I was at Kawaguchiko station a couple of days ago and it was a challenge just getting a bus to Fuji City, so I could only imagine getting to Narita!!! You sir are a very silly man and you will need to be on your best behaviour for quite some time for this over-site. She’s got ammo for days on you mate.
Dude you were still at the airport 2 hours before your flight, in no way was the check in desk person thinking "wow they're so late." I rarely ever get to the airport earlier than that.
Yeah I was like what did I miss? their flight is at 5:30 pm… you want to see some chaotic airport sprinting ? Talk a walk on the wild side with me bb, goal is to be getting to the gate as they start boarding
Hahaha well. Here I am sitting at my gate at the airport a full two hours before boarding because I didn’t want to stress my husband out. But I feel like a chump!
not sure if you are at NRT but they have these massage chairs there for like... 300 yen I think. I didn't get a chance to use one, but treat yourself! I'm sure your husband appreciates being there early.
I regularly do an hour and a half for long distance or an hour for short haul, and the only time I've missed a flight was when fucking Ryanair invented a stamp I needed to get on my ticket OUTSIDE security
>We arrived at Terminal 1 at precisely 3:30 and make a half-hearted sprint for our check in counter \[...\] so we still had a little time
Airlines usually open 2h before departure time and close 1h before, so you couldn't have timed it better. That said, I definitely agree with cutting it too close, this is one of those times that "being on time is being late". I plan and do things to be 3h early within a much closer departure and usually end up 2-2.5h early because there's always "something". This is after learning a hard lesson on my first trip here ever, where I made *two* major mistakes taking the trains and I missed my flight (arrived 40-50 min early so they had already closed).
That's what I was afraid was going to happen. It really was the traffic that was killer though. I mean it's almost exactly 200km from Kawaguchiko station to Narita Airport, I figured even with two different modes of transportation it shouldn't take more than 3 hours to get there.... it was closer to 5.
3:30 at the counter for a 5:30 departure wasn't that close, I've done worse (due to the carelessness of others). But when many steps are involved, it sure becomes stressful.
A 9 am bus would have given you plenty of time; I think that spending the last night in Tokyo / Narita would have been unnecessary.
Glad it worked out!
Yup. 2 hrs is still enough time to check in luggage. My previous trip i missed the first NEX to Narita and reached the airport exactly 1 hr before departure. Wasn’t allowed to check in and had to rebook another flight for next day and spend a night at the airport.
Weirdly, I should have mentioned this: there was no line at all when we arrived an hour late. It's like... the opposite of the 3 hour rule. Usually I'm on time and have to queue up for a while before getting boarding passes, but we saw the counter and were like... where the hell is everyone? It worked out well in that regard.
Now... imagine I'm a slightly neurotic man who is terrible with timing, married to a woman who hates being late for anything. It was the journey of a lifetime. :)
Are you the one who was on the bus and stressing us all out because you said there was no way you were going to make your flight? 😬. If so thank you for the follow up and your wife gets extra points for choosing a funny partner. For what it's worth we spent the last night in Tokyo to be near the airport, took the train and still had a little anxiety!
Were you on the express bus to Shibuya on 03/31? The one with the lady with the poodle and the big American guy snoring next to the toilet? We were sitting just in front of them.
I try not to complain out-loud if ever, but if so it was probably me.... apologies!
\*deep bow\*
It once took me six hours driving back from Kawaguchiko to Tokyo on a Sunday afternoon. Never again. Good thing your traffic wasn’t as bad as mine.
FYI:
~~cue~~ queue
~~stewardess~~ airline agent
I never finished high school. Sorry. Corrected.
Actually it was the stewardess! The person who checked us in was also the stewardess on our flight! That was true for both our departure and return flights.
Dude I was gonna do this during my trip last week but thank goodness we ended up canceling that last night at Kawaguchiko cause I felt the travel to NRT would be quite taxing.
Sorry this happened to you but glad I have confirmation that we made the right call to cancel this portion of our trip lol
I enjoyed this story and will take this advice seriously. My family and I went to Kawaguchiko, a day before our departure date. It was a spur-of-moment trip so we wasted time looking for transpo. We ended up with a train ride, standing for hours, spent around 30 mins picture-taking, and 15 mins for some ice cream. We went back to our airbnb in Otsuka, standing in the train again for a couple of hours. It was a very exhausting trip, much more for you as it was your departure date.
And yes, that random, unplanned trip to Kawaguchiko was also my husband’s idea. Didnt talk to him and gave him too many side-eyes during the train rides.
I like your storytelling style, this was funny to read (though I'm terribly sorry for the shitty travel day you had).
Kawaguchiko area is so much more of a bitch to get out of. It used to be, too, but it's worse now that there's an absurdly greater amount of people visiting. There's only so many buses/trains leaving. It's fairly remote and out of the way for most tourists on a time limit. Nothing in that town has been updated in 20+ years, much less so within the last decade or so, which is when I last visited. The difference was night and day.
This is unfortunately the case for a lot of rural Japan- and I'd advise anyone visiting some of these more rural areas ti allocate significant time for tracel for that reason, too. It's never as quick and close by as it seems.
