We’ve been looking forward to this trip for six months, and I’m sure it’s going to be one of the most special experiences of our lives. The three of us, off on an adventure in Japan… This is going to be amazing.
Our flight departs on the 18th at midday with Air China, with a layover in Beijing. The total journey takes around 17 to 18 hours, including a three-hour layover. Checking in online turned out to be impossible, as the website kept crashing. I called customer service, and they told me I’d have to sort it out at the airport since the passports weren’t registered when we bought the tickets. Hopefully, there won’t be any issues with our seats.
At the airport, they manage to seat us together on both flights, which is great. The first leg is on a fairly new Boeing 787, while the second is on an Airbus 330. In theory, the 787 should be more comfortable and quieter, but it only delivers on the quiet part—the seats are narrower, and my seatmates are far from ideal. The layover in Beijing is straightforward; there’s no need to collect our luggage, just a quick passport check and security screening, where the staff are quite curt. The terminal is practically deserted at this hour (I think it’s around 6 AM local time), so there’s not much to do.
After landing at Narita and clearing immigration (small mistake—I filled out the Visit Japan Web form in advance to skip paperwork at the airport, but I only did it for myself, assuming it was just for adults. Turns out, it was required for everyone, so we ended up queueing and filling in the forms anyway. To be honest, it probably took less time than completing the online form in the first place). Once we collect our checked luggage, we have to make our way into the city, which is quite a distance away. We take the Tokyo Skyliner, one of the two express trains to the capital. It’s the best option for getting us close to our hotel at a reasonable price, taking around 50 minutes. Other options include the Narita Express, which is pricier, slower, and less convenient for us. There are also buses and metro connections, but those would have taken at least an hour and a half. Taxis, on the other hand, can cost anywhere from 20,000 to 30,000 yen to the city center, so we’re better off avoiding them. For those of us who manage to stay awake, the train ride offers beautiful views of Tokyo’s outskirts and the low-rise houses of the suburbs—really picturesque.
We get off the train at Ueno Station and walk for about ten minutes, guided by Google Maps, towards Akihabara, where our hotel is located. We’re staying at the Akihabara Nakagawa Inn, a charming and comfortable three-star hotel just five minutes from the heart of Akihabara. The room has tatami flooring and futons for sleeping, which looks quite cozy and offers an authentic Japanese experience. The only downside? No windows!
Exhausted from the journey and having barely slept, we freshen up quickly after the heatwave that hit us as soon as we left the metro with all our luggage. Despite the fatigue, we can’t resist heading out for a quick stroll—it’s still early enough to explore a bit, and staying active will help us sleep better tonight.
Since it’s just around the corner, we start with Akihabara, browsing a few stores. This neighborhood is buzzing with life, filled with massive shops, not so much in floor space but in height—here, everything is built upwards. Even modest stores span multiple levels. We check out a few places looking for retro video games, but I don’t find what I’m after—I was hoping to get some gear for my MSX computer or even pick up an MSX itself at a reasonable price. We pop into a couple of shops, though navigating the area isn’t the easiest since I still don’t quite grasp how the street numbering works. We visit Super Potato, which occupies the fifth and sixth floors of a ten-story building, and Mandarake, though this one mainly stocks manga and DVDs.
We continue exploring, checking out anime figurines, and eventually, we find some arcades to try our luck on the claw machines and classic game cabinets. Each attempt costs 100, 200, or 300 yen, and before you know it, the coins start disappearing. Some arcades have seven or eight floors, each dedicated to a different type of game. The music game floors are especially impressive—kids playing rhythm games, dance simulators, and guitar games, with all the sounds blasting together at full volume. You walk out of there completely dazed.
After wandering around for hours, we head back to the hotel. Without even realizing it, I’ve racked up 10,000 steps on my watch. On the way, we stop at a ramen place for dinner, where we have some incredible dumplings and ramen. The restaurant is called The Golden Ramen. At first, we’re a bit lost, but the chef notices our confusion and gestures to show us how things work—we need to buy meal tickets from a vending machine. Once we have them, we hand them over, and he brings our food to the table. I think we made a great choice, as we see lots of locals coming in after work, which is always a good sign.
By the time we get back to the hotel, it’s not even 9 PM, but we’re absolutely wiped out. We’ve pushed through the exhaustion, but it’s finally time to crash.