Notice to gaijin: The new smart way to get to the city from NaritaApril 7th, 2007 by Joe Jones |
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By which I’m referring to the new Suica/Narita Express deal. For 3,500 yen, you get a Suica card which provides (1) a one-way trip to anywhere in Tokyo via Narita Express and (2) 2,000 yen in Suica credit which you can spend on just about anything.
Considering that the Narita Express alone usually costs 3,000 yen just to get you to Tokyo Station, this is an incredible deal. The only catch is that you need a foreign passport to get it. (Discrimination!)
April 8th, 2007 at 7:31 pm
I’m pretty sure the Suica only has 1500 yen of credit since 500 yen is a deposit for the card itself. Still a good deal though. Here’s the JR press release in Japanese from last December:
http://www.jreast.co.jp/press/2006_2/20061203.pdf
April 8th, 2007 at 11:13 pm
I note the deal does NOT matter how long you are in Japan (日本滞在時間不問） which makes it a good deal for us residents as well. Though I never use NRT if I can help, since I am much closer to KIX. Although since it is only valid for one day then if you arrive any time after mid-afternoon you won’t have time to get much sightseeing done on it. But looks good value if you live near Ofuna….
May 9th, 2007 at 8:46 pm
As I discovered the other day, the catch with the Suica+NEX deal is that you can only purchase it at the JR Airport Travel Service Centers. Unless you are very lucky, you will most likely encounter a queue of foreigners here trying to exchange Rail Pass vouchers and book tickets which will make buying the Suica+NEX card difficult if you’re in a hurry.