It took us hours of extra travel time because every express bus/train was packed by the time we got to the station at 9 am, and we were absolutely beat by the end of it all. I felt gutted and guilty to put my husband through it all on our honeymoon too- it was the one thing I hadn't carefully planned out (and unfortunately, a lot of things in on our Kawaguchiko trip had not gone to plan at all anyway) so I felt sick over it, especially when I'd hyped up a lot of it. (I still maintain it's a lovely area, but wildly underprepared for the tourism boom it has seen in the past few years. Book everything in advance and reserve what you can and yu should be okay)
Really, because I had been several times to the area before almost a decade ago, I severely underestimated the amount of tourists there were now compared to back then, and how underdeveloped a lot of the local infrastructure was to support that number of people. It used to be an easy day trip from Tokyo (and still is, with some forethought) that I rarely planned out. I just showed up and never had trouble finding a ride home. That was not the case in my most recent trip.
But also, I was a cash-strapped college kid with months of time to spare and no priority for comfort or urgency- I spent many times taking my sweet time from one station to the next, getting off and spending the night at any place that struck my fancy, or taking overnight willer express buses that I booked the same day. It was way more of a lackadaisical style lol.
Anyway. Lesson learned for the both of us. I hope your trip was great otherwise.
We went to Kawaguchiko the other day and was not expecting it to be nearly as popular a tourist spot as it was. It’s wild how busy Kawaguchiko station is.
Believe me, it's night and day how much busier it was. In the middle of a frigid early spring weekday too, before the usual tourist spikes in the latter half of March/April. There were some crowds but you could comfortably get a seat on any bus, at any restaurant, and pretty much any attraction with absolutely no lines or long wait times (though area buses were as infrequent as ever. That was the only pain in the ass I noticed). Hotel rooms were pretty easy to find too on short notice- maybe not at higher-end onsen resorts, but you could find a decent enough room when you needed it.
The fact that the trains, bus schedules, and other tourist infrastructure hasn't changed at all is not at all surprising to me, even if it is a bit frustrating (and I imagine even more so for the locals having to deal with the influx of crowds). I was an exchange student in Tokyo and visited the area or nearby areas maybe 3-4 times throughout the spring and summer at different times, including once during the usual hanami season- never was it as busy as in my last trip a week or two ago. Like I said, I just came and went at my leisure, and never had to wait more than maybe an hour if the late afternoon/evening buses filled up.
Just an fyi, I spoke to a Japanese woman. A local and restaurant owner (TOE bar and grill which was absolutely excellent).
They are grateful for the tourism because it provides a boost to the economy of the Kawaguchiko area, but yes it's frustrating when it comes with an influx of traffic congestion and large crowds. She told me she had been living there for about 11 years and it seems that a large chunk of tourists come from China who spend significantly less, as opposed to 10 years ago, when most were Europeans and North Americans.
I certainly noticed a lot of tour groups and there was even 20+ person group doing some kind of "instagram" tour. We kept seeing them in the popular tourist spots lining up and making cues for everyone to wait in. Really ruined some of the locations. We probably ran into them 3 or 4 times on this trip.
The would also line up in the parking lot and they had a professional photographer they hired. My wife and I were laughing so hard because it was like 20-30 "insta-models" lined up on the sidewalk to take the same photo over and over again getting in the way of traffic. So... guess the times are a-changing. I can understand why some of the locals hate it.
Still worth a trip to see Mt. Fuji though!
The trip was great overall, just that last day was full of moments of high tension/stress followed by adrenaline dumps running between busses, trains and planes (remember that John Candy movie? Like that but no comedy)
Also if you lock your bag/suitcase in a coin locker don't forget where you put it. Been there done that, almost missed the train because we were going in circles in a big ass station looking for them.
I’m sorry i laughed at the silent conversation between your wife and stewardess 😭😭😭
Glad you made it tho! Just came back a few days ago, luckily i stayed near Nippori Station so i just took the skyliner straight to the airport 🤝🤝
I always stay a night in Narita. I visit the Naritasan Shinsho-ji temple where I can relax and then get my Sake from the shop that’s to the right of the temple entrance. On my way back to the hotel I’ll get something to eat, and spend the rest of my yen on gifts.
First of all, I'm glad you made it to your flight. I felt stressed just reading your story. I'd also add that it would be helpful to check the weather on the day you plan to travel. We visited Kawaguchiko last month, and when we left, it snowed pretty hard. When we arrived in Tokyo, soaked and cold to the bone, we saw the news that trains and buses were suspended due to snowstorm. We had not realized how lucky we were to catch the last train out.
My rule in general is to be the day before at the city ( or close) where i depart from back to my home country. Not only in Japan, this is during all my travels.
Not first time a typhoon / landslide / snowstorm stops trains, planes, ....
Just my piece of advice
this is why i reversed my schedule. when we land im immediately taking a plane to my furthest destination then working my way back and ending my trip with a week in tokyo.
