21 hour layover, wanting to go to Akihabara

As of now, I have never been to Japan, but in the near future I am going to land in Narita Airport on 24 JAN 2014 - 25 JAN 2014, for a 21 hour layover that lasts from 8:00pm - 5:00 pm. Now because I am very excited about landing in Japan, it is my intention to see as much as I can within that timeframe, most notably, Akihabara. I speak the language, and I have done extensive research on the places that I will stop by on travel, and I have a map of all places that I intend to visit, not to mention a visual of what all the bus stops and their surroundings look like. I also have yen set aside for travel to return to the airport, and have calculated the expenses that transportation requires. One thing I would like to know is: in your experience, what is an estimate that you can give on the duration of time spent going through customs? The plan is that upon arrival at 8, I would go through customs, and depending on how late or early I am, I would aim for the Access Narita 1000‰~ bus (which stops running at 10:30PM) that goes straight to Tokyo Station, Yaesu-guchi. From there, I would take either the JR Keihin Tokoku, or Yamanote for ‚P‚R‚O‰~ for a one way stop to Akihabara Station, and overall travel would take around 70 minutes. Now excited as I am, I figured that it'd be fun to stay in a city all night somewhere and wait until stores open to do some very small shopping in Akihabara. Idealistically, that sounds like a tall order, but before my flight in Narita leaves at 5pm, I plan to leave Akihabara once I have gotten enough pictures and stuff at 11pm, leaving me four hours left in Narita once finished. Do you think that doing something like this would be possible? I have printed out many resources, such as maps, and timetables that will assist me in my little "journey", but does this decision sound far-fetched? If you have read my message, then I thank you for taking the time to read this and replying.

I'm sure it is very doable. I have been through Narita custom several times. Depend on how busy that day is but it usually takes me about 10 to 20 minutes to go through. The longest time was about 45 minutes. Then another a few to 15 minutes for my luggage. Let's says it takes an hour, you'll still have plenty of time to catch your bus.

If you are looking for a place to take a nap or rest until stores open, you may want to try manga cafe. If you have never tried it, it will be a good experience :-)

Sounds pretty reasonable to me. Try to get as much sleep as you can on the flight over though!

Hmm, sounds like just a shopping trip. If you are going to stay up all night anyway, why don't you spend it in some place more exciting like Shinjuku. Take the train over to Akihabara in the morning. Research 24-hr shops before you go as well.

If youfre landing at Narita airport, I can say youfre about 30 to 40min from Akihabara by train give or take. This is from my experience, but Akihabara do close down like 9 or 930, some stores to stay open until 10 or a little later. I remember when I arrive at Akihabara like 830pm from Shibuya, lucky I just made it after a couple told me itfs going to close soon. The best time to see Akihabara is at night or when itfs getting dark. Early in the morning Akihabara is dead stores are close when I got there like 9am lol. You can visit that big lantern thing in Tokyo, the spot called Taitouku Asakusa you can see it at night but nothing happening and close, I know I walked there from Akihabara

Youfre taking the bus so I donft know, I took the NEX train from Narita airport into Tokyo Station and from Tokyo Station I took the train to Akihabara. In the morning you can go to that fish market in the early morning where all the auction happen for the tuna fish, I hear that a must visit spot.

At night time near Tokyo Station they are some other travelers who hang out around there waiting for the station to open up again. I don't know if this happen a lot or I got lucky that night on my last there. They are looking to meet up with other travelers on layovers and stuck there. Maybe I was lucky that but and I met a few people at McD near Tokyo Station which close at 2am. We talk spot to visit near Tokyo station; I hope you are able to meet them. I met a great bunch and will never forget them.

There a spot at Narita airport where you can clean your luggage for 1000yen for the night. Narita airport do have a shower, I found out on my day while making my way to check in.

If you are able to stay up all night, trust me you can see a few good stuff, even if they are close you still can go see it, that what I did for a lot of spot, but some spots are best to visit when it open to you can see.

Good luck.

sorry typo.. There a spot at Narita airport where you can have them hold your luggage for 1000yen for the night. Narita airport do have a shower, I found out on my day while making my way to check in.