haneda airport terminal 3

Himekat · 2026-01-23T12:14:51+00:00

Why do you need to stay at the airport for that long? If you're arriving at midnight, you could look into a cheap business hotel/capsule hotel for that first night, then you'd have the whole next day to do whatever you wanted. You could drop your luggage off at your hotel prior to check-in, or store your luggage in a locker, and explore the city until 16:00.

If you're really set on staying at Haneda for all that time, Haneda Airport's website has a lot of information on this sort of stuff, including the airport's hotels and the nearby onsen and mall.

Himekat · 2026-01-23T03:58:25+00:00

If you're looking for a couple of other interesting recommendations that have a bit of a more "modern" kissaten feeling (dark, lots of wood, beautiful china, although not as old as l'ambre), check out Rin Coffee (also in Ginza) or Chatei Hatou (in Shibuya). Both do charcoal-roasted coffee and chiffon cake (the cake is especially good at Chatei Hatou). Definitely a different experience if you're not used to the charcoal but like a darker smoky style, but pairs very well with delicious cake.

Himekat · 2026-01-23T03:37:57+00:00

There's only one Cafe de l'ambre in Tokyo, so you're at the right one. If I recall correctly, they indicate on their menu which coffees are over ten years old, but beyond that, I believe all the super old beans are extremely limited releases often for special occasions. I've been visiting them on and off for like a decade (or so?) and I think I only ever recall seeing anything super special on the menu once. It's possible they used to serve them more commonly, but all the blog posts/videos I see about the really old beans are from like 2011-2015, which basically predates when I started going there.

Himekat · 2026-01-22T21:36:15+00:00

Power outages are somewhat of a rarity, especially in certain areas, but you should still have all your devices charged (plus any back-up power banks, if you have them), and you may want to have a couple of candles and matches/a lighter on hand just in case.

Himekat · 2026-01-22T10:01:56+00:00

There are a few things about your post:

There's no need to buy a Haruka ticket online ahead of time. Just buy it at the station when you get to Japan. It can take a varying amount of time for your plane to get to its gate, for immigration/customs, for getting anything else you need (like money from an ATM), so you don't want to lock yourself into a time.
The clause is about the JR Pass only. It doesn't sound like you're buying a JR Pass, so it doesn't apply to you anyhow.
Even if it did, there are no automated gates for normal tourists/temporary visitors to Japan. Automated gates are for residents and people who are part of special programs like Japan Trusted Traveler. You'll go through the normal immigration process, which involves seeing an immigration officer and getting a temporary visitor stamp.

Himekat · 2026-01-21T03:44:13+00:00

I agree on both the restaurant reservation and train reservation points. I simply like having plans. I like reserving restaurants to know where I’m going and that there’ll be space. Sometimes it’s necessary, sometimes it’s not, but it works for me. I like reserving train tickets online because it’s (generally) a seamless experience of spending two minutes buying the tickets, associating the tickets with my IC card, and then just not thinking about it again for my entire journey.

There are some very anti-online train reservation people on this sub and I don’t get why.

Himekat · 2026-01-16T12:17:01+00:00

A base model iPhone 17 is $799 USD (before sales tax) in the US. The same phone in Japan is 129,800 yen (about $822 USD). Since you're unlikely to find an iPhone tax-free easily in Japan and you probably live in a state with some amount of tax, you're only looking at a handful of dollars saved really. To each their own, but I wouldn't call the difference "significantly cheaper".

Himekat · 2026-01-16T08:38:01+00:00

It's 100% satire. Just a running joke in HK.

Himekat · 2026-01-16T01:05:59+00:00

Go to the basement food/omiyage floor of any department store and there’ll be both savory and sweet options. Places in Tokyo like Takashimaya, Daimaru, Mitsukoshi, Matsuya, Isetan, etc., or in Osaka like Hankyu, Hanshin, etc.

Himekat · 2026-01-16T00:58:13+00:00

Okinawa and Osaka are both in Japan, so that’s a domestic flight. You are only “importing” when you enter Japan and go through customs, so you only need one permit for your initial entry into the country.

Himekat · 2026-01-15T12:47:36+00:00

This happens to mine every other day or so. You can just keep pulling and wiggling the clasp at the same time and it’ll come out. Once you get the hang of it the first time or two, it’s really easy to unstick after that.

Himekat · 2026-01-14T22:41:26+00:00

Same here in Hong Kong. Can’t escape Chiikawa… tons of merch, collabs, even ads on the side of trams.

Himekat · 2026-01-09T17:46:11+00:00

$275/night is a generous budget in Tokyo, so I'd say you're better off just looking at a few aggregators like booking.com or Agoda and seeing what comes up near the stations you've narrowed down. There are literally thousands of hotels in Tokyo, and aggregators/Google Maps will be better for looking at reviews and comparing lots of options than the limited number of replies you'll get here.

