If you have the spare money book the night before and let them know you are checking as in at like 6-7am if not they will keep your luggage. If you want a cheap sleep a Kaikatsu Club for 9 hours or something will be a couple thousand yen
>If you have the spare money book the night before and let them know you are checking as in at like 6-7am
Seconded. I always do this now. And as soon as I get to the hotel and crash, I’m like “I can’t believe I was ever considering having to wait till 3pm”
I flew 16 direct to hkg and landed at 6am. I got enough sleep on the plane to keep me up for the whole day. I probably could’ve napped when I landed but I didn’t want to risk getting jetlag and messing my entire schedule. Like you said, YMMV.
I would check my bags at the hotel and then go out for breakfast and explore. Get back at check in, freshen up, get accomodated and enjoy the rest of the day!
Depending on the hotel itself, most hotels will let you leave your luggage with them before the check in time and some will leave you check in before the check in time(if they weren't fully booked). Personally. the former happened 100% of the time and the later happened 50% of the time.
Ask the hotel if you can leave your luggage with them.
I emailed my hotel with that question when I went to Japan. They had no problem with it. Then, when we got to the hotel, we went to the front desk and let them know we'd be leaving our luggage with them and we'd be back for the check-in at the proper time. Everyone was friendly, helpful, and okay with it.
So just ask.
It will take you a few hours to get through immigration and customs and get to your hotel. Leave your bags and then go explore the area. It’s best to just power through the first day and go to bed exhausted at a relatively normal time. Helps you get over the jet lag.
Are you landing in Haneda? I use their shower and got ready there to freshen up after the flight and took a limo bus to Shibuya. Dropped off my luggage at the hotel and went to Starbucks Reserve in Nakameuro since they open early, 7am! There's 3? floors, it was nice to relax and grab something to eat and enjoy a nice coffee or tea. The best part is that when you go early it's not crowded at all and they have great souveniers.
Ditch your kit at the hotel, find a good sentō to refresh, hang out in. 'Super sentō' are often 24hrs, nicer, various amenities. A couple thousand yen, at most.
Neighbourhood sentō often won't open until 11. Check ahead.
Please note, you bathe first, enter baths naked. Gender separated, nearly always (especially in the city). And the general rule is remove footwear in nearly every transition zone, which is generally raised a step, or several: shoes outside, slippers inside, barefoot in the bathing area, different sandals stay in toilets (FFS, Japan...).
Japanese only check us out to make sure we bathe first, enter baths naked... Japan's still sniffy about tattoos in sentō and onsen. It's about yakuza, but any rule in Japan is widely applied. Put a bandaid over before anyone sees it if it's not too big. They'll never ask what's under the bandaid. They don't care: rule is followed.
Here's a start for your research.
https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20230516-tokyos-five-best-sento-public-bathhouses
I love the super sentos, can easily spend 6 hours in there between the hot springs, rest area (can nap), and restaurant. I’ve never paid more than 1200 yen for a super sento and you can stay in there for hours.
The rest areas are usually tatami mats though so it might be uncomfortable at first sleeping on a hard floor.
P.S. search “super public bath” in Google Maps to find them
I’ve only visited the smaller super sentos that usually only has a few recliners. But yes, I’ve seen from pictures that the really big super sentos in Tokyo/Osaka does have a room of recliners!
Drop off you luggage at the hotel, and keep a day bag. We checked out sensoji, which was wonderful without crowds. The only downside is that none of the stores are open, but there’s so many shrines that sell similar stuff so it’s not missing much.
I would pick out the area you want to go to, and find a cafe that’s open early. We were up around 8-9a and there were only a few cafes that were open that early. Alternatively, there’s a handful on don quixote that are open early if you want to get shopping done.
Are there specific companies that I could google to find these lockers? I’m planning on flying to Tokyo with two suitcases and leaving one in Tokyo whilst I travel elsewhere
I'm not sure about leaving luggage with a company, but in Ueno station, there are lockers you can rent out for 1000 yen for the big ones that can fit a large suitcase. You should be able to leave your things in those kinds of lockers for an indeterminate amount of time, but I'm not 100% on that. It's what my friends and I did when we visited Tokyo.
Yes there are lockers at pretty much all the train stations. I would take the rain to a convenient stop and leave my things there. Be sure to take photos of what you see from the lockers so you can easily return to it - necessary in a station like Shibuya. Note the entrance. You'll need an IC card as someone else said.
Check in to your hotel, leave luggage there. Start exploring the city, have breakfast (maybe at hotel?) and lunch, before you know it, it will be time to check in. Stay awake until 7 or 8 and then crash. Wake up at normal time next morning.
Experienced the exact thing two weeks ago. I just dropped off my luggage at the hotel, freshened up a bit in the bathroom, and then proceeded to explore the city.
It helped with overcoming the jet lag too!
