Air Travel in Japan

Although Shinkansen is effective in linking regions across Japan together in just a few hours, fares are generally very expensive, especially for long-term residents in Japan who don’t get to enjoy the discounts offered only to short-term visitors. Sometimes Shinkansen could also be considered time consuming when travelling across a long distance, for example from Tokyo to Fukuoka which almost takes 6 hours. Some remote regions like Hokkaido and Okinawa are also excluded from the Shinkansen network, hence making air travel an essential means of transportation in the island country. Luckily, with the boom of Low Cost Carriers (LCCs) in the past decade in Japan, air travel has become more affordable in Japan. I am going to give you with a general outline of low cost air travel in Japan below with a few tips on air travel.

Carriers like Peach and Jetstar joined the domestic air travel market in the last couple of years and provide a way cheaper alternative to traditional carriers like ANA and JAL. The Japanese LCCs share many similarities with the European ones like Easyjet and Norwegian but there are also a few things to watch out for when you travel with them.

The first thing I would like to mention is the accessibility in early morning hours. Unlike Edinburgh where a reduced frequency of transportation is generally provided at late night hours, it is not uncommon to have no buses operating at all between 12am and 6am in Japan, even in big cities like Tokyo. This would therefore be particularly annoying if you have a flight to catch in the early morning from Narita as it would almost be impossible for you to catch it unless you head to the airport the night before or stay in a hotel in the city centre where the only coaches to airport are available at late night. It is therefore recommended to think carefully even if you see an early morning flight deal, as in most cases it will work out cheaper to fly a later flight than to catch the one one that leaves at 6am.

The other thing to watch out for is the location of terminals for LCCs. Like in Europe, some Japanese LCCs in big airports like Narita and Kansai prefer to fly from separate terminals where the maintenance costs are lower. Yet access to these terminals could take quite a bit of time since they are generally located far away from the airport station and require either a long walk or a shuttle connection. Checking your route to the terminal from your coach stop or distance beforehand would save you some time, or just simply arrive early at the airport for your flight in case you got lost.

As a frequent user of Narita’s terminal 3, instead of catching an N’EX train or Keisei Skyliner, I recommend catching the Tokyo Shuttle coach from Tokyo Station if you are flying from the budget terminal. Being known for the cheapest mode of transport from Tokyo to Narita, the one-hour trip only costs ¥1,000 and leaves from Tokyo every 10 minutes in daytime. What makes it more convenient for Terminal 3 users is that the coach runs non-stop to the budget terminal from Tokyo station and the coach stop is just a 2-minute walk away from the departures. If you don’t have too many pieces of luggage and is travelling to Terminal 3 in Narita, the coach would be the most convenient option. Spare yourself some time at rush hours though, since traffic jam is likely in the motorway between Tokyo and Chiba where many commuters are home to.

Further information on Tokyo Shuttle is available on the following website:

エアポートバス　東京・成田

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