Narita International Airport

‘Nuff said!!

I like NRT. It is my airport f preference when travelling through Japan. Smoking rooms, like in most Japanese airports, are conveinently located. The smoking room in the international concourse of NRT is far more comfy than those in NGA and some of the other Japanese airports. The rooms in Narita actually have seating and are actually large enough, compared to the “aquarium” like rooms in Nagoya. I have always found the Japanese to be especially friendly and courteous while carrying out their duties. This goes for security, clerks and airport officials. They are doing a job but still manage to be friendly and respectful.

I was stuck there for several hours during a storm, so I wandered around quite a bit.

TIPS:
1. figure out how to use a Japanese payphone before you get into a situation where you MUST make a call (like to tell the person picking you up you’ll be 3 hours late!). they only accept special phone cards or Japanese coins. luckily, i got Japanese coins in change after buying a magazine in US dollars but I couldn’t figure out how much money to put in. the Japanese person using the phone next to mine was no help.
2. you can take a shower or get McD’s there (they have some funky menu variations).
3. get something at the candy/goodies shop!
4. if your plane gets delayed…keep checking to make sure you’re waiting at the right gate because they changed gates on me 3 or 4 times and were very bad about notifying everyone!
5. be patient with the toilets. eventually you’ll find the right buttons (the “flush sound” button was very funny and embarassing).

not worth visiting when you have already been in the air for 23 hours and have to sit and wait for 7 more hours :( i thought there’d be awesome sushi and robots everywhere

When I go to the US or EU, I try to fly JAL with a layover in Narita. It’s a cheaper ticket than direct, but you get a night in Japan, which is way cool.

And what I do is get out of the hotel and take the bus into Narita Village/Township which is just a short distance away.

Last time I did, I ended up having awesome okonomiyake with some Aussie pilots and the talk was great fun.

The other benefit of this layover is that it really solves the jetlag issue you get with a real long-haul flight.

Helps that (for me) Melbourne and Japan are basically on the same timezone!

- Alister

Alister Cameron, Blog Consultant

We were coming from LAX (Los Angeles, California) to the Narita Airport in Japan. (We stopped here first, then went to Incheon, South Korea.) They have a lot of security checks! This was before the ban on liquids on airline flights, so it was a bit of a hassle. My mom and I probably went through five, that I can remember off the top of my head, checkpoints before we made it to the resting area.

Not to be anal and I don’t think 43places will let us change it, but Narita Airport is actually in the prefecture of Chiba, not Tokyo. They are next to each other. Close but not the same thing. Same goes for “Tokyo” Disneyland—it’s in Chiba.

i LOVE this airport! it kicks singapore’s changi airport’s ass!
all the cute-cute gift shops – so many things to eat and see and buy.. can’t wait to go back [and maybe leave the airport this time too]

Narita is definitely one of the nicer airports I’ve been to. There are plenty of gift shops around and they all offer good stuff at surprisingly decent prices. The food is good. The service is top-notch, although the female staff might giggle a bit too much. Immigration officers are surprisingly nice, customs tries to be hard-assed but doesn’t pull it off very well.