Many Questions

almost New to JAPAN!

(background info):
hello everyone! In a of couple months, my friends and I will be making a Thailand trip. But on our way home, our flight is making a stop in Narita, Japan!!! (we are SUPER excited!! about this stop) because our stop will be for 8 hours before our next schedule flight back home.

we figure that if we are going to be in japan for 8 hours (although we are debating now if we should change our flight to a later time / or maybe an over night stay!?! 0_0 !!!) we might as well make good use of those 8 hours!!

but after researching, we found that Narita is an hour away from Tokyo! and other prefectures that we want to go too!!!

IF we do not stay over night or extend our flight, we will be short on time (after reading the transportation information, it seem like we would need to at least save 3 hours for traveling back and forth from tokyo to nartia), therefore we will most likely go to Tokyo and tour around there...

my questions are:

Does it really take an hour from the narita airport to tokyo? (if using the JR Narita Express) and when riding or traveling... will there be english signs or people telling us when we reach tokyo?

at the aiport will there be people who speaks english where we can ask questions of how to buy passes for the express?

and where can i get a schedule of the express? (our flight is arriving at 6:30 and we would like to get on the earliest ride to tokyo so we dont waste time!)

"JR Narita Express (NEX), requiring roughly one hour for the one way journey. All seats are reserved"... how do we reserved these seats? and can we reserved ahead of time!?

and when we are finally in tokyo, is it hard to find places? will there be english signs or directions?

some of the places we would like to visit is a hot spring? we probably wont go in but maybe just to walk around and sight see, since we are short on time.

over all, when traveling in tokyo between the prefectures in tokyo, or districts, is it hard by walking or do we have to take buses??

i know these are a lot of questions, but PLEASE answer me! it will be most helpful!!!!

THANK YOU in advance! it will be deeply appreciated!!!!

Yes, roughly a hour is about the time it takes to get to Tokyo station from Narita. However I suggest taking it one stop further to Shinagawa station, it increases time to 1 hour 20 minutes, but this will position in the best spot to decide where to go next.

Your best bet in your case is just to find the JR office located about 200' from the gates that lead to the Narita Express.
The JR office is about the only place you can assure they will know English and they are able to sell you a reserve ticket or at least help you with the ticket machine, that in there self is not too hard to operate.

Tokyo is fairly easy to navigate, the train station will have romaji for the district names and simple arrows where to go. You basically have a track that goes one way and a track that goes the other way, just ensure your heading the right direction.

Although possible when time is an issue, its not realistic to walk anywhere, your best bet is via JR trains, like the yamamoto line.

Once in the district, to be honest there is not a whole lot of helpful signs, you will kind of on own your own. Tokyo is easy to get around, but it takes longer then what you have to understand everything.

Based on that, I would only suggest you visit some of the popular districts and skip everything else.
From Shinagawa station you'll be close to Shimbuya, Shinjuku and roughly 20 mins from Akihabara.
You really dont have enough time to go elsewhere, these are among the highlights of Tokyo and you can wonder around, and still have the train stations close by.

#1 If I were you I would definitely extend my trip and stay overnight. seeing only a tiny bit of Tokyo would be like being hungry but being only allowed to have a single tiny bite. #2 many of the questions you asked about trains and many other topics are under Japan A-Z at the top of this page. under travel-- in that section--you will find lot of info about Tokyo. Under transportation look for railways. there are 2 very informative pages: "timetables" tell you all about very practical internet timetables like Hyperdia.com "taking the trains" tell you about the various types of trains, buying tickets, going to the platform ,signs in English or rather romanji (latin alphabet) etc. etc. besides all that yo ushould use the window to the top left of this page called " search this site" enter any question and you will get a list of previous answers about it. I am a bit surprised by your puzzlement about Narita distance from Tokyo itself. Paris, London

THANK you for answering so far to the two above...i guess its because I'm from the U.S and i'm use to city, states, country deal.

but as in japan, from what my brother tells me, there is no states?... but there is about 9 sections call region and within those regions, there is ''prefectures?'' im assuming their like states right? yet within those ''prefectures'' there are cities..such as tokyo, narita and so on...and within those cities, they all have districts!? and i guess because i figure since we are flying international, tokyo being the most famous largest city in japan that we would land there...but after research it turn out to be in another section / city ...therefore i was expecting us to be about an hour away...

i totally need to buy a book on japan! ...

hmm soo is narita like a city/district in tokyo and not its own prefecture!?!

my friends and i would like to stay longer, but we will be spending a lot already on the previous trip that we don't know if we will be able to afford japan. even than, we're cutting short on time because we need to get back for school and work. trust me, we would love to stay but no time over all and since our flight is making a 8 hour stop, we would like to visit tokyo...even if its for an hour...and yes its like feeding the hunger! but what can we do when we have to get back to work and school!? heheh LOL

thanks for the advice so far!

