We are flying into Haneda in February 2024 on ANA. Our flight is direct from Seattle > Tokyo (Haneda) and arrives at 19:00. We have a hotel booked in Kyoto that night, as a friend recommended we try to get to Kyoto instead of staying in Tokyo for the first night. However, it makes me super nervous as there are not a lot of late-night flight or train options at the time we need.
It seems like we have three options:
1. Hop on ANA NH99 at 21:00 and hope we make it through customs on time.
2. Take a taxi to Shigakawa Station in catch the 21:31 shinkansen to Kyoto. Also hope we make it through customs on time.
3. Stay that night in Tokyo.
For those who arrive internationally to Haneda often, what do you think is our best option? How big of a risk is it to hope that our flight is on-time and that customs is quick? ANA has an on-time arrival rate of 89%….
This is our first time to Japan and navigating the Shinkansen and rail systems makes me nervous as well. Thank you for any and all advice!!
33 comments
You are gonna be jet-lagged as shit, so save yourself trying to navigate a foreign transit network and getting shinkansen tickets while sleep-deprived. Stay in Tokyo, there’s hotels right near Shinagawa Station, and just take a Shinkansen out to Kyoto early the next morning.
So.. you are allocating 30 mins for baggage claim and custom clearance? Thats already super tight.
Are you paying for the single shinkansen ticket to get to kyoto ? Or JR Pass. You will need atleast 15 mins to activate the JR pass as you need to speak to a JR rep.
Do you have a pocket wifi/sim bought out yet? Theres free wifi in the airport but tourists sometimes pickup pocket wifi in the airport. You need another 15 mins for this.
I wont recommend it.
Option #3 is by far the safest option, especially since you would be booking option #1 on a separate ticket, meaning that if you miss the flight, there’s no recourse for getting put on another one/getting a refund/etc. Option #1 is not impossible, but it’s cutting it very, very close. It’s _especially_ close if you have checked luggage and need to retrieve it and recheck it at a counter for the domestic flight.
As for option #2, this is probably doable. If you assume that you need 30-45 minutes (conservatively) to get from Haneda Airport, into a taxi, to Shinagawa Station, and onto the shinkansen platform, that still leaves you 1 hour and 45 minutes to get off the plane and through immigration/customs. If you purchase your shinkansen tickets ahead of time on SmartEX, getting from the taxi and onto the shinkansen would be very quick and easy.
But also remember that you’ll be tired, jetlagged, and in a place you haven’t been before. If anything at all goes wrong, you’ll be frustrated and not in a great position to fix it. I would simply do option #3, stay at a hotel near Tokyo Station or Shinagawa Station, and hop on an early shinkansen to Kyoto the next morning.
I would suggest staying in Tokyo for the night, you’re going to be tired. I know because I moved here from Seattle and it was a rough adjustment period for jet lag. I would not have wanted to take a Shinkansen anywhere.
This is all excellent advice, thank you so much. We’ll go with option 3 and stay in Tokyo. Thank you!!
I am curious about what people think about option #1 bc I’m in a similar situation with a potential flight 2 hours later
Take the Shinkansen in the morning, logistics aside, I love taking it to Kyoto to just see all the scenery flash by, my wife and I did first class for our honeymoon and it’s just a wonderful experience.
I agree with others. Option 3 is the best. I actually stayed in Villa Fontaine and Royal Park hotels at the airport terminal before. Very convenient. Just minutes walk from the terminal.
For #1, the [last shuttle bus from ITM to Kyoto](https://www.okkbus.co.jp/en/timetable/K/#from) leaves at 21:15, what is your plan to travel to Kyoto proper? Do you feel ready for (at least) two more legs on local transit?
There’s a night bus from Tokyo Station around 11PM that arrives in Kyoto at around 6AM. It will be a rough journey after your US flight though, probably wouldn’t recommend it, but the option exists.
I myself am taking a similar international flight from the US and am already dreading the 14-15h flight, let alone adding to my travel time immediately after arrival.
I would go with Option #3, but if you’re adamant about Option #1 for personal reasons, you should make sure the credit card you booked all your flights with has sufficient trip insurance to cover a missed connection (e.g. a replacement flight).
Just did the exact same thing but from Vancouver and to Tokyo to Osaka. We were fine.
Go straight to Kyoto. I booked a flight 3 hours after our arrival to Tokyo and it was more than enough time
What was the reason/benefit your friend gave for suggesting you travel to Kyoto for your first night in Japan? I’d also agree with option 3.
We had 2 hours layover in Haneda on our way to Tokyo (we arrived from Europe). It was very smooth and more than enough, even to pass customs. However we only had carry on with us, and it was early morning so it was easy to catch the next plane if we missed it. On the evening it may be a bit more risky but they would still find a solution for you. I think 2 hours if fine.
Get a Tokyo hotel. Use [Booking.com](https://Booking.com) app for cheap rates. Hotel Monday or Hotel JAP are nicer business hotels that are reasonable.
I’m Japanese & travel to Japan SEA—>HND every year. When I arrive at Haneda, I stay at the airport hotel connected to HND that evening, and then take an airport bus or train to my first destination the day after.
1) It’s so exhausting to try and travel more after such a long flight. I’m a Japanese citizen so I get through customs pretty quickly but I’ve heard that it can take longer for non-citizens. It’s nice to immediately have a hotel where you can lie down as soon as possible after you arrive.
2) There’s plenty to do in Haneda IMO. They have restaurants, stores, and a rooftop type thing where you can watch planes depart and arrive.
You need better friends.
Just stay in a hotel in Shinagawa the first night and take the Shinkansen the next morning. If you have a rail pass, you won’t have to use it that first night.
Option 3.