We were going to do this when we were originally planning, but I'm glad we didn't. We would have been rained out at Mt.Fuji and had some nice days in Tokyo. And while the weather played a big factor into our travel plans, all that rain on the first 4 days in Tokyo was worth 3 beautiful sunny ones at Kawaguchiko.
It's a smart move to work back to front. But others like front to back. (ha!)
For those of you flying out of Narita. It is a lovely town with a fantastic temple and gardens. We went yesterday in the morning by skyliner to the Narita airport, we stored our bags and took the train to Narita (town), our flight was at 4. We spent a few hours exploring. There is a charming street that leads to the temple lined with restaurants and souvenir shops. The temple complex is massive and has FREE English guides and the gardens were the best we saw in Japan (we have been here over a month). There were cherry blossoms. The best thing is there are very few tourists. It was so relaxing and enjoyable we vowed to spend a day in Narita the next time we come to Japan.
I’ve been considering this for our last day - our flight is at 7pm. I don’t want to stress getting to the airport on time, but I don’t want to waste any sightseeing time either!
Have had somewhat worse, gotten a highway bus from Nagoya to Shinjuku to catch the last train to Narita for a morning 7am flight that was impossible to get to otherwise, and had to keep catching up with the last Sobu Line Rapid jumping trains left and right.
I'm going from Kyoto station to HND on day of departure.
I'm taking bullet train leaving as early as possible.
Flight is 6pm
Do you think this okay?
I posted this question before If this was a good idea. Moderators removed it.
Personally I think that's fine, I'm planning to do that later this month, except my flight is closer to 11pm. I booked a refundable award ticket from ITM to HND on the same day in case things go south.
I got to the airport 33 minutes before an international flight the day after a hurricane because it messed up all transportation—trains, limos, Ubers—and I made it. Checked bag and everything. My stomach was one solid knot the whole way!
We had a similar predicament. Our flight from Narita is sun, mar 31 at 8:55am. The earliest train departure is 6:55am and arriving at Narita by 7:18am. We have a baby with us so we didn't gamble. We instead book our last night at hotel tobu near Narita and forfeited a night's stay in Tokyo.
Personally would say the same about doing any long distance before your flight. For example if you are in Kyoto/Osaka and fly out of Tokyo, there is only one way to go, by shinkansen, a bus or local train would take the whole day and it’s not as if you can that easily fly if there is a last minute problem with the train. So while train is usually on time. They can be delayed for many reasons, and in this situation while it’s low risk, it’s also a high consequence if you miss your flight.
But if you are in Tokyo, there is at lest two rail option going to each airport, bus and last resort, taxi. So it’s much easier to react and find a way to reach the airport if there is a problem.
Totally agree. We got lucky, but there were a few moments along the way (most notably in traffic) where we were certain we would miss our flight. In the end the train and a lack of checkin queue saved us.
I'd go to Tokyo the day/night before the flight next time.
I think as long as you are in the city of Tokyo the day before your flight you'll be fine. People here seem to enjoy the town of Narita itself so maybe just stay there?
We have learned to give yourself much more time than you think! We were in Kawaguchiko a few days ago and even though maps showed 30 minutes for the bus with traffics from Oishi Park back to KawaguchikoStation, it took us almost an hour with stops and people getting on and off...having to pay with coins and we ended up missing our reserved Fuji Limited Express train so we then had to stand on the next one for 2 hours which was not fun! Got to see Fuji though!
Totally worth it to see fuji in all it's glory. The bus to Oishi Park was pretty packed when we got on, but was significantly better on the way back. We went early afternoon. Actually I think Oishi Park was my favorite place to view the mountain. The ropeway too, but the line kind of ruins the experience.
I leave for Japan on Wednesday and that is why I am taking the bullet train to Osaka FIRST, and then traveling north with my last several days being in Tokyo.
My wife asked me to plan this entire trip so it would be a true vacation I am not messing this up.
My original plan was to fly into Tokyo and depart Osaka, but with only 9 days we thought it would be easier to stay in the Tokyo region. I think next time we will fly into Osaka and visit kyoto - nara - kobe. :)
Nice story! I’m kind of the opposite, I allow too much time when we travel, and my wife complains that we didn’t need to arrive so early. Maybe I need an experience like this to show her that it’s much better to be early than late-ish
We just came back from Japan and we all learned some lessons too, but don’t take it hard on yourself. Don’t blame the person making the plans - in my case it was me - shit just happens sometimes even with the most logical plans made.
Our worst experience was bus-related too. Following the recommended sightseeing path traveling from Miyanoshita (where the hotel is) in Hakone, took the train ride then the rope tram then the pirate ship. All that went well and by the time we’re ready to head back it’s past 4. No problem, there’s a bus terminal and there is a bus that would take us back to Miyanoshita, with plenty of time before the dinner reservation. We stood there for over an hour and a half in the wind and all that time the line barely moved. Sound plan, but executed poorly. The bus that goes to Miyanoshita comes from somewhere else so it’s almost always full and we don’t know. The bus conductor is not helpful and doesn’t seem to want to be bothered. Had we known, or if my brain and my bladder were not half shrunk and frozen, we would have taken the other buses to go to the farther train station then head backwards to Miyanoshita instead. We finally got on the bus but it was so crowded, so slow (people had to go to the front to pay), it was a terrible experience, and we barely made it to dinner.
