I recently visited Manila for a work trip and thanks to Japan Airlines, I had an overnight layover in Tokyo! I figured this could be a great opportunity to get a glimpse of the largest metropolitan area in the world within a short, 15-hour window. Staying at the airport hotel seemed too easy and safe and I couldn’t pass up this opportunity :) About 3 weeks out, I made sure I did some research using Trip Advisor and other online sources in order to be as prepared and efficient as possible with the little time that I had to see the city. Here was what my layover looked like:

Landing at Narita Airport: Once I landed at NRT from MNL, I was able to go through customs and make it to the main terminal (where the train stations are located) in a matter of 15-20 minutes! Since my bags were checked all the way to my final destination in the US, I did not have to wait at baggage claim. Before heading to the subway station at the airport, I went to one of the many currency exchange stations in the airport and exchanged about $100 USD into Japanese Yen.
Leaving Narita Airport with the Tokyo Subway System: At baggage claim, there is a counter where you can purchase your Tokyo subway/transit tickets and learn more information about routes. The lady that helped me at the counter was very nice and super helpful but struggled a little bit with English…but we managed to figure out what route to take to get to my hotel. My one way ticket from Narita to Asakusabashi station was about $11 USD (1290 Yen) and the train ride was about 50 minutes long. PLEASE make sure you know your route. With the vast size of the Tokyo transit system, there could be several ways to get to your final destination. Growing up in DC, I have always been accustomed to a metro system, but I have never experienced anything as huge as Tokyo’s. I struck gold with my final destination and I didn’t have to switch trains. Phew!

Belmont Hotel: Using my maps app on my iPhone, I was able to navigate myself from the Asakusabashi station to the Belmont Hotel. After a 5 minute walk in the rain, I arrived to my hotel! For about $60 USD/night, the Belmont Hotel offered a great deal for what I was looking for. The room was solid with all your basic amenities. Breakfast was not included, but I just looked at that as another opportunity to eat something local! For a location reference, the hotel is located in the Taito area of Tokyo.
Restaurant: By the time I arrived into my hotel and got changed, it was around 6pm and time for some grub! I asked the hotel and a couple of locals what would be the best place to get some good ramen or sushi and seemed like the consensus was the edo-style sushi restaurant: Uogashi Nihon-Ichi! It was a short walk from the hotel and a small, cozy joint with clean and sterile interior design. They had either booths or a bar-like seating arrangement to choose from and since I was riding solo, I chose the bar! With so many options and combinations, I simply asked the waiter for his opinion on the most well-rounded sushi dish that included a little bit of every roll. I took his suggestion and also ordered some fish miso soup and fried cuttlefish! I was thoroughly satisfied and enjoyed all of the rolls and dishes except for an extra slimy roll that appeared to taste and feel like eel haha. The experience was a bit pricey, but I figured when in Rome…right?!

Walking Around Taito: Being the early fall season in Japan, I had barely any time to walk around the Taito district or the Kandagawa River my first evening due to the sun going down by 5:30pm. Also, it was raining the whole evening which forced me to make the decision to wake up an hour early the next morning to stroll around and see the area! Sunrise was around 5:30am so I got my butt up early and headed out at 5:00am to see if I could catch some of the sunrise. No luck with a sunrise because of the lovely overcast weather, BUT I pushed through, got myself an umbrella, and walked around for about an hour before I had to pack up and head back to the airport. Despite the overcast weather, the area was beautiful. I am used to bustling Manila and it’s grunginess. In Tokyo, and possibly in all of Japan, it seemed like everything worked. Everyone obeyed the crosswalk signs. Everything was clean. Everything was in unison. It all kind of reminded me of an Asian form of urban Scandinavia!
Language: Tokyo was one of the first trips where I didn't have any prior knowledge of the local language. Practice and some basic knowledge of Japanese will go far! Surprisingly, a lot of the locals I spoke to or interacted with had little or no knowledge of English.
Subway Back to NRT: After I finished my hour of exploration of the Taito area, I got my things together, checked out of my hotel, and headed to the Asakusabashi station and basically reversed the same exact route I made the day before to my hotel. With the same amount of $11 USD (1290 Yen), I was able to make it back to Narita in about an hour!

FINAL WORDS: For a city as a large as Tokyo, it's hard not to let it overwhelm you in taking the plunge to explore all that it has to offer. The truth is 15 hours is not enough to see enough of the city, BUT it gave me a small taste of what it's potential is. I look forward to stopping by on a layover in the future and exploring a different side to Tokyo. Also, this city is equipped with some of the best public transport systems in the world so getting around should be easy. My recommendation is to take advantage of your next long layover in Tokyo and see what the city has to offer!