Early morning arrival Haneda, Tokyo rush?

Hello people.
I have been to Tokyo several times, know the rush hour in the morning is a nightmare, and with luggage it's even worse.

I have a flight arriving to Haneda airport at 6 in the morning. I guess I will be on the monorail to the city (staying near Kanda station) about 7. Is there any alternative way to the area to avoid getting in the way for the morning commuters on the Yamanote line?

Taxi is too expensive and still if I send my luggage, I do not want to be packed like in a sardine can...

Is the rush hour very bad from Haneda airport up till Tokyo/Kanda station?

I would look into limousine buses, either to a nearby hotel or to TCAT (Tokyo City Air Terminal), then take a taxi for the final leg to your hotel.

You could maybe kill time somewhere for a few hours after getting off the monorail and before getting into a busier line. Although I�fm not sure what you luggage storage odds would be at Hamamatsuchō.

OK this was 2016 and not quite your route, but is pretty similar

On a Friday in June 2016 I flew from Narita to my home airport on a 11:00 am flight, which means I am pretty sure I left my hotel in Shimbashi either 10-15 minutes before 8 or at 8 to make a NEX at Tokyo Station.

I had my suitcases and my kid with me and I'm going to say since I don't remember the trains being awful they can't have been that miserable. I doubt the trains were empty, but they must have been fine or I would have strong memories of the it. (vs. I do remember that it took longer than I wanted to check out and I was worried about missing my trains or my train from USJ to Osaka Station last June where I was worried my child would suffocate in the crowd of people.)

Once you start talking about spending a few hours in Hamamatsucho if you've takyuubinned most of your bags you can always just start walking and stop off in a cafe or so along the way. It's not even 5k between Hamamatsucho Station and Kanda Station. It's a shorter walk, but I love walking from Shimbashi to Tokyo Station. Last trip we spent a few nights at the Mitsui Otemachi which is technically closer to Kanda but we frequently walked from Tokyo Station.

If it were me, I would send most of my bags ahead and see how bad the train is from Hamamatsucho to Shimbashi. If it's untenable, get off at Shimbashi and just do a leisurely walk. It'll knock 1.6 km off the 4.7 from Hamamatsucho. Heck, you can even follow that plan of action each station until you get to Kanda. I'd also walk further down at Hamamatsucho, more people always seem to be waiting in the front and middle at that particular station. At that point in the morning, the Keihan and Yamanote line are both running every 2-3 minutes.

Good luck!

I'll let the weather decide if I will walk or not but it seems like a great idea to wear off any jetlag.

How fast would takkyubin reach the hotel by the way? i have used it some times before, sending from Kansai airport to Toyama, took 1 night to reach the hotel.

I cannot enter my room until maybe 15.00 so in case I am like really tired (I usually arrive in Tokyo about 12-13.00 usually), is there any preferable resting place you can use in Tokyo area? Laying down in a park maybe is looking a bit awkward. Just sitting on a bench for several hours I would probably fall asleep on the spot.

Any suggestions? :)

Thanks by the way for your ideas :)

Hi!

I totally get not wanting to walk in the rain. I was in Kamikochi in buckets of rain and it was just not all that fun, particularly when trying to get some of our bags back to bus terminal. I ended up having my daughter wait at the bus terminal undercover with one bag, while I went back to get the second bag and finish our check out. But if the weather is nice, I find that side of Tokyo tends to be quite pleasant to walk around. The sidewalks tend to be very wide in a lot of areas and there always seems to be a lot of cafes about, even if they're all just Starbucks.

If the weather looks bad and you are nervous at close to 8:00 am there is a bus from Haneda to Tokyo Station which will get you awful close to Kanda, but if it were me I would still risk the train. I plan to risk the train for my return flight to Haneda which is also in the morning.

I want to stress I have never arrived in Japan before check in. Flights from my originating airport never arrive earlier than mid-afternoon and by the time I am through security I'm always arriving in Tokyo (or Osaka) close to 17:00. But... I've heard you can go to an internet cafe and nap there. These are a listing of some in Ikebukuro, but I would not be surprised if there are some in Kanda as well. https://www.tsunagujapan.com/6-recommended-internet-cafes-in-ikebukuro... I would look for one where there is a shower room, since then you can take a nap and shower. I think people often nap at internet cafes which is why they offer rest spaces.

I believe Haneda does offer same day delivery within Tokyo
http://www.global-yamato.com/en/hands-free-travel/scene01.html

Again, I've not used the service, I usually have my bag arrive the next day and just travel with a small overnight bag, but I'm also usually not sending it from a Tokyo Airport to Tokyo.

Good luck and I hope this helps.

Apologies for hijacking this thread, but this covers a very similar topic which I have on my mind for our trip in November. In the past, we never had the situation, that we arrived this early in Haneda, so we never had to deal with huge jetlag difficulties or getting into the rush hour. We will be able to drop our luggage at our hotel in the bay of Yokohama, so I am not really worried about the luggage, because if we are in the bay area, we can somehow survive until 3pm check-in time.

I am more worried about the rush hour, is it possible to somehow determine when the rush hour is worst? Let�fs say the flight has no delay, we arrive 6am, we get into the train 7am, it does not take too long to Yokohama, is that doable using the train during that time? Or should we wait at the airport until 10am?