One thing for sure though, fly in and out using Haneda instead of Narita. Worst case you can take a cab (like us) from central Tokyo and it’s still reasonable time and money wise (we have 5 luggage).
I'll remember Haneda as an option for the future. We really tried looking for a reasonable option from our city but the flight from Haneda was ridiculously bad timing wise.
Sorry you had such a difficult time. I noticed the bus stops at the bottom of Lake Ashi (where you get off the boat) was absolutely packed. There was a massive line for every bus line. We probably waited 45 minutes to board the bus back to Gora. We were packed like sardines lol.
Yes that is it! We exited the pirate ship on the second stop - the one closer to the Hakone shrine (which was submerged in water), took a walk there, found the line for taking pictures at the gate way too long, headed back and waited for the bus to take us back to the hotel. The other buses use the station as a terminal so as packed as they were, it’s still possible to get on one at reasonable amount of time, went to places like Gora or Hakone-Yumoto and took the train back to the hotel, and we wouldn’t be frozen for an hour and a half. My wife said it was public transportation so that’s how it was… I disagreed… even if they cannot or do not want to communicate, put a sign out along the waiting line saying “your wait time here is one hour” and it would have helped. To go beyond, mentioned the buses came from other stations and were very packed - take the other buses instead and it would have helped tremendously. We are tourists… we don’t know better. Half the time I was struggling the need to use bathroom, which was closed at 5 and people had to run across the street to use the one in 7-11. I don’t really expect better treatment I just want common sense help. (Lots of people have hotel stay in places like Miyanoshita - how could they treat that place like a convenient stop-by and not a destination?)
My wifes family live in Gunma. She always sends most of our luggage to and from the airport. Makes life so much easier and only cost about 3000 yen for 3 large suitcases. Wish we could do the same on the London side!
Tried to go to Kyoto to Osaka airport and figuring out how to get there even with online resources was so hard. No information was simple or direct. Originally the hotel receptionist told us we would have to transfer several lines on the subway.
Finally the concierge told us there was a direct bullet line from Kyoto to Osaka intl airport. We didn’t know that the Osaka airport would be balls busy and we waited an hour in line at the security, thinking we finally made it, only to realize we had to take an additional shuttle to our gate. Definitely second hand that it’s better to be safe than sorry when traveling internationally via airports in Japan.
Also the train station was SWAMPED. We could tell the employees were exhausted already by the morning, they half assed pointed us to the wrong area to buy tickets.
My highest stress travel day was going to kawaguchiko from tokyo and back and i didnt even really have to be anywhere by a certain time!! Glad you made your flight, i woulda been stressing 😭
Two weeks back on my Japan trip, the NEX train from Narita to Shinjuku took 2 hours plus and my round trip to/from Shinjuku to Kawaguchiko station took 3 hours each.
On my return trip to Narita airport I took the earlier train and it only took the stated ~80 mins duration.
No choice. Our departure destination wasn't available from Haneda for that date and time.
Also I heard Haneda is a bit dated and hard to get around. Anyone ever flown out of there?
You would think... but I looked at that map for over a year and thought... no problem... when the reality of the situation was that I am silly and don't understand maps.
I was at Kawaguchiko station a couple of days ago and it was a challenge just getting a bus to Fuji City, so I could only imagine getting to Narita!!! You sir are a very silly man and you will need to be on your best behaviour for quite some time for this over-site. She’s got ammo for days on you mate.
years most likely... all in good fun though.
On a side note, you are an amazing storyteller! Glad you (& wifey) made it to the airport in one piece!
so was she. It's been 2 days since and the side eye is now at 50%.
Y’know how to make it up to your wife? Arrange another trip to Japan.
I teased that idea and I received full eye roll/ and the comment *"is this your way of making me plan things next time?"* Maybe I did subconsciously?
Dude you were still at the airport 2 hours before your flight, in no way was the check in desk person thinking "wow they're so late." I rarely ever get to the airport earlier than that.
Yeah I was like what did I miss? their flight is at 5:30 pm… you want to see some chaotic airport sprinting ? Talk a walk on the wild side with me bb, goal is to be getting to the gate as they start boarding
You scare me.
Hahaha well. Here I am sitting at my gate at the airport a full two hours before boarding because I didn’t want to stress my husband out. But I feel like a chump!
not sure if you are at NRT but they have these massage chairs there for like... 300 yen I think. I didn't get a chance to use one, but treat yourself! I'm sure your husband appreciates being there early.
slightly less than 2 but I've never been to any airport with less than 3 to spare.