My bf and I had considered heading straight to Kyoto from Narita when we flew from Vancouver > Narita during May2023 (arrival was 16:30). But I was afraid it might take long for custom/immigration/baggage so we stayed a night at a hotel near Tokyo Stn, and went to Kyoto next day.
Took me 40 minutes alone to get my bags last week.
Haneda is really close to Tokyo compared to Narita. Your friend is giving you bad advice. Wake up early and have a nice breakfast in a Tokyo hotel the next day and then go to Kyoto via shinkansen. The Shinagawa area has some cute stuff. Jet lag going west to east is rough, even from Seattle.
Literally just flew into Tokyo yesterday morning and Stayed in Sapporo last night. Customs in Haneda is relatively quick and getting back through security is incredibly easy as well.
But the difference is that I had a loooong layover where I just left the airport and spent time in Tokyo (flight landed at 5 am and connection to Sapporo was at 4 PM). I didn’t time it, but by the time I was through customs and into the airport, it wasn’t even 6am yet. Then it depends on where your domestic connection is. You’ll be arriving in terminal 3 and if flying ANA domestically you’ll be flying out of terminal 2. Taking the monorail it is only about 5-10 minutes depending on when you get to the platform. Check in really depends. ANA has a priority lane for if your flight is leaving in 45 minutes or less that helps you get through faster, but their recommendation is to be at check in an hour before flight. Security takes like 10 minutes since they have four separate security checks based on which gate you are departing from.
It is absolutely possible in my opinion, but a few things are required to go correctly for it to work. Don’t do the bullet train. You can lose time from train timetables not matching each other well, and even if only a few minutes it can screw you up. Idk about others, but jet lag really never hits me too bad so maybe my brain was working better through the sleep deprivation. (In total about 60 hours of only mild naps on the flights)
Getting a hotel in Tokyo would be the safest option by far though. Based on the time you are arriving, you aren’t really losing out on any vacation time by booking that night in Tokyo instead of Kyoto. Bullet train is two hours so just hop on one of the early ones the next morning and you’ll be set.
Based on my last two trips to Tokyo, the chance of Options 1 or 2 not working is at least 50%.
The chance of either of those options being very stressful is 100%.
I too have done SEA to HND and like your friend, I like starting in Kyoto because it has better early morning activities I can take advantage of jet lag with. However, my last trip, I spent 45 minutes wandering Shibuya completely lost with Google maps out, despite having gone to Japan many times before, because with the heat and the jet lag I just could not find the Shibuya Pokemon Center. The next morning on a good night’s sleep, it took me under 10 minutes to walk there.
In June, it took me 30 minutes in June to do Immigration, get my bags and do Customs, so you really could be to Shinagawa by 20:00 or be able to fly but…
If you fly, if you go into Itami (or possibly KIX or Kobe or whichever airport you are going into), you then have to get from Itami to where ever you are staying in Kyoto
If you take the train, you have to get from Kyoto Station to where every you are staying in Kyoto at around 22:00 to 23:00 at night. If you’re staying at say the Granvia or the Thousand, that’s one thing, but otherwise you have to figure out the buses, subways or other non-JR lines or get a taxi.
I would just stay in Shinagawa and take an early train to Kyoto the next day. I would also pay more to stay somewhere closer to the station. We stayed in the Strings Intercontinental and I loved the breakfast buffet (since I was up and dressed and hungry at 7:00 am when it opened.)
If you really want to start in Kansai, i would look into flights from SEA to SFO or LAX to go into KIX (or if you don’t mind the nightmare flight coming back do Hawaiian from SEA to HNl and NL to KIX.) Just make sure the SEA to HNL/LAX/SFO is on the same ticket, as if you do say LAX to KIX on ANA and then want to do TYO (any airport) to SEA, they will see it as two one ways and Japan to the US as a one way is just ridiculous.
Stay in Tokyo that night.
No matter which you do, you can do some customs and immigration preclearance online at https://www.digital.go.jp/en/services/visit_japan_web-en/, which could save you time standing in line.
Option 3. Have a good overnight rest, no scrambling to get your tickets sorted and have a nice morning start to Kyoto. Consider staying at Shinagawa Station.
Everything is going to be a little overwhelming for you once you step off the plane, especially after a long flight. It’ll take you a little bit to get oriented. Plus, if you are picking up a JR pass, the exchange office at Haneda Terminal 3 closes at 20:00.
I’d suggest you stay the night at the Villa Fontaine Grand, and just start your day early the next day. We were debating the same thing on our recent trip (except to Osaka, not Kyoto), and in retrospect, we are glad we spent the night instead of trying to power through.
Stay in Tokyo for the night. Better not start your trip in a panic that may spoil the first few days. Just enjoy that first night in Tokyo and then your shinkansen trip to Kyoto the next day.
I’d recommend staying in Tokyo that night and getting on one of the first shinkansen in the morning.
Are flights already booked? If not, I’d suggest finding a flight directly to KIX near Osaka and travel to Kyoto from there.
If already booked, option 3. Two hour layover seems very stressful if you need to clear customs AND re-checkin your bags.
Why the hell would your friend recommend rushing from Tokyo to Kyoto on your first night? Stop listening to them now
I just love Reddit. Where else can you go to get such amazing first-hand perspectives?? I love it here.
We are VERY lucky that we saved up points for years knowing we’d use them on our honeymoon. So, while were able to use points to get business class (first time ever and probably the last time we’ll ever fly something this nice), it still seems too risky. We’ll have checked suitcases too since this is primarily a ski trip after our time in Kyoto.
So, based on all of the feedback, we think it will simply be less stressful to stay the night in Tokyo. We booked a hotel near Shinagawa and will catch the Shinkansen from there to Kyoto in the morning. Sounds like many say it is an enjoyable trip with good views anyway.
Truly, thanks again to all who commented. I’ve read every comment and appreciate them all so much.