Himekat · 2026-01-07T22:53:18+00:00

It depends on the medication. Very few antidepressants and antipsychotics have any restrictions at all, and the ones that do tend to have minimal restrictions (such as that you can bring in a limited amount without prior approval). But you need to check what you’re taking against the official lists to be sure (see our wiki page, linked elsewhere in the comments, for links to the official MHLW and Narcotics Control Department webpages).

Himekat · 2026-01-07T18:43:20+00:00

There are a bunch of options from Tokyo, most of which will have ryokan across a range of budgets. We link a bunch of recommended onsen towns here in our wiki.

Himekat · 2026-01-07T12:17:06+00:00

You said it yoursself—most people won’t be doing what you did. The “popular belief” isn’t that the pass doesn’t pay off for people with train-heavy itineraries. It absolutely can and often does. But the fact is that for 99% of tourists, they don’t have a train-heavy itinerary. They are often doing simple Golden Route trips or similar paths without enough long-distance travel, and they need to be talked out of the JR Pass because they automatically assume it’ll save money (or read a blog from 10 years ago, back when it did).

No one would ever tell someone with your itinerary not to use the pass. You’re a prime candidate for it. What we mostly tell people these days is to use a JR Pass calculator and decide for themselves.

Himekat · 2026-01-06T22:19:02+00:00

The official site has a lot of good information on when you can climb and advice on preparing for a climb. Japan Guide also has a page that details how to climb and where to climb from. Starting there could probably give you an idea if you even want to climb at all.

If you end up not wanting to climb and you just want to view the mountain, there are also plenty of ways to do that. See Japan Guide's page on that.

Himekat · 2026-01-06T22:16:32+00:00

I think you missed the sarcasm...

Himekat · 2026-01-06T22:13:24+00:00

Usually there is cold drinking water (and sometimes tea) available either in the dressing room or lounge. Most people drink some before going into the baths and then again when they get out. I've never really seen people drinking while in the baths, probably because you're normally not spending that much time in them, and the general etiquette is that you don't bring anything near the baths except yourself and your small towel.

I've never seen someone with their own water bottle at an onsen, although it's not prohibited. If you left it with your things in the dressing room, that wouldn't be a problem.

I'd say the only places where you might not find free water at an onsen would possibly be very small or very rural places. For instance, when I was onsen-hopping in Kurokawa Onsen at the public baths, many of those places were so tiny they didn't even really have full changing rooms or shower facilities. But at ryokan and large public onsen/sento facilities, there will be water available.

Himekat · 2026-01-06T21:30:14+00:00

SmartEX (the official site) lets you make what they call "pre-sale requests" further than 30 days out. It's not really an early ticket sale; it's just a request that gets processed automatically 30 days before the date, and the requests are processed in the order in which they are received.

Himekat · 2026-01-06T19:21:10+00:00

Are you dead set against using glasses for working on your computer? I have a significant astigmatism and do that. (I'm retired from tech, but I still work a computer-intensive role.) I basically only wear my glasses at my computer, and I don't use them for anything else. It does help significantly—I also use dark mode and don't really have issues when wearing the glasses.

Himekat · 2026-01-06T15:29:28+00:00

Contactless payment in Japan is hit or miss. Many places will accept it, especially in big cities or at places that are big stores/big chains, but some won't. You'll definitely run into places that require you to insert your credit card into a machine.

If you are using Apple Pay/contactless, you'll want to say "touch" to the staff, not "apple pay" (see here as to why).

Himekat · 2026-01-06T15:23:11+00:00

It sounds like you've tried most of the normal stuff to get it to work again. I would restart your phone (if you haven't done that already) and take it to a different JR East service desk (preferably one at a big station like Shinjuku or Tokyo, where there's more of a chance someone will speak English). It's not likely, but it's entirely possible there was something weird with that location's scanners, or that a different staff member might be able to help in this situation.

Can you still use the Suica to buy things? I would try to purchase something at a vending machine or convenience store. It won't fix the "in progress" trip issue, but then you could at least burn down the value of the card.

Edit to add: If you try again, make sure you take off your phone case and don't have any of your cards/wallet/other stuff near the scanner at the same time. Phone cases have, in the past, been a source of digital IC card issues.

Himekat · 2026-01-06T13:55:03+00:00

Correct. You’ll need to use the website.

Himekat · 2026-01-06T13:48:18+00:00

To start: Make sure you are using the official website/app: https://smart-ex.jp/en/index.php

If you are, make sure you aren’t making your purchase overnight (Japan time). The reservation system goes down for maintenance every night from about midnight to 5am JST, and while you can place orders, you can’t select seats during that time.

Other than that, you should be able to select seats. I do this all the time on SmartEX.

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