Technically I’m writing this at 6:52 AM on my second day in Japan. I was originally going to post last night but by the time I got to my hotel I was exhausted and just took a shower and passed out. It’s all still a bit surreal to think that I’m half way across the world in another country.
The flight was fine overall. I flew Japan Airlines and had a good experience with them and will more then likely strive to fly them on my way back in four months. Because I flew into Tokyo instead of Kansai I couldn’t book a round trip and am having to buy a separate ticket to fly home in December. It’s a tad bit more expensive then if I had booked a round trip but I think seeing more of the country is worth it. I did learn that after about 5 hours on a plane you begin to feel that your life is the plane and can’t imagine not being in your seat. A bit of Stockholm syndrome I suppose.
After landing I had to go through customs, as all international passengers do however it is a bit different as I had to also get a Japanese ID made, since I’m here on a student visa. On the plane you will be given two forms that you will have to fill out, one for customs and one for just entry into the country. They are pretty straightforward so don’t overthink it like I did. The thing I will say is the box given for your address in Japan, which KG should give you before you leave, isn’t very big so you will need to be careful with that. I just put the name of the dorm and the street address on it and didn’t include the university name or campus name and had no problems. Also I just used the international number that I was given for the phone number. This is assuming you are staying in dorms and not at a homestay, for that I’m not sure on the specifics but I assume it would be similar.
After customs came the tricky part, I had to pick up my pocket wi-fi, get my baggage shipped to the dorms, and figure out how the heck the trains work so I could get to Tokyo, as Narita Airport is about and hour out from Tokyo. The pocket wi-fi wasn’t too hard I just went to the location that I was given in the email, gave them my name, and picked it up. I highly recommend ordering it ahead of time there are plenty of websites that are in English that you can do that from and have it shipped to the airport. If you don’t do that I’m almost certain that there are places in the airport that you can get one one. After that came the second hardest thing, shipping my luggage. And this is where I can’t give enough praise and thanks to the staff at the JAL ABC counter. KG gives you and address to ship the luggage to however the address is in English which seemed to throw off the staff at the counter. However they went so far as to call KG and talk with them for me to make sure they sent it to the right place. They were extremely polite and friendly and I’m not entirely sure I could have gotten it to the right place if it wasn’t for them. If landing not at Kansai International I highly recommend shipping your luggage. I personally used the JAL ABC service which I would highly recommend. You can even specify a date for it to be delivered, which was important for me since I arrived a few days early.
The last and probably biggest hurdle was getting on the train. If you’ve looked at the train maps for Japan you probably understand how confusing they can be. I decided to get an IC card, PASMO was what I got but pretty much any one of them are fine. The reason for this is that I don’t have to worry about trying to get a ticket for every train I take, I can just walk up to the gate and scan my card. On the way out of the station I do the same and the amount is charged to the card. The card can be loaded with at most ticket stations so I can just keep using it my entire time here. I’d highly recommend this as it does take one step out of the process. The next thing is figuring out what train to take and for this google maps is actually really good. Just put in your destination and choose the train option and it’ll give you pretty good instructions on what train you need to take. However that’s only the first step, finding the right platform is the next and probably most difficult in my opinion, though that is probably because I went to the wrong one first. For this my only advice is to ask if you are not sure. I had to ask someone at the ticket counter and he was very helpful in pointing me in the right direction and had no problem telling me in English, which I was using to make sure I didn’t miss anything.
After an 18 hour flight plan and another couple hours at the airport I finally arrived at my hotel around 6 PM. I’m staying at a capsule hotel called MyCUBE, and for only about $97 for three nights it’s a really nice choice if your traveling by yourself or with only one or two people. It was surprisingly easy to find and the staff have been very friendly. The facilities are also top notch. If you’re in Tokyo and looking for a pretty inexpensive place to stay I would highly recommend it.
I didn’t really do much after that as I said, I just walked to a 7-11 got a light dinner, took a shower, and passed out. I was hoping to do a bit more last night but only getting an hour of sleep on the plane made that more of a dream then reality. As for today I’m planning on going to the Tsukiji Market and walking around Ginza. Hopefully the weather clears up a bit around lunch time and I can take a trip to the Tokyo Metro Building and get a good view of the city. One last thing that I’ll leave you with is a video that really helped me work my way through my first few hours in Japan. In the description there is a link to a written version of the video that has all sorts of helpful links in it, one in particular is a great link for choosing and ordering the pocket wi-fi that I mentioned. Thanks for reading.
A Guide to Your First Hour in Tokyo, Japan
Gaidai Gaiden 