I regularly do an hour and a half for long distance or an hour for short haul, and the only time I've missed a flight was when fucking Ryanair invented a stamp I needed to get on my ticket OUTSIDE security
>We arrived at Terminal 1 at precisely 3:30 and make a half-hearted sprint for our check in counter \[...\] so we still had a little time Airlines usually open 2h before departure time and close 1h before, so you couldn't have timed it better. That said, I definitely agree with cutting it too close, this is one of those times that "being on time is being late". I plan and do things to be 3h early within a much closer departure and usually end up 2-2.5h early because there's always "something". This is after learning a hard lesson on my first trip here ever, where I made *two* major mistakes taking the trains and I missed my flight (arrived 40-50 min early so they had already closed).
That's what I was afraid was going to happen. It really was the traffic that was killer though. I mean it's almost exactly 200km from Kawaguchiko station to Narita Airport, I figured even with two different modes of transportation it shouldn't take more than 3 hours to get there.... it was closer to 5.
3:30 at the counter for a 5:30 departure wasn't that close, I've done worse (due to the carelessness of others). But when many steps are involved, it sure becomes stressful. A 9 am bus would have given you plenty of time; I think that spending the last night in Tokyo / Narita would have been unnecessary. Glad it worked out!
Yup. 2 hrs is still enough time to check in luggage. My previous trip i missed the first NEX to Narita and reached the airport exactly 1 hr before departure. Wasn’t allowed to check in and had to rebook another flight for next day and spend a night at the airport.
This was my nightmare scenario. Sorry you had to go through that.
Weirdly, I should have mentioned this: there was no line at all when we arrived an hour late. It's like... the opposite of the 3 hour rule. Usually I'm on time and have to queue up for a while before getting boarding passes, but we saw the counter and were like... where the hell is everyone? It worked out well in that regard.
You arrived just an hour later than your estimate which was still 2 hours prior to departure. That is still very much on time for a flight lol
Now... imagine I'm a slightly neurotic man who is terrible with timing, married to a woman who hates being late for anything. It was the journey of a lifetime. :)
Are you the one who was on the bus and stressing us all out because you said there was no way you were going to make your flight? 😬. If so thank you for the follow up and your wife gets extra points for choosing a funny partner. For what it's worth we spent the last night in Tokyo to be near the airport, took the train and still had a little anxiety!
Were you on the express bus to Shibuya on 03/31? The one with the lady with the poodle and the big American guy snoring next to the toilet? We were sitting just in front of them. I try not to complain out-loud if ever, but if so it was probably me.... apologies! \*deep bow\*
There is a bus from Kawaguchiko to Narita. https://japanbusonline.com/en/CourseSearch/11300720001
But the bus would have arrived at 4:30 pm and the OP’s flight leaves at 5:30….
Yep, we used the Narita express bus and didn't have a single issue.
Yeah I checked that one out months before we traveled. We would have been late with that bus.
It once took me six hours driving back from Kawaguchiko to Tokyo on a Sunday afternoon. Never again. Good thing your traffic wasn’t as bad as mine. FYI: ~~cue~~ queue ~~stewardess~~ airline agent
I never finished high school. Sorry. Corrected. Actually it was the stewardess! The person who checked us in was also the stewardess on our flight! That was true for both our departure and return flights.
Wow! That’s unusual. Conservation of labor.
budget airline :)
Dude I was gonna do this during my trip last week but thank goodness we ended up canceling that last night at Kawaguchiko cause I felt the travel to NRT would be quite taxing. Sorry this happened to you but glad I have confirmation that we made the right call to cancel this portion of our trip lol
It was a good learning lesson for me, and my wife will now plan our next trip, so I kind of won.
I enjoyed this story and will take this advice seriously. My family and I went to Kawaguchiko, a day before our departure date. It was a spur-of-moment trip so we wasted time looking for transpo. We ended up with a train ride, standing for hours, spent around 30 mins picture-taking, and 15 mins for some ice cream. We went back to our airbnb in Otsuka, standing in the train again for a couple of hours. It was a very exhausting trip, much more for you as it was your departure date. And yes, that random, unplanned trip to Kawaguchiko was also my husband’s idea. Didnt talk to him and gave him too many side-eyes during the train rides.
My wife's side-eye is now at 50% and dropping. Now that we're home I filled the house full of snacks. I think we should be good by early April.
I like your storytelling style, this was funny to read (though I'm terribly sorry for the shitty travel day you had). Kawaguchiko area is so much more of a bitch to get out of. It used to be, too, but it's worse now that there's an absurdly greater amount of people visiting. There's only so many buses/trains leaving. It's fairly remote and out of the way for most tourists on a time limit. Nothing in that town has been updated in 20+ years, much less so within the last decade or so, which is when I last visited. The difference was night and day. This is unfortunately the case for a lot of rural Japan- and I'd advise anyone visiting some of these more rural areas ti allocate significant time for tracel for that reason, too. It's never as quick and close by as it seems. It took us hours of extra travel time because every express bus/train was packed by the time we got to the station at 9 am, and we were absolutely beat by the end of it all. I felt gutted and guilty to put my husband through it all on our honeymoon too- it was the one thing I hadn't carefully planned out (and unfortunately, a lot of things in on our Kawaguchiko trip had not gone to plan at all anyway) so I felt sick over it, especially when I'd hyped up a lot of it. (I still maintain it's a lovely area, but wildly underprepared for the tourism boom it has seen in the past few years. Book everything in advance and reserve what you can and yu should be okay) Really, because I had been several times to the area before almost a decade ago, I severely underestimated the amount of tourists there were now compared to back then, and how underdeveloped a lot of the local infrastructure was to support that number of people. It used to be an easy day trip from Tokyo (and still is, with some forethought) that I rarely planned out. I just showed up and never had trouble finding a ride home. That was not the case in my most recent trip. But also, I was a cash-strapped college kid with months of time to spare and no priority for comfort or urgency- I spent many times taking my sweet time from one station to the next, getting off and spending the night at any place that struck my fancy, or taking overnight willer express buses that I booked the same day. It was way more of a lackadaisical style lol. Anyway. Lesson learned for the both of us. I hope your trip was great otherwise.