Why don�ft you take Keikyu line from Haneda Airport.
Keikyu train directly goes to Nihombashi (Toei Asakusa Line) with no transfer.
From Nihombashi, Kanda is only 1 km.
You can walk, or go by taxi with minimum fare.

https://www.haneda-tokyo-access.com/en/

Let�fs say the flight has no delay, we arrive 6am, we get into the train 7am, it does not take too long to Yokohama, is that doable using the train during that time? Or should we wait at the airport until 10am?

Take Airport limousine bus by Keikyu bus company. There are many for Yokohama. The seat is secured, you can take luggage without hustle.

http://hnd-bus.com/airport/

The fare is 720 yen which is slightly more expensive than Keikyu train.

Regarding resting during the day before you can get into your room.
You could simply go to a city onsen. Not all of them have resting places, but the bigger ones definitely have them. You can soak a bit, relax in the water and then sleep in a tatami room for some time, have lunch...

There is one onsen really close to Haneda Airport, but there are also some more downtown, eg Termayu in Shinjuku. I think there are many more. Just check out their websites for a map of the facilities and you should be able to confirm if they have a relax area or not.

Enjoy your trip to Tokyo!

Inaigun,

I live in Yokohama, and I would take the Limousine Bus in your situation. Yes, that's a busy hour of the day if it's a weekday, and the direct buses get rid of so much stress!

Also, just a reminder that you're not forced to wait until 3pm to start using a hotel room.

Personally speaking, when I'm arriving early in the morning somewhere and I'm staying in a reasonably priced hotel, I'd much rather have the option of taking a nap, showering, resting and so on in my hotel room rather than on a park bench somewhere, especially after a long flight. YMMV of course.

@UmamiDearest: early check in is only going to be possible if the hotel allows for it. Some allow free of charge, some charge some money and some just don't have that option at all. I have seen quite often that 15:00 is a rule written in stone in Japan, even if rooms are actually free and ready before. But yes, if you pay extra or if you have a hotel that allows early check-in, this is definitely a possibility.

Up in the thread there was also a question about Takyubin. If you ship in the morning it should arrive on the next day at the destination.

@LikeBike - any hotel will allow you to check in one day earlier and pay for an extra night (assuming they're not fully booked that night, of course).

As I said, YMMV as to whether it's worth it to you, but I just wanted to point it out as an option. Personally I'd rather spring for an extra night rather than being tired out for the first two days I'm on vacation. (Then again I try to avoid early-morning arrivals, and I also like staying in budget-friendly hotels.)

>I am more worried about the rush hour, is it possible to somehow determine when the rush hour is worst?

The worst rush hour is around 8:30 �` 9:00 at Tokyo station and other stations in central Tokyo because office hour starts at 9:00 in most companies.
In the suburbs, rush hour is earlier.

Inaigun,

Hi again. Like I mentioned previously, there is no reason to not choose the Limousine Bus in which users are basically all travelers, and which also stops at 3 hotels in the Bay area.
https://www.limousinebus.co.jp/en/areas/detail/nrt/ycat/for

But if you insist on using the trains (and I assume you are using Keikyu trains), there is an app that allows you to see how crowded stations are at that point, although the app is in Japanese language.
https://www.keikyu.co.jp/train-info/keikyu-app/index.html

You can also ask upon arrival to Haneda at both the train station and the bus counter, which I'm sure you know are located very close together, and decide at the spot.

In a news release of the app, an illustration suggests that 8:30 am is the peak at, say, Keikyu Kamata.
https://www.keikyu.co.jp/company/news/2018/20180702HP_18072MT.html

Meanwhile, a blogger says that Keikyu Yokohama Station is crowded between 7-9 am with its peak at 8.
https://takumick.com/keikyu-konzatsu/

Needless to say, if you're going to take the train, take an Airport Express bound for Shinzushi, all the way from Haneda to Yokohama Station.
https://www.haneda-tokyo-access.com/en/transport/trainlinemap.html

It's only a 9 minute train ride from Hamamatsucho to Kanda station. I would just ride and be done with it.
Go to the very front car or the very last car of the train. There is more standing room at the very front of the train (and the very back of the train) because of the room for the driver. Also, I always found the middle cars to be more crowded.

Thank you guys, for the really helpful and very detailled advice. You guys have convinced me, we are going to take the bus, seems like a really relaxed way to get to the hotel in yokohama, especially as our hotel is one of the stops.

The end cars tend to be a little less crowded because most exits at stations are towards the center of the platforms and regular commuters know which car to board to save the time walking to each exit. Commuters wish to spend the least amount of time getting to work, so they know which cars to board. The middle cars are more crowded exactly for this reason. Granted, some stations may have exits at the extreme ends of the station, but those aren't very common. It has little to do with the location of the driver or conductor.

Inaigun,

Please note that there are 4 different bus lines to Yokohama Area. If you want to go to your hotel directly, you need to choose the right one. I think there is a conductor of the bus company and you can ask her/him whether the bus will go there. As for the bus stop at Haneda, see the link below.

http://www.haneda-airport.jp/inter/en/access/bus.html