Road Trippin Tokyo: Narita Airport, NEX, Ginza

For the first time ever, we did not observe the traditional Holy Week rites in the Philippines and instead decided to vacation in Tokyo.

My visit to Tokyo last October 2012 left me wanting for more. It was a business trip so I spent most of the time cooped up in the office and I decided that I definitely want to come back for vacation.

We planned this vacation 2 months before. We booked our hotel, plane and got our visas from January to February. By March, we were already finalizing our itinerary which is mostly a do-it-yourself tour around most of the Tokyo tourist spots.

I will separate the blog posts by day or by location if I have a lot of pictures. So here goes day 1.

Our flight was with Jetstar Asia. There were several reasons why I chose to fly with Jetstar:

1. They have a price match guarantee so they offer the most competitive rates. We got our Manila-Narita-Manila round trip tickets for P25,000.00 which we booked 2 months before. It would have been just P19,000.00/person if we were able to book in December but we wanted to wait for our visas to be released first.The fares we got already allots for 20kg baggage.
2. Their flight schedule going to Narita is at 6:50 am. It was perfect since you will be arriving Tokyo around 1:00pm. You will still have half a day to enjoy. Whereas PAL flights are at 12:00pm and you will arrive Tokyo at night already. So you basically wasted your day already. 

Of course, Jetstar is not without its flaws. There were no meals included in our flight.  Since it was a budget fare, leg room was a bit cramped and they did not allow us to bring our water bottles inside the flight. I guess so we are forced to buy from them.

We arrived in Narita Terminal 2 and we had to ride a shuttle going to the actual terminal. Their customs is really efficient. They even have fingerprinting and will take a picture of you.  

Waiting for the train going to Terminal 2

And here's how it looks like from outside

At the terminal, we looked for the counter where they were giving away free WIFI cards which was unfortunately closed for the weekend. If WIFI is important to you, you can rent mobile WIFI (huawei) for around 300 yen a day also in the airport.

We chose to get the NEX + SUICA since we will be using the train a lot. It was at 5,500 yen which already includes round trip rides in the NEX and Suica card which was preloaded with 1,500 yen.

You will not miss your stop because each car inside the Narita Express (NEX) has these screens which tell you where you are

The hotel we chose was Hotel Sunroute Shinjuku and we basically picked this due to its proximity to the JR Line train station and Shinjuku is one of the best places to stay in Tokyo. It was a bit of a challenge finding the right exit that is nearest to the hotel since Shinjuku station was so big.

Of course, the toilet seat was the standard Japanese one

The room is small but the Japanes are very minimalist so this was expected

 We dropped our bags and went out for our first vendo meal where you can pay using your Suica and you choose what you want through a vendo which will give you a ticket which you will give to the restaurant staff. And voila, you get your food.

In almost all cafes/restaurants, they have hooks or hangers where you can hang your coats

Ginza was our first stop to shop in Uniqlo & H&M for additional clothes. Despite the season being already Spring, temperature was still at around 9-11 celsius. For people living in a tropical country like us who was not so used to cold weather, we needed to double up on our clothes.

Forever 21

Ginza

Tallest Uniqlo i've seen