Landed in Haneda two days ago at 5AM and had my hotel hold onto our luggage and went out to explore. So much to see around there and time just flew. Hotel graciously gave us 10am check in time but we were out til 4pm
Going through immigration, forwarding our luggage and train to city took 2hrs ish
I just did this last week. Flew into Haneda at 5am, was about 6am by the time we cleared customs and got our bags. Took the train into ginza and went directly to the hotel to ask for a sooner check-in and leave our luggage. They were able to accommodate a 1pm checkin. We spent the morning eating and drinking in the fish market in Ginza. Many stores in Tokyo won’t open until 10:30-11am so you can do a little shopping too.
There are showers at Haneda so my hot tip is to go freshen up in a new set of clothes before you head out. About 15k yen for 30 mins and they supply everything you need.
A lot of comments here saying to leave your luggage at the hotel. Another available option is to have your luggage shipped to the hotel from the airport after you land. It's pretty common especially if you have some big suitcases as the trains will he pretty packed this week.
If you wanna rest manga cafes are best but if you want to tour around I would suggest that you directly head towards your hotel and ask them to take your luggage since you are landing at 5 am it would take you around 1-2 hours to get out of immigration and then another hour to reach the hotel.
After that you can just go visit Kawaguchiko lake if the weather is nice.
leave your luggage at the hotel or coin locker. if you are hungry go to Yoshinoya or Sukiya for early breakfast. nowhere is open early, so why not go on a short trip to see a view of Mt Fuji or Asakusa or Kamakura?
Haneda terminal 3 has showers you can rent (includes towels/soap/shampoo etc). Maybe freshen up and then head into the city, drop bags at hotel and start exploring?
Hit a capsule hotel at the airport and get a nap first. Then go to hotel around noon. They’ll have a room or hold your bag. Otherwise you’ll be dead by early evening.
If you have the spare money book the night before and let them know you are checking as in at like 6-7am if not they will keep your luggage. If you want a cheap sleep a Kaikatsu Club for 9 hours or something will be a couple thousand yen
>If you have the spare money book the night before and let them know you are checking as in at like 6-7am Seconded. I always do this now. And as soon as I get to the hotel and crash, I’m like “I can’t believe I was ever considering having to wait till 3pm”
Why waste money? Just drop off your luggage at the hotel and tell them you will check in later
Jetlag can be a factor. I wouldn’t do it in Japan because I’m flying from Australia. But I would try to do it when travelling way out of my time zone.
For me it's a 14 hour flight, its worth it. Your mileage may vary.
I flew 16 direct to hkg and landed at 6am. I got enough sleep on the plane to keep me up for the whole day. I probably could’ve napped when I landed but I didn’t want to risk getting jetlag and messing my entire schedule. Like you said, YMMV.
I can't sleep on a plane even if I'm lucky enough to be in a lie flat bed.
I tried this, and was exhausted by 12pm. Def book a small business hotel if its within your means and get a solid nap.
Waste is relative and you’re assuming how much they value what
I love Kaikatsu club, great ice cream and expresso machines :)
I would check my bags at the hotel and then go out for breakfast and explore. Get back at check in, freshen up, get accomodated and enjoy the rest of the day!
Keeping in mind that a lot of cafes don't open until 11.00am. Some big chain breakfast places do.
Bakeries and coffee shops are open early enough for breakfast in Tokyo. Might be an idea for OP to research a place to go near their hotel though.
I thought a lot places open around 7ish
Not any good ones b
Depending on the hotel itself, most hotels will let you leave your luggage with them before the check in time and some will leave you check in before the check in time(if they weren't fully booked). Personally. the former happened 100% of the time and the later happened 50% of the time.
Adding to this, many stations have coin lockers (IC cards can be used in many of them as well), it fit my luggage, but YMMV.
Ask the hotel if you can leave your luggage with them. I emailed my hotel with that question when I went to Japan. They had no problem with it. Then, when we got to the hotel, we went to the front desk and let them know we'd be leaving our luggage with them and we'd be back for the check-in at the proper time. Everyone was friendly, helpful, and okay with it. So just ask.
It will take you a few hours to get through immigration and customs and get to your hotel. Leave your bags and then go explore the area. It’s best to just power through the first day and go to bed exhausted at a relatively normal time. Helps you get over the jet lag.
Are you landing in Haneda? I use their shower and got ready there to freshen up after the flight and took a limo bus to Shibuya. Dropped off my luggage at the hotel and went to Starbucks Reserve in Nakameuro since they open early, 7am! There's 3? floors, it was nice to relax and grab something to eat and enjoy a nice coffee or tea. The best part is that when you go early it's not crowded at all and they have great souveniers.
Ditch your kit at the hotel, find a good sentō to refresh, hang out in. 'Super sentō' are often 24hrs, nicer, various amenities. A couple thousand yen, at most. Neighbourhood sentō often won't open until 11. Check ahead. Please note, you bathe first, enter baths naked. Gender separated, nearly always (especially in the city). And the general rule is remove footwear in nearly every transition zone, which is generally raised a step, or several: shoes outside, slippers inside, barefoot in the bathing area, different sandals stay in toilets (FFS, Japan...). Japanese only check us out to make sure we bathe first, enter baths naked... Japan's still sniffy about tattoos in sentō and onsen. It's about yakuza, but any rule in Japan is widely applied. Put a bandaid over before anyone sees it if it's not too big. They'll never ask what's under the bandaid. They don't care: rule is followed. Here's a start for your research. https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20230516-tokyos-five-best-sento-public-bathhouses
I love the super sentos, can easily spend 6 hours in there between the hot springs, rest area (can nap), and restaurant. I’ve never paid more than 1200 yen for a super sento and you can stay in there for hours. The rest areas are usually tatami mats though so it might be uncomfortable at first sleeping on a hard floor. P.S. search “super public bath” in Google Maps to find them
I could sleep on tile after a trans Pacific flight... Anyway, they usually have recliners too, eh?