It is similar to New York Kennedy airport, somewhat outside the citycenter and the subway takes about an hour to reach Columbus Circle in Manhattan. So is Narita-airport to Tokyo.
Tokyo has several citycenters, there are 12 million living in Tokyo, 25 million living in the Greater Tokyo Area.
Tell us at which time you arrive, at which time you leave, there is no public transport in Japan between short after midnight and early morning. This may influence your 8 hours sightseeing.
The fare for a trainride between Narita-Airport and Tokyo starts at Yen 1000 for a subwaytype train and goes to Yen 3000 or slightly more, for the Express train or a Limousine Bus.

Someone else in the same situation :

http://www.japan-guide.com/forum/quereadisplay.html?0+47014

Japan consists of 47 "prefectures," somewhat like the states in the US. Tokyo is in Tokyo prefecture, and Narita city is in Chiba prefecture, located to the east of Tokyo prefecture.

Fooly, I don't really understand why you are suggesting Shinagawa- it is right in the south of central Tokyo and to get to Shinjuku, Shibuya and particularly Akihabara you have to go back north again- past Tokyo station in the case of Akihabara. From Tokyo station to Shinjuku by Chuo LIne only takes about 12 minutes- it is at least 20 mins from Shinagawa to Shinjuku.

Tokyo station is also close to the Imperial Palace, Ginza and Hamamatsucho- it makes no sense at all geographically to go to Shinagawa rather than Tokyo.

ms, does the 8 hours include the time spent passing through Immigration at both ends and checking back in again? (Remembering you need to be at the airport 2 hoirs before your flight leaves. If so, realistically you will only have 3 or 4 hours in Tokyo- not nearly enough time for an onsen, just enough time to pick one district or at the most two , have a quick look around and a meal there.

Don't be too ambitious- trains in Tokyo are usually punctual but can be delayed, or you might get lost for a while- missing your flight out wouldn't be good, would it.

Yes, it really does take an hour to get to Tokyo from Narita, and you might wait 20 minutes or so for a train at each end.

u guys are such good help!

and yes Sira, our 8 hours there will probably include the whole immigration thing...but since its a layaway, do they really still check all that?...and will it really take an hour...

so yes with the checking in and checking out...we figure we would probably only get 2 hours at a certain city/district before we needed to head back to the airport to check in.

we are arriving in narita at 6:30 in the morning...and our flight leaves at 2:55pm

since we know we will be really cutting it close to time wise, we choose tokyo since it is the closest city that has the most attractions, as in exciting and vibrant life hehehe lol...

we know if we only get about 2 hours there and have to head back at least we got 2 hours!! that is better than spending 8 hours in the aiport! we are not about to miss JAPAN!! heheh LOL ...

that is why I am researching transportation, street names, and locations before we get there so that why we can just go and know where or have an idea already of where to go and not waste any time. and yes we figure we probably cant do anything outrageous and that we probably end up just eating a meal and window shop...

we just want to spend a couple hours walking around and taking pictures!!

so, if anyone can help on the best transportation, and where to go when we get there as in to locate a booth to buy the tickets for the jr express...it talks about reserving seats?? how can we do that!? and when does the JR operate? is it a 24hour train?

so, like i said, we are planning to hit tokyo...which district do you guys recommend? ...just for walking and eating and taking pictures!... and is it easy or is the train near by so that way we don't get lost trying to find the train station?

THANKS again for all ur help!

since we are planning to hit tokyo...

we were looking at Shibuya district.

when riding the jr express, does it stop in shibuya or is there only one stop/ station in tokyo and than we would have to either transfer to another train or is it walking distance?

because if we do end up having time we probably would like to stop at Harajuku district of course!! are they walking distance from each other?

or is it better to just take the express...?

another place we were looking at was Ueno?...that is a prefecture right? but from the maps it looks like from narita there was not express train that goes that way...it seem to be one of the slower trains that goes to ueno..and since we are short on time, we want the jr express

any comments will be helpful!! thanks!

