First 24 hours in Japan

by philg

My first 24 hours in Japan included the following:



  • a soak in a traditional Japanese public bath

  • a swim in a 25-yard pool

  • a visit to an enormous Buddhist temple complex that has been an important pilgrimage site for hundreds of years

  • a semi-traditional tea ceremony

  • walking around three koi ponds

  • a meal in a restaurant that has been in the same family and at the same location for more than 300 years

All this without leaving Narita, the town in which Tokyo’s international airport is located!

10 thoughts on “First 24 hours in Japan”

  1. So Phillip are you going to post hi-resolution pics of your time in the public bath? 😉 lol

  2. Where’d you find a 25-yard pool?!

    I’ve swum in 25-meter pools, 50-meter pools, and the 18m or 20m width of some off-sized 50-meter pools, but I’ve never run across a 25-yard pool in Japan.

  3. Hi, Philip. Did you have to drive to any of the delights in Narita? When we spoke last week you were wondering about reading street signs. . .

  5. I should have noted that I did all of the above activities without using any form of transport other than the Narita Hilton shuttle bus (free).

    Marty: The hotel was about $100 plus $25 for use of the spa/pool. The temple was free. The tea ceremony was at the city’s welcome center and was free. The koi ponds are in the (free) public garden. Lunch was about $20. Japan is less expensive than Manhattan and other parts of the US that are similarly crowded.

  6. “Japan is less expensive than Manhattan and other parts of the US that are similarly crowded.”

    Narita is on the far side of Chiba Prefecture from Tokyo in the middle of an agricultural region. This accounts for the hotel cost: there isn’t a large demand for lodging near the airport. I stayed there one time when accompanying my elderly parents to the airport. It was actually pretty relaxing and nice, but not to be confused with Manhattan (or Tokyo). More like staying in Kansas.

    In general, the myth that Japan is expensive seems to be driven by various rankings of how expensive cities are that are prepared by expat relocation companies. If you adjust your life somewhat to the local circumstances, it’s very cheap.

    Certainly, $20 would be expensive for most people eating dinner out even in Tokyo, and about three times what you’d spend for lunch. When you spend more than that, you are spending it not for food and basic atmosphere, but for impressing a business client or “renting a table” in a crowded neighborhood of central Tokyo. Of course, with the a la carte menus of many Japanese restaurants, many U.S. visitors probably end up ordering 4,000 calories worth of food, which could drive up the cost, I suppose.

  7. Phil takes pride in how little he spends, but how much did your 1st class plane ticket to Japan cost you?

  9. lucky you, enjoying Japan. I lived there for a couple of years on assigniment in the automotive industry. caught onto the power of the internet while there, and the amazing ability to read the NY Times online for free instead of paying $25US for a hard copy of the Sunday New York Times at the hotel in tokyo. My site http://www.japaninyourpalm.com may be helpful during your stay in Japan. The site is focused on Hiroshima a bit, but helpful for any travel throughout Japan.. comes with an Avantgo channel for your pda. ps. I read your Web Publishing while living in Japan 🙂

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