Was a very early start to the day, 8:15 flight out to Tokyo from Sydney so had to be at the airport by 6. I never sleep much just before a big day of travel anyway so doesn’t really matter much. Was actually up at 3:40 so had plenty of time to get ready. Drove to the spot where I was meeting my travel buddy Dave. Got to the airport in no time and we were through emigration and security by 5:45.
A few shops were still opening but grabbed an ok coffee from one of the many overpriced vendors in the departure area. Coffee, muffin and bottle water, ka-ching! there goes $20
This JAL flight was My first trip on a 787. JAL had us all boarded quickly with the expected and welcome Japanese efficiency. The rain had cleared by takeoff, so nice and sunny departure. First impressions of the 787 is good, it does seem noticeably quieter than other jets.
JAL offer inflight wifi at USD18.80 for 24 hours. Not cheap by any means but better value than what Singapore Airlines offer were it was a per megabyte charge. I’ll probably take advantage of that on the night flight home
Food was ok, worst impression was that I did think there was a lack of toilets compared to other jets. There were none up the back. Good legroom for economy
When we landed in Narita I was very surprised that we just got dumped on tarmac, 10 min on bus into the actual terminal. Narita is undergoing major renovations
Got through immigration and customs quickly, found the JR office and had our rail passes and all seat reservations done within 20 minutes
Then waited about 20m for the Narita express and the ride to Shinagawa took about an hour. Luckily the hotel was really close to the station and we found it quite easily.
Room not massive but decent enough for 4 days. Got to shinagawa at 8pm and it was still pumping with people, easily more busy than any Sydney station would be in peak hour.
We headed out for a late dinner and crossed to the east side of the station, lots of little places to eat. We settled on one and had some fabulous Yakatoroi and steak with beers for the princely sum of ¥2600 (about A$35)
It's all about the coffee 