http://www.narita-airport.jp/en/

You already check this out...But,I tell you.You may check out this URL to find how to get the place of Tokyo. Japansese transfer are not offen get relay. So, you can trust the timetable in HP. And, Have a nice trip in Japan even if you will be there only 2 hours!
By Japanease girl

before you ask more questions you need to READ all the sections at the very top of the pages on that site, next to the title Japan-guide.com. these sections are Travel, Living,Japan A-Z, Shopping.
under Japan A-Z look for Tokyo. look also for transportation/ railways/ how to take trains, how to buy tickets etc. DO Google Yamanote line and look at the map. Google a map of Tokyo etc. Google Ueno, Harajuku etc. Ueno is a town in the Mie prefecture but FOR THE PURPOSE of your trip it is a district of Tokyo, next to Akihabara. Harajuku is one stop away from Shibuya on the Yamanote Loop line. You don't have time to walk! take the yamanote (get a day pass). from Narita take a Keisei skyliner at Terminal 2 (you reserve seats as you buy your ticket.about $ 20 one way)and get off at Ueno Keisei station. When you get outside, on the street, you will see the JR station to your left across the street. to your left too is the big Ueno park. behind the buildings right in front of you and under the elevated train tracks is Ameyokocho, a couple of pedestrian lanes with hundreds of small booths, restaurants etc. not too lively when you get there (around 8:30-9:00 am) . you should walk 15 minutes along the main avenue to your right (when leaving the Keisei station) and you will arrive in Akihabara, the paradise of everything electronics (including remote control operated toilet seats andlight fixtures), anime and mangas etc. by then the stores should start to open. Look only at one big store as you could spend the whole day. THEN take the Yamanote loop line and go back past UENO towards Ikebukuro, Shinjuku, Shibuya, Harajuku. the ride should take 30 minutes from Akihabara to Harajuku. The line is mostly outside (not a subway) so you see the city in all its glorious mess. With a pass you can get on/ off but skip everything but Shibuya and Harajuku.This may be all you can see... try to see the Meiji shrine while in Harajuku. Myself I would see Shinjuku and Harajuku, not Shibuya but Shinjuku is a bit tricky for the first time. too much to see too.

THANKS nachi and yes red frog! trust me i've look at all the links, site and so on, but i would just like people's opinion and their experience. sometimes even though sites gives infomation, it doesnt mean that it will be exactly the same...

but so far everyone said that everything this site is giving is accurate!

thanks again!!! much appreciated!!! very very helpful all of you guys been!!!

THANKS!

Sira, I suggest Shinagawa station since its closer to Sinjuku, and Shimbuya when using the JR Yamamoto line.

The Yamamoto is far easier to understand and navigate easily since its just a loop going in both directions. I would think it would be a more practical way of getting around on short time, rather then figuring out the other lines, granted it may add a bit of train travel time. I still think it will be much quicker in the end.


OP- indeed you need to read a bit, as this is mentioned on the site, but...
The Narita express only goes as far as Shinagawa station, from there you will need to take a local train to whatever district you wish to go.
Again walking although possible isnt practical, the train station are quicker and best of all put right down the middle of everything.

People have suggested other train lines, and they are faster, but since you wont have much time to figure everything out. I think its best just to hang around the JR yamamoto line, it can take to you to nearly all the most visited districts. And best of all, its just makes a loop it nearly impossible to not know where you are going, or how to get back from where you started. Plus the trains all have english displays that will let you know where your heading and how long it will take to get there.

Red Frog gives some good advice, although mine would still be sticking solely to the JR Yamamoto.

However the only change I would consider would be taking the much cheaper Kansei Skyliner as mentioned. Only if money is a issue as it could add a small bit of problems, but nothing a bit of research cant take care of.

Dont forget you will need to trade in for some yen, and if you dont get a day pass, lots of 100 yen coins will be your best friend.

Just wanted to point out it's the Yamanote Line, not Yamamoto...
Asking JR station staff for info about the "Yamamoto Line" would likely leave them quite confused.

If you only have one day get in touch with Junko at: volunteertourguidetokyo
@hotmail.co.jp

She organises the Volunter Guide group who take tourists around Tokyo for just repayment of their expenses. She organised 3 guides for us in Tokyo last week and they were all marvellous and well worth the small cost of their expenses.

LOL, I was wonder why "Yamamoto" looked weird, just never realized it was Yamanoto.

Yamanote I mean.

THANK YOU so much for everyone's input!!! you guys have been the greatest!! i'm definitely looking forward to this trip! (even if we only get to stay in japan for an hour or two! ) ...and if u guys have anymore suggestion or when we have a plan in mind i'll repost and see what you guys think....meaning if we would be short on time and stuff....

and yes maggie edwards, i've already email junko!...and a couple other guides...i just have to talk to the rest of the girls to see what they want... plus , given our time, i'm not sure if i really want to bother the guides for only an hour or two...

THANKS!!!! much appreciated!!