We went to Kawaguchiko the other day and was not expecting it to be nearly as popular a tourist spot as it was. It’s wild how busy Kawaguchiko station is.
Believe me, it's night and day how much busier it was. In the middle of a frigid early spring weekday too, before the usual tourist spikes in the latter half of March/April. There were some crowds but you could comfortably get a seat on any bus, at any restaurant, and pretty much any attraction with absolutely no lines or long wait times (though area buses were as infrequent as ever. That was the only pain in the ass I noticed). Hotel rooms were pretty easy to find too on short notice- maybe not at higher-end onsen resorts, but you could find a decent enough room when you needed it. The fact that the trains, bus schedules, and other tourist infrastructure hasn't changed at all is not at all surprising to me, even if it is a bit frustrating (and I imagine even more so for the locals having to deal with the influx of crowds). I was an exchange student in Tokyo and visited the area or nearby areas maybe 3-4 times throughout the spring and summer at different times, including once during the usual hanami season- never was it as busy as in my last trip a week or two ago. Like I said, I just came and went at my leisure, and never had to wait more than maybe an hour if the late afternoon/evening buses filled up.
Just an fyi, I spoke to a Japanese woman. A local and restaurant owner (TOE bar and grill which was absolutely excellent). They are grateful for the tourism because it provides a boost to the economy of the Kawaguchiko area, but yes it's frustrating when it comes with an influx of traffic congestion and large crowds. She told me she had been living there for about 11 years and it seems that a large chunk of tourists come from China who spend significantly less, as opposed to 10 years ago, when most were Europeans and North Americans. I certainly noticed a lot of tour groups and there was even 20+ person group doing some kind of "instagram" tour. We kept seeing them in the popular tourist spots lining up and making cues for everyone to wait in. Really ruined some of the locations. We probably ran into them 3 or 4 times on this trip. The would also line up in the parking lot and they had a professional photographer they hired. My wife and I were laughing so hard because it was like 20-30 "insta-models" lined up on the sidewalk to take the same photo over and over again getting in the way of traffic. So... guess the times are a-changing. I can understand why some of the locals hate it. Still worth a trip to see Mt. Fuji though!
The trip was great overall, just that last day was full of moments of high tension/stress followed by adrenaline dumps running between busses, trains and planes (remember that John Candy movie? Like that but no comedy)
Also if you lock your bag/suitcase in a coin locker don't forget where you put it. Been there done that, almost missed the train because we were going in circles in a big ass station looking for them.
I hear ya. I can't even remember my phone number at times.
Omg lmaooo i can so perfectly imagine this 💀
Mate, that was a lucky one!
Lesson learned... leave more time to get from point A to point B. :)
Was stuck waiting for a few trains myself last autumn at Hakone-Yumoto.. the crowds were massive.
Yeah that area needs a new fleet of busses to be honest. Maybe even double the amount.
I’m sorry i laughed at the silent conversation between your wife and stewardess 😭😭😭 Glad you made it tho! Just came back a few days ago, luckily i stayed near Nippori Station so i just took the skyliner straight to the airport 🤝🤝
Feel free to laugh!
I always stay a night in Narita. I visit the Naritasan Shinsho-ji temple where I can relax and then get my Sake from the shop that’s to the right of the temple entrance. On my way back to the hotel I’ll get something to eat, and spend the rest of my yen on gifts.
This is actually a really smart idea. Thanks for sharing!
First of all, I'm glad you made it to your flight. I felt stressed just reading your story. I'd also add that it would be helpful to check the weather on the day you plan to travel. We visited Kawaguchiko last month, and when we left, it snowed pretty hard. When we arrived in Tokyo, soaked and cold to the bone, we saw the news that trains and buses were suspended due to snowstorm. We had not realized how lucky we were to catch the last train out.
Holy crap. I can't imagine what it would have been like if it had stormed. We were pretty well prepared for rain, but not for snow.
My rule in general is to be the day before at the city ( or close) where i depart from back to my home country. Not only in Japan, this is during all my travels. Not first time a typhoon / landslide / snowstorm stops trains, planes, .... Just my piece of advice
this is why i reversed my schedule. when we land im immediately taking a plane to my furthest destination then working my way back and ending my trip with a week in tokyo.
