought some buns at a bakery without knowing what the fillings were. One was a lurid, disturbingly purple paste of unknown origin (at least, unknown to me). Still pretty tasty, but not a color I like to see in my food.
I took the train back to the airport on Sunday for another 850 yen (looking back, I think I was supposed to pay the supplement of 350 yen for the faster express train I took, but nobody asked me - appearing as big dumb white guy can occasionally have advantages). When I arrived back at the airport around 11:30 the check-in lines for our 3:35 pm flight weren't open yet; they opened something like 1 pm, I think, but I'm not sure. The airport has many great amenities, but I first went to the sky deck with many thousands of local tourists who had taken trains, boats, or cars to check out the still new airport, shop in its mall, and eat in its restaurants. The sky deck juts out between the international and domestic sides of the terminal and has good views of the runway. I wish airports in the US had similar observation decks. I bought a bowl of soup from one of the food-court type places inside; I'd estimate half or fewer of the restaurant employees spoke English, but I was able to get what I wanted with little trouble. I walked around a little more, then checked in and escaped from the crowds to the quiet peace of the nearly deserted international terminal. There is one lounge for all *A flights, which was decent, but smallish - no showers and little food, although it did have the vaunted beer machine (not as impressive as some make it out to be).
The flight back to SFO was far more turbulent than on the way over, but I slept most of the way (even being stuck in Y). Three of my four international flights this year have been in C, and I'm afraid I'm spoiled forever - I'll find out when I go to LIM this summer on Lan with zero status. We arrived about an hour early, so I hustled to try to make the 9:00 am flight from SFO back to SBA, and missed it by a few minutes (after going from the int. terminal to the domestic, going a long ways across the terminal, and taking the bus to the express terminal). So I had to wait until the 12:15 pm flight I was originally scheduled on, and spent the time napping in the Red Carpet Club.
All in all, a very successful trip; I'd do something like that every weekend if I could (but maybe not crossing so many time zones). Some people here were very reluctant to believe I had gone to Japan for the weekend, especially the ones that saw me at work on Thursday and again on Sunday evening. They just don't have the imagination required - or FlyerTalk to encourage them.
Pictures, pictures, pictures!
Apr 7, 2005, 6:01 am
#2
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Terra Australis Cognita
Posts: 5,350
Thanks for the timely report, and great pics too! ^ I'll be landing in NGO about (checks clock) 12 hours from now...
A few pointers: the 350 yen surcharge applies only to reserved seats (note that the very fastest trains have nothing but), and the lurid purple paste in your bun was either a) red bean jam, if it was a dark purple, or b) taro jam (a kind of potato-y tuber), if it was a lighter purple. Both are pretty good if you ask me
A few pointers: the 350 yen surcharge applies only to reserved seats (note that the very fastest trains have nothing but), and the lurid purple paste in your bun was either a) red bean jam, if it was a dark purple, or b) taro jam (a kind of potato-y tuber), if it was a lighter purple. Both are pretty good if you ask me
Apr 7, 2005, 9:30 am
#3
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: GRZ, ZRH
Programs: LH FTL, Marriott Plat
Posts: 411
Nice report and great pictures!
I visited Japan in 2003 and was very impressed and IŽd love to visit the EXPO 2005 in Aichi... maybe in August or September!
Tom
PS: I donŽt think IŽd survive such a mileage run! Incredible...
I visited Japan in 2003 and was very impressed and IŽd love to visit the EXPO 2005 in Aichi... maybe in August or September!
Tom
PS: I donŽt think IŽd survive such a mileage run! Incredible...