We've arrived in Tokyo!
We're at Narita Airport
We've just got here
And been through customs
So today in this video I'm going to show you the things you need to do
When you first arrive in Tokyo
Things you need to pick up
Things you need to look for
And how to get to your hotel
This is actually back at the start of my last trip
I thought I'd show you what it's like arriving in Japan
I always write myself a list of things to do when I arrive
Because I don't trust myself to remember
After a long haul flight
If you want to see all the things we did on this trip
The videos are on my channel
There's new Japan videos every Thursday
If you want to subscribe
We've arrived!
This is how bad I look after a long haul flight
We just went through customs
There wasn't a long queue or anything
Picked up our bags
Everything was fine
They had some dogs going round
Checking for drugs & explosives & things I guess.
It's lovely & sunny in Tokyo
So we're going to pick up some things
And get into the city
There's 2 airports in Tokyo
Haneda & Narita
Today we're at Narita
Which is a bit further away from the city
Haneda is a lot more convenient
The first thing we need ot do is pick up our pocket wifi
Which is a little device
So you can use the internet out and about when you're in Japan
It's really useful
I ordered mine from Japan-rail-pass.co.uk
There are other places where you can get them a bit cheaper
But I've always used them
And they've always been reliable
And really good
So I decided to stick with them
You can get it delivered to your hotel
But I decided to pick it up from the airport
The reason is
Then you can use it on the train
And you can use it to help you find your hotel
And look on Google Maps
When you order it, they send you an email telling you
Where to pick it up
Here at Narita
We've got to go to the post office
On the 4th floor
We found the post office, here it is
I just asked at the information desk
And the woman there spoke english
And showed us where to go
I've picked up my pocket wifi now
I'd actually printed out the wrong email
She wanted the one with the tracking number
From when they sent it, not my order number
But I gave her my passport and she managed to find it ok
Here's the pocket wifi
It's in this pouch here
That'll contain the device & the charger
There you go
It's just about the size of a phone
And we've got a charger in there as well
This is an envelope to send it back
Before we go home
You just pop it in a postbox
Another thing you might need to pick up at the airport
Is your JR Pass
Your Japan Rail Pass
If you're going to be travelling around the country on the train
You need to order it before you come to Japan
Because it's only for foreigners
They post you a voucher
Which you take along
To the service centre
Or the ticket office
And swap it for your actual pass
I'm not going to be swapping mine just yet
Because I'm not starting mine at the start of my trip
You can save a bit of money
If you get a shorter pass
And only use it for the days you actually need it
Rather than getting a pass for your whole trip
So that's what I'm going to do
But if you need yours straight away
You can get it at the airport
When they send you the voucher
They send you a list of all the places you can exchange the voucher
It's at the airport & at major JR train stations
If you want to, you can pick up your JR Pass & not activate it till a later date
You can tell them which day you want it to start
I just didn't want to pick mine up until I needed it
Because I might lose it
What we're doing next
Is getting our tickets for the train to get into Tokyo
From Narita Airport
The quickest way is the Narita Express.
Which is also called the N'Ex
There are cheaper trains you can get
We're going to get the N'Ex
Because it's just for the airport
So we're not going to be battling against other people
Just regular train users
When we've got our suitcases with us
But there are cheaper options if you prefer
You can see, all the signs you need are in English as well as Japanese
This is where you get tickets for the N'Ex
The Narita Express
It's the Travel Service Centre
It's right opposite the ticket barriers
Where you go on the trains
Look for the sign in red
You can also exchange your voucher to get your JR Pass here as well
I think the JR Pass also covers the Narita Express
So if you're starting your pass straight away
You can use that to get the train into Tokyo
You can also get a Suica card here
That's a pass for all the trains in Tokyo
So the Tokyo Metro
And overground trains
I think that's the easiest way to pay for your trains
You just swipe in & swipe out at the ticket barriers
You don't have to worry about it
I'm not picking up mine here
Because I've got one already
If you've got one from a previous trip
It will still work when you come back
There's now also a version of the Suica card designed for foreigners
It's called the "Welcome Suica"
It's the same as a regular one
But you don't have to pay a deposit to get it
And it expires after 28 days
It also doesn't have the cute penguin on it
So maybe the version from Pasmo is better
Because it has Sanrio characters on it
IT's the same as the Welcome Suica
It's for foreigners
It lasts 28 days
But you do have to pay a 500 yen issuing fee
But it's probably worth it
For the cute card
There's more about tickets & all this
In my Getting Around Tokyo video
You can find it in my Japlanning playlist
As I'm only getting tickets for the Narita Express
She told me to go to the ticket office opposite
She said it's a lot quicker
It's also got a red sign
I think it's because they're sorting out people's Japan Rail Passes in there
So it takes quite a long time to get through the queue
As it turned out
There was a queue there too
So in the end I got my tickets from the ticket machine
There's a button to change the language to English
So these are all options
Just use whichever you prefer
Our reservation's for car 2, seat 2C
It tells you where to stand-
Ok my camera decided not to focus
But you get the idea
The signs tell you where to stand on the platform
This is a lock to keep your baggage safe
We haven't seen these in many trains actually
I think it's only on the Narita Express
It might be on some shinkansen
But I've never seen it
I think I saw they have CCTV in this section as well
So we do that...
Set your code
Secret!
Lock it
That's it
All safe!
Secure
Where shall we sit?
Oh we don't get a choice!