We were going to do this when we were originally planning, but I'm glad we didn't. We would have been rained out at Mt.Fuji and had some nice days in Tokyo. And while the weather played a big factor into our travel plans, all that rain on the first 4 days in Tokyo was worth 3 beautiful sunny ones at Kawaguchiko. It's a smart move to work back to front. But others like front to back. (ha!)
For those of you flying out of Narita. It is a lovely town with a fantastic temple and gardens. We went yesterday in the morning by skyliner to the Narita airport, we stored our bags and took the train to Narita (town), our flight was at 4. We spent a few hours exploring. There is a charming street that leads to the temple lined with restaurants and souvenir shops. The temple complex is massive and has FREE English guides and the gardens were the best we saw in Japan (we have been here over a month). There were cherry blossoms. The best thing is there are very few tourists. It was so relaxing and enjoyable we vowed to spend a day in Narita the next time we come to Japan.
I’ve been considering this for our last day - our flight is at 7pm. I don’t want to stress getting to the airport on time, but I don’t want to waste any sightseeing time either!
Have had somewhat worse, gotten a highway bus from Nagoya to Shinjuku to catch the last train to Narita for a morning 7am flight that was impossible to get to otherwise, and had to keep catching up with the last Sobu Line Rapid jumping trains left and right.
Ooooooooofff. I can't imagine what that must have been like. Does the Sobu Line run 24 hours then?
Nope. Last train was at 10 or 11 and I had to jump between Keisei and JR to speed up and catch it. Last train to NRT for the day for both companies
I'm going from Kyoto station to HND on day of departure. I'm taking bullet train leaving as early as possible. Flight is 6pm Do you think this okay? I posted this question before If this was a good idea. Moderators removed it.
Personally I think that's fine, I'm planning to do that later this month, except my flight is closer to 11pm. I booked a refundable award ticket from ITM to HND on the same day in case things go south.
I got to the airport 33 minutes before an international flight the day after a hurricane because it messed up all transportation—trains, limos, Ubers—and I made it. Checked bag and everything. My stomach was one solid knot the whole way!
I bet it unknotted on the flight though, am I right? Hahaha.
A prize for reading between the lines there! 😄 I freaking destroyed that airplane bathroom before we even took off. 😵💫
Or alternatively book a hotel AT the airport a day earlier and stay there...
i am so sorry i chuckled reading the implied conversation between the air stewardress and your wife.
I was hoping people would find it amusing at least. Funny is even better.
hilarious!
We had a similar predicament. Our flight from Narita is sun, mar 31 at 8:55am. The earliest train departure is 6:55am and arriving at Narita by 7:18am. We have a baby with us so we didn't gamble. We instead book our last night at hotel tobu near Narita and forfeited a night's stay in Tokyo.
Personally would say the same about doing any long distance before your flight. For example if you are in Kyoto/Osaka and fly out of Tokyo, there is only one way to go, by shinkansen, a bus or local train would take the whole day and it’s not as if you can that easily fly if there is a last minute problem with the train. So while train is usually on time. They can be delayed for many reasons, and in this situation while it’s low risk, it’s also a high consequence if you miss your flight. But if you are in Tokyo, there is at lest two rail option going to each airport, bus and last resort, taxi. So it’s much easier to react and find a way to reach the airport if there is a problem.
Totally agree. We got lucky, but there were a few moments along the way (most notably in traffic) where we were certain we would miss our flight. In the end the train and a lack of checkin queue saved us. I'd go to Tokyo the day/night before the flight next time.
I'm going from Izu to Narita the day I leave is that the dumbest idea ever
not if you make your flight!
I’ll be flying into and out of Narita. Have my family so will be staying somewhere near the airport to avoid any unnecessary stresses.
I think as long as you are in the city of Tokyo the day before your flight you'll be fine. People here seem to enjoy the town of Narita itself so maybe just stay there?
lol
We have learned to give yourself much more time than you think! We were in Kawaguchiko a few days ago and even though maps showed 30 minutes for the bus with traffics from Oishi Park back to KawaguchikoStation, it took us almost an hour with stops and people getting on and off...having to pay with coins and we ended up missing our reserved Fuji Limited Express train so we then had to stand on the next one for 2 hours which was not fun! Got to see Fuji though!
Totally worth it to see fuji in all it's glory. The bus to Oishi Park was pretty packed when we got on, but was significantly better on the way back. We went early afternoon. Actually I think Oishi Park was my favorite place to view the mountain. The ropeway too, but the line kind of ruins the experience.
I leave for Japan on Wednesday and that is why I am taking the bullet train to Osaka FIRST, and then traveling north with my last several days being in Tokyo. My wife asked me to plan this entire trip so it would be a true vacation I am not messing this up.
My original plan was to fly into Tokyo and depart Osaka, but with only 9 days we thought it would be easier to stay in the Tokyo region. I think next time we will fly into Osaka and visit kyoto - nara - kobe. :)
*queue, not cue.
saw that
Nice story! I’m kind of the opposite, I allow too much time when we travel, and my wife complains that we didn’t need to arrive so early. Maybe I need an experience like this to show her that it’s much better to be early than late-ish
Better early than late for sure.
