Hello!
I’ve accepted as a masters degree student in Osaka. I got my COE and booked my flight. I will arrive at ??/MAR 19:15 at Narita airport. I need to go to the Matsumoto first. I checked and there’s a bus directly from Narita > Matsumoto. But that bus departs at 20:55. My question is, will I be able to get on the bus before it departs? I remember the process being quite fast after you land. But I want to get some more information. The money is quite tight atm. Should i book the bus in advance online? It’s about 6700 JPY. I would hitchhike but is it even possible to do so from Narita > Matsumoto? I would appreciate any advices on how to got to matsumoto from Narita. I will try to hitchhike from matsumoto to osaka as well.
Just as a disclaimer, I did saved up quite a lot of money for this. Unfortunately all my money got stolen so I’m in a bit of a distress hence the hitch hike and cheaper options.
3 comments
>I will arrive at ??/MAR 19:15
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>But that bus departs at 20:55
You should not be booking that bus. While it’s *possible* that you’ll deplane, clear immigration, collect your bags, and clear customs in an hour or so, it’s also possible that it will take significantly more time.
Book a later bus, or explore other transport options.
>I would hitchhike but is it even possible to do so from Narita > Matsumoto?
Hitchhiking is not a thing people do in Japan. It’s *legal*, but that doesn’t mean anyone is going to pick you up. Especially not with all your luggage at the airport.
>Just as a disclaimer, I did saved up quite a lot of money for this. Unfortunately all my money got stolen so I’m in a bit of a distress hence the hitch hike and cheaper options.
Frankly you need to reevaluate your trip at this point. If a 6700 yen bus ticket is causing you financial distress, you are going to have some serious problems with simply living.
When I pick people up from Narita I usually budget around an hour from plane landing to their appearance in the arrival lounge. For the most part that’s about how long it takes.
For me personally, I would not feel comfortable with the schedule you’re presenting. Basically, if anything goes wrong you’ll miss your bus.
I wouldn’t book it ahead of time and instead would see what time I make it to the bus ticket counter and buy tickets if possible then. Also be sure to have a plan b and plan c.
>I would hitchhike but is it even possible to do so from Narita > Matsumoto?
I sincerely doubt they’d let you start walking down the highway with your luggage. There are still protestors floating around who want to destroy the airport after all. Security isn’t as tight as it was 15 years ago, but it’s not totally gone either.
>I would appreciate any advices on how to got to matsumoto from Narita.
Well, you’d need to be more specific about which Matsumoto you’re talking about. I’m guessing from the bus ticket price you mean in Nagano. In which case my advice for plan b would be a capsule hotel either at the airport or in Tokyo and continue your journey in the morning.
> I got my COE and booked my flight.
I’m curious about this part. You got a COE, but have you gone to the Consulate of Japan that serves your area to request a visa using your COE? A COE **is not** a visa and does not grant landing permission.
Also, if you have no money at all, where are you going to live? How are you going to feed yourself? How will you pay tuition? How did you even get a COE?