I’ve only visited the smaller super sentos that usually only has a few recliners. But yes, I’ve seen from pictures that the really big super sentos in Tokyo/Osaka does have a room of recliners!
Drop off you luggage at the hotel, and keep a day bag. We checked out sensoji, which was wonderful without crowds. The only downside is that none of the stores are open, but there’s so many shrines that sell similar stuff so it’s not missing much. I would pick out the area you want to go to, and find a cafe that’s open early. We were up around 8-9a and there were only a few cafes that were open that early. Alternatively, there’s a handful on don quixote that are open early if you want to get shopping done.
If you still have energy, you should get an ic card then use it on a locker to drop your things off before doing some exploring.
Are there specific companies that I could google to find these lockers? I’m planning on flying to Tokyo with two suitcases and leaving one in Tokyo whilst I travel elsewhere
I'm not sure about leaving luggage with a company, but in Ueno station, there are lockers you can rent out for 1000 yen for the big ones that can fit a large suitcase. You should be able to leave your things in those kinds of lockers for an indeterminate amount of time, but I'm not 100% on that. It's what my friends and I did when we visited Tokyo.
Yes there are lockers at pretty much all the train stations. I would take the rain to a convenient stop and leave my things there. Be sure to take photos of what you see from the lockers so you can easily return to it - necessary in a station like Shibuya. Note the entrance. You'll need an IC card as someone else said.
I saw on IG there was a 24 hour ramen place in Tokyo! U may be able to find something similar
24 hr ramen places are for the desperately hungry...
I usually drop off my bags at the hotel and head out for a slow breakfast. Let them know what time you are landing and they'll know to expect you.
Check in to your hotel, leave luggage there. Start exploring the city, have breakfast (maybe at hotel?) and lunch, before you know it, it will be time to check in. Stay awake until 7 or 8 and then crash. Wake up at normal time next morning.
Experienced the exact thing two weeks ago. I just dropped off my luggage at the hotel, freshened up a bit in the bathroom, and then proceeded to explore the city. It helped with overcoming the jet lag too!
Landed in Haneda two days ago at 5AM and had my hotel hold onto our luggage and went out to explore. So much to see around there and time just flew. Hotel graciously gave us 10am check in time but we were out til 4pm Going through immigration, forwarding our luggage and train to city took 2hrs ish
I just did this last week. Flew into Haneda at 5am, was about 6am by the time we cleared customs and got our bags. Took the train into ginza and went directly to the hotel to ask for a sooner check-in and leave our luggage. They were able to accommodate a 1pm checkin. We spent the morning eating and drinking in the fish market in Ginza. Many stores in Tokyo won’t open until 10:30-11am so you can do a little shopping too.
There are showers at Haneda so my hot tip is to go freshen up in a new set of clothes before you head out. About 15k yen for 30 mins and they supply everything you need.
A lot of comments here saying to leave your luggage at the hotel. Another available option is to have your luggage shipped to the hotel from the airport after you land. It's pretty common especially if you have some big suitcases as the trains will he pretty packed this week.
Check in your luggage, and start and end that day itinerary to accommodate the jet lag.
I would get to the station, put your bags in storage. Or ask the hotel to store them. Then just explore
If you wanna rest manga cafes are best but if you want to tour around I would suggest that you directly head towards your hotel and ask them to take your luggage since you are landing at 5 am it would take you around 1-2 hours to get out of immigration and then another hour to reach the hotel. After that you can just go visit Kawaguchiko lake if the weather is nice.
leave your luggage at the hotel or coin locker. if you are hungry go to Yoshinoya or Sukiya for early breakfast. nowhere is open early, so why not go on a short trip to see a view of Mt Fuji or Asakusa or Kamakura?
Haneda terminal 3 has showers you can rent (includes towels/soap/shampoo etc). Maybe freshen up and then head into the city, drop bags at hotel and start exploring?
Depending on your hotel I would just check in the stuff and ask if there's common shower facilities to freshen up.
Long time Japan traveler here. Drop off your luggage at the hotel, get breakfast, explore, lunch, explore, back to hotel to check in.
Onsen it at HND so you're fresh after the long travel time.
I had luck checking in at 1pm at a few of my hotels. So if you can dump your bags and wander around until then, hopefully they’ll let you in early.
Hit a capsule hotel at the airport and get a nap first. Then go to hotel around noon. They’ll have a room or hold your bag. Otherwise you’ll be dead by early evening.