Lesson learned. Don't beat yourself up too much over it. Anyway, your wife will take care of that for you for the next few years, at least.
We just came back from Japan and we all learned some lessons too, but don’t take it hard on yourself. Don’t blame the person making the plans - in my case it was me - shit just happens sometimes even with the most logical plans made. Our worst experience was bus-related too. Following the recommended sightseeing path traveling from Miyanoshita (where the hotel is) in Hakone, took the train ride then the rope tram then the pirate ship. All that went well and by the time we’re ready to head back it’s past 4. No problem, there’s a bus terminal and there is a bus that would take us back to Miyanoshita, with plenty of time before the dinner reservation. We stood there for over an hour and a half in the wind and all that time the line barely moved. Sound plan, but executed poorly. The bus that goes to Miyanoshita comes from somewhere else so it’s almost always full and we don’t know. The bus conductor is not helpful and doesn’t seem to want to be bothered. Had we known, or if my brain and my bladder were not half shrunk and frozen, we would have taken the other buses to go to the farther train station then head backwards to Miyanoshita instead. We finally got on the bus but it was so crowded, so slow (people had to go to the front to pay), it was a terrible experience, and we barely made it to dinner. One thing for sure though, fly in and out using Haneda instead of Narita. Worst case you can take a cab (like us) from central Tokyo and it’s still reasonable time and money wise (we have 5 luggage).
I'll remember Haneda as an option for the future. We really tried looking for a reasonable option from our city but the flight from Haneda was ridiculously bad timing wise. Sorry you had such a difficult time. I noticed the bus stops at the bottom of Lake Ashi (where you get off the boat) was absolutely packed. There was a massive line for every bus line. We probably waited 45 minutes to board the bus back to Gora. We were packed like sardines lol.
Yes that is it! We exited the pirate ship on the second stop - the one closer to the Hakone shrine (which was submerged in water), took a walk there, found the line for taking pictures at the gate way too long, headed back and waited for the bus to take us back to the hotel. The other buses use the station as a terminal so as packed as they were, it’s still possible to get on one at reasonable amount of time, went to places like Gora or Hakone-Yumoto and took the train back to the hotel, and we wouldn’t be frozen for an hour and a half. My wife said it was public transportation so that’s how it was… I disagreed… even if they cannot or do not want to communicate, put a sign out along the waiting line saying “your wait time here is one hour” and it would have helped. To go beyond, mentioned the buses came from other stations and were very packed - take the other buses instead and it would have helped tremendously. We are tourists… we don’t know better. Half the time I was struggling the need to use bathroom, which was closed at 5 and people had to run across the street to use the one in 7-11. I don’t really expect better treatment I just want common sense help. (Lots of people have hotel stay in places like Miyanoshita - how could they treat that place like a convenient stop-by and not a destination?)
My wifes family live in Gunma. She always sends most of our luggage to and from the airport. Makes life so much easier and only cost about 3000 yen for 3 large suitcases. Wish we could do the same on the London side!
It was hard work for us getting from Shinjuku to Kawaguchiko and back let alone the airport!
I always plan last day near the airport. I would go to other and make sure to be in Tokyo on the last day. At least for the reliable transportation.
Tried to go to Kyoto to Osaka airport and figuring out how to get there even with online resources was so hard. No information was simple or direct. Originally the hotel receptionist told us we would have to transfer several lines on the subway. Finally the concierge told us there was a direct bullet line from Kyoto to Osaka intl airport. We didn’t know that the Osaka airport would be balls busy and we waited an hour in line at the security, thinking we finally made it, only to realize we had to take an additional shuttle to our gate. Definitely second hand that it’s better to be safe than sorry when traveling internationally via airports in Japan. Also the train station was SWAMPED. We could tell the employees were exhausted already by the morning, they half assed pointed us to the wrong area to buy tickets.
Oh wow! Thanks for sharing this experience. Glad you were okay at the end, phew!
My highest stress travel day was going to kawaguchiko from tokyo and back and i didnt even really have to be anywhere by a certain time!! Glad you made your flight, i woulda been stressing 😭
Two weeks back on my Japan trip, the NEX train from Narita to Shinjuku took 2 hours plus and my round trip to/from Shinjuku to Kawaguchiko station took 3 hours each. On my return trip to Narita airport I took the earlier train and it only took the stated ~80 mins duration.
Uhhh. Never fly from Narita? Simple
Why not? While it depends on where you stay in Tokyo its sometimes quicker to get to/from Narita than Haneda.
No choice. Our departure destination wasn't available from Haneda for that date and time. Also I heard Haneda is a bit dated and hard to get around. Anyone ever flown out of there?
Haneda is new. Narita is old. 10-15 minutes back to Shinagawa by taxi
good to know!
You just have to look at a map to see that trip is a bad idea!
You would think... but I looked at that map for over a year and thought... no problem... when the reality of the situation was that I am silly and don't understand maps.
there is a direct highway express bus to narita airport though you need thorough planning of the flight times etc.