There's space up here for your hand luggage
The displays on the train are really good
They show you where you are
And your progress along the route
It was 3020 yen each
If you're getting a return trip
It's 4000 yen
So that's a much better deal
But we'll be flying back from Haneda
So we don't need the return
*Chimes*
*Japanese*
*Announcement in English*
The Narita Express isn't the cheapest way to get into Tokyo
But it is a very comfortable way
If you have a JR Pass
It's included in that
The reason I take it
Is because it's comfortable, I like it
It's got space for your suitcases
Because it's just for the airport
It doesn't have everyday commuters
And everyone else on it
So you're not battling everyone else with your suitcases
*Chimes*
Narita's actually a beautiful and historic place
There are free guided tours
With the Narita Airport Transit & Stay programme
You can visit temples, old streets
Or go cycling through rice fields
All the details are on narita-transit-program.jp
Watching this back now
Brings back the feeling after a long haul flight
Of not having slept properly
But also being excited to be somewhere else
And seeing all the everyday places the train passes through
Industrial areas & houses
Where everything looks different
And you're not used to it yet
My Suica pass-holder
Look out for these cool hanging monorail trains
As you go through Chiba Station
You can also see the SkyTree along the way
From this distance, I think you really get a sense of how tall it is
May I have your attention please
The baggage space will be crowded just before we arrive
Please pick up your baggage & get ready to get off
Before the train arrives at your stop
*Announcement in Chinese*
We've got off the Narita Express at Tokyo Station
As you can see, it's pretty busy
Lots of people walking everywhere
So it's best t o check where you're going beforehand
So you've got an idea of which line to look for
It can be a bit crazy
Going round with all your suitcases
When it's so busy & there's so many people
And there's all the escalators & stairs & things
So just take your time
Look for the signs
And keep calm
If you take a wrong turning you can always go back
You need to look for these yellow signs
To see which exit you need
Some of the stations have a lot of different exits
I've checked; we need the Karasumori Gate
For our hotel
We've just taken the Yamanote Line from Tokyo Station to Shimbashi Station
Which is the station for our hotel
I'm not quite sure what's going to happen when we get to the ticket gate
Because when we got off the N'Ex
The Narita Express
We just went straight onto the Yamanote Line
And we didn't go through a ticket gate
So that means we haven't scanned our Suica cards
Like we should have
Our ticket for the N'Ex doesn't cover this trip between Tokyo & Shimbashi
So we'll see what happens!
As I suspected
Our ticket for the N'Ex didn't let us through the ticket barriers
So I just went to the woman at the side
I gave her the ticket
She got a calculator out
And typed in 340 for 340 yen
For the fare
For the extra trip on the Yamanote line
I didn't even need to say anything
In English or Japanese
She knew what to do
And it was all fine
We've just come out the station
We're not quite sure which was it is to our hotel
It's better if you can work this out beforehand
So you know which way you're going
If you can
Look up your hotel on Google Streetview
So you know what you're looking for
And you know when you've spotted it
We're just having a look on Google Maps to see which way it is
Have you found it Phil?
Yeah
We can go the main route-
We can go...
(I'm very tired!)
We can go down a main-ish road
Or we can go through some backstreets
Our hotel check-in time's at 3 o'clock
Right now it's about half 12
They wouldn't let us check in early
They never do
But they did keep our suitcases for us
So we can come back later
It's actually really nice to not be walking round with the suitcases now
So we've just grabbed some drinks & something to eat
For some energy
We're feeling a bit low on it at the moment
Phil's got a beef onigiri
First time I've ever had a beef one
I normally have either plain or fish ones
I figured, beef might be quite nice
Give it a try!
I've got my favourite cheap drink from the 7-Eleven
Yuzu lemon
It's actually really nice
It's only 93 yen
That's actually pretty nice
I thought it was going to be just chunks of beef
But it's got - I don't know what sauce that is
It's not soy sauce
It's a bit sweeter
Teriyaki?
Yes, I think it might be
So that's your first hour in Japan
Or a couple of hours really
Because the N'Ex
Pigeons!!
The N'Ex takes an hour to get into Tokyo
So you're first couple of hours in Japan
We picked up the wifi
You could pick up your JR Pass
If you need to
And we got the tickets for the N'Ex
Got into Tokyo
Into the Tokyo :-P
We found our hotel
And we acquired food
So next, we're probably going to go over to Yanesen
And have a look round
Before we can check into our hotel
And try & stay awake
To a reasonable time
To acclimatise to the time change
You've got to be a bit careful about jet lag, right
We've arrived here at all times of day
Really early morning & quite late at night
We always think we're going to land early in the morning & get loads of stuff done
But it's really difficult
Because you're so tired
Before we've always landed later in the day
So we've just got something to eat & then gone to sleep really
It seemed like a good idea to have a whole day for our first day
But we do feel pretty tired at the moment!
But I want to make the most of it anyway
So your first hour or first day
Don't decide you're going to run off & do something
Really big on your first day
Because you're probably not going to enjoy it that much
Plan something chilled
We're going to go off & do something a bit more relaxed
Probably have an early lunch
Early dinner
Get an early night
Then be up & ready to go tomorrow
That should offset all the jetlag as well
That'll be us done by then I should think!
If you want to see what we did next
Before falling asleep
It's in my What's in Yanesen video
The link's in the description
I'll be back with more videos about Japan next week!
I'll see you on Thursday.