Monday, April 16, 2018

What's NEX?




The Narita Express is an express train that brings visitors from the Narita Express to Tokyo and vice versa - meaning, it does not stop at any station anymore.  This is the fastest way to go to Central Tokyo coming from the airport.  I will share my personal experience with the service when I was in Tokyo last November.
The Narita Express is operated by Japaneast Rail, one of the many train operators in Japan.  You can buy a Japan Rail Pass before you arrive in Japan and that Rail Pass entitles you  to unli train ride from any JR operated trains in Tokyo, including the Narita Express.  The Japan Rail Pass though is a bit pricey and impractical if you will just stay in Tokyo. My companion and I did not avail of the pass when we went to Tokyo.
How then can we avail of the NEX?
The JR Ticket booth is located at the lower level of Narita Airport. You can queue up and buy a NEX ticket. It costs around 6040 Yen or approximately Php 3000 oneway. Yes, it is expensive. You can, however, get a discount if you buy a round trip NEX Ticket.  Round trip ticks cost only 8000 Yen - which means you get a 4000 Yen far one way for a 2000 yen discount each way.  Believe me, 2000 yen is a huge thing when in Japan. Dont worry because the lady in  the counter will be kind enough to offer you round trip tickets anyway. 
So, the NEX has reserved seating.  After ur pirchase of your ticks to Tokyo, it will have a seat number, a coach number and a platform number. This means you cant just sit in any coach.  You will see the platform number on the floor when you get to the station.  The coach assigned to you will automatically be the coach that stops at the platform. Once you enter the train, you can leave your baggage at the baggage area and lock it, or bring it with you to your assigned seat - but most people leave their luggage at the luggage area.
