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I have a flight schedule from Seattle to Seoul in this winter, and my first airplane will land in Tokyo Haneda airport at 11:00 pm and my next airplane will depart to Seoul Gimpo airport in 8:25 am next morning.
I think it would be so limited to do something in Tokyo at a late night, especially for a person who cannot speak Japanese, but just staying in the airport should be very boring.
I flew internationally before, and I'm not aware if you are even allowed to exit the airport grounds without the appropriate authorization. For example, flying back to England with my British fiancee, her British passport was stamped in Canada with a transit only authorization, not a stay. Meaning, she had to stay within the airport. I highly suggest asking your airline what the rules are, instead of on here, or ask at the immigration desk
In addition to what unbrainwashed mentioned, you may want to approach this from a pragmatic standpoint.
If the foreign exchange services are anything like they are in Narita, then they will be all closed by the time you arrive, which means you will need to visit an ATM in the public area, which means you will have to go through customs, assuming they let you.
Then you will have to pay the exorbitant rate to exchange the funds to yen depending on what bank you use. Or you will have to pay the equally exorbitant rate at your departure airport at a Travelex, or maybe a bank will let you do it (if you have Wells Fargo, I've had good luck with them).
Despite Japan's reputation of being a high tech society, acceptance of credit cards is very low compared to the West. For example, I rarely carry cash anymore as I have a plastic card I use for everything, literally. In Japan .... not so much. Many of the tourist spots accept them widely but for the limited time you will be there, you won't be able to buy train tickets with it as the ticketing offices will be closed, and their automated machines don't take cards (well they do take Suica cards, but that's just for locals mostly). Then if you want to buy anything, make absolutely sure before you shop that they take cards. It's not unheard of for Japanese people to carry hundreds of dollars in their wallet because crime is so low and credit cards are not widely accepted (except for tourist areas).
Assuming you get cash before you arrive, that you can get through customs OK, etc. then comes the issue of what to do.
It will likely be around midnight when arrive. You might be jet lagged and be wide awake (well I'm not usually because I can't sleep on planes but hey, anything's possible), but everyone else will be closing shop except bars. All the shops will have closed anywhere between 5PM and 7PM. Shrines may be walkable but DARK in most cases, and nightclubs will be closing at midnight due to an arcane Japanese law. Well, shadier joints will be open still but you don't want to go into those.
So basically you'll be able to stumble all jetlagged into a bar. Then comes the issues of train service. Say you do go to a bar. You're basically taking the last trains to the bar; the last trains to the airport will have left by the time you go out. Which means you'll have to wait until ~5:30AM till they start running again. Which puts you perilously close to allowing enough time to re-enter security, etc., not to mention dead tired and/or drunk or hungover AND having to navigate train stations that while do have English, can still be quite confusing. I can't think of a worse situation when boarding an international flight.
Do yourself a favor and next time you want to go to Tokyo, take at least a few days and enjoy it. The best thing to do with your layover is find a hotel and try to get some sleep to readjust to the local time and be better refreshed by the time you get to your ultimate destination. Not knowing Japanese is OK in most cases so long as you're patient, allow plenty of time for navigation, and are OK sticking to the touristy joints.
I think you should have given yourself more time for a proper stopover in Tokyo if you were keen to see it. I just thought of an idea though if you are desperate to see the Japanese capital: you could get a taxi driver to drive you into the city (or take a train into the city, say Tokyo Station or wherever there are a lot of cabs) and ask him to maybe drive you around and give you a cook's tour of the main hubs, which may be doable in one to two hours, depending on traffic (I've never been to Tokyo so I have no idea what the traffic's like at this time and how doable this is). I've heard the subway closes early, and since you don't speak Japanese I would not get out and walk. You might also get lost unless you just stay in a very small area. If you wanted you could get the taxi driver to drop you off at a little izakaya or something if they're open. Maybe get someone to write down the instructions in Japanese for the taxi driver, what you want to see etc. You might want to ask in a forum like tripadvisor or some other forum about the feasibility of this. It'll probably be quite expensive, as I hear cabs in Tokyo can be (we're talking $100 or something for something like this, which might requiring hiring out a taxi for more than 2 hours). You'll get to see Tokyo by night.etc at least. You could for example get the driver to take you to central Tokyo, Ginza, Akihabara, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Harijuku.
That's of course, as theunbrainwashed has said, if you can even leave the airport in the first place. Failing that I would probably just hang around the airport. But yeah, let me know what you think of the idea.
Last edited by The Postman; 10-20-2013 at 03:41 AM..
If you're a US citizen, I think you might be able to get in and out no problem. It depends...immigration agents did not ask to see my departing plane ticket, as so often is warned.
But what would you want to do? I just spent a short 2.5 days in Tokyo, including one full night out, yet if I were you I don't think I'd want to bother with any of it. I had friends to guide me around, and we pretty much just bar-hopped and then settled in at this way out of the way hole in the wall club. It's either that, or karaoke, or a 24 hour ramen bar, or a 7-11. I personally don't think any of that sounds attractive if you're doing it alone.
If you're a US citizen, I think you might be able to get in and out no problem. It depends...immigration agents did not ask to see my departing plane ticket, as so often is warned.
But what would you want to do? I just spent a short 2.5 days in Tokyo, including one full night out, yet if I were you I don't think I'd want to bother with any of it. I had friends to guide me around, and we pretty much just bar-hopped and then settled in at this way out of the way hole in the wall club. It's either that, or karaoke, or a 24 hour ramen bar, or a 7-11. I personally don't think any of that sounds attractive if you're doing it alone.
What do you think of my idea of getting a taxi driver to drive you around the inner city for 1-2 hours?
Since your in Tokyo for only a couple hours i would go to Shibuya, walk around in the pedestrian zone and look for a building with a question mark logo on the outside, walk down the long small stairs and ask the guy behind the desk if you can see "The Book".
Just make sure you have at least $100 in your pocket, you can thank me later.
What do you think of my idea of getting a taxi driver to drive you around the inner city for 1-2 hours?
I think that's a fine idea if it appeals to the OP. It would probably run over 100 USD as you estimated, which to me would not be worth it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Davy-040
Since your in Tokyo for only a couple hours i would go to Shibuya, walk around in the pedestrian zone and look for a building with a question mark logo on the outside, walk down the long small stairs and ask the guy behind the desk if you can see "The Book".
Just make sure you have at least $100 in your pocket, you can thank me later.
And you didn't tell me this before I left? jk...kinda
I think that's a fine idea if it appeals to the OP. It would probably run over 100 USD as you estimated, which to me would not be worth it.
And you didn't tell me this before I left? jk...kinda
Definitely, would depend on how much the OP wanted to see Tokyo, whether he/she planned to return anytime soon. If it was possibly the only chance to see Tokyo in a long time I'd go for it.
What do you think of my idea of getting a taxi driver to drive you around the inner city for 1-2 hours?
1-2 hours in a taxi in Japan would easily cost US$150-200 easily.
I can't remember the rates exactly, but its like $6 just to open the door, and something obscenely crazy like a $1 a mile or $1 a minute or something like that.
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