10 hours in Narita airport, any good local tours?

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cephalopod2

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I have 9 hours (7 AM - 4:15 PM) layover in Narita in late March on my way home. I am wondering if there is any kind of tour I might be able to book to see some nearby tourist sights.

Is there somewhere safe at the airport to store luggage as well? I will have all my dive equipment.

Thanks for any recommendations.
 
Wow, I admire you. We rented a day room at the airport to get some sleep and a shower. Can't imagine dealing with the hassle of going outside security.
 
You should be able to store your luggage, there should both be coin lockers as well as luggage storage service. I never had reason to use them though, so can't say anything for sure. There are definitely coin lockers at train stations in Tokyo, usually the bigger the station, the bigger coin lockers you can find.

I don't know about any tours, how confident are you to do it yourself?

If I were to recommend what to do to see some of Tokyo and have limited time, one option would be to take the Skyliner from Narita to Ueno (about 40 minutes), get out south, walk down Ameyoko towards Okachimachi on one side, then back to Ueno on the other side, then use Ginza Subway from Ueno to Asakusa (about 5 minutes) and go to the Buddhist temple there (Sensoji). It's a tourist spot, but if you don't mind that, it's still a nice and close by place to get some "Japan", with a lot of small souvenir shops. There is also the Keisei Narita Sky Epxress which is half the money compared to the Skyliner and goes from Narita to Asakusa in about an hour.

Alternatively and in my eyes a bit more interesting, get into JR Yamanote Subway at Ueno and head to Harajuku. Doesn't really matter which direction, as Yamanote goes around in a circle and Harajuku is more or less the furthest away (about 35 minutes). The train runs every couple of minutes, so if you "miss" one, don't worry. Just make sure to not miss your train back to the Airport, as the Skyliner does not run as often (about twice an hour).

There you can head south and west, towards Omotesando for rich people shopping stuff, or also west for Takesh.ita-dori (without the ".", but the word would get censored) for youth fashion stuff, east for the Meji shrine, and with good chance see part of a traditional Japanese wedding, or go south and around the corner east to enter Yoyogi-park, to see all sorts of stuff, though probably not "traditional" Japanese.

If you ride JR or Subway in Tokyo and don't don't know which ticket to buy, you can always go for the cheapest and do "fare adjustment" before you leave the station at your destination, same cost. Just make sure to get the right type of ticket, so either JR or Subway, or you might have trouble entering through the ticket gate. Sadly, they don't mix.

There are also Airport busses that go to certain places in Tokyo, which might be more convenient, though I've never taken any other than the bus that goes straight to Haneda Airport.

Other than that, there are probably tour busses going from Ueno-station or at least Tokyo-station, though I've never done any of those.
 
Golo I just wanted to thank you for your kind and detailed advice. I was not confident or energetic enough to try anything by myself this time, but I hope to use your advice the next time I am lucky enough to transit through Narita.

In the end I found a wonderful guide, Katsumi Kamikawa, who runs his own small tour company, Narita Rainbow Tours. He had superb trip advisor reviews and I honestly can't say enough good things about him. From the sacred to the profane, current affairs to long standing traditions, botanical plant names to local tasty treats, he showed me a huge amount in 5 hours on an extremely personalized tour, and answered tonnes of my questions. We had an incredible lunch at a traditional soba restaurant and at my request we also squeezed in a stop at a local supermarket to pick up some genmaicha and roasted barley teas for my friends at home. Despite rainy and cool weather, the entire experience ended up being a highlight of my 3 week trip to Indonesia. Of course I was very lucky to make it in time for the early blooming of the cherry blossoms.

khbral I have to tell you I was thinking of your note as I got off the plane in Narita, tired and cramped from not sleeping. In the end I was so glad I saw the Narita area but the couple hours I had between deplaning and being picked up definitely made a difference.

Forgot to add - my dive equipment was checked all the way through to my final destination, but Katsumi kept all my carry ons (full of heavy camera equipment) in the car. He even brought an extra coat for me as I had asked about temperatures, worried I might be cold.

Thanks again to both of you for taking the time to answer my question,
c2
 
You're welcome, and I'd say it was a better decision to go with a guide. Not sure if you would have made the same experience going out on your own. Finding a good restaurant without any knowledge can be tricky, and then you wouldn't get all the information about what you see around you.

A friend of mine is heading to Tokyo next month (his first time in Japan), and if I can't catch him on the first day he arrives (depending if I can take a day off or not to head to Tokyo myself), I might recommend him to check out Narita Rainbow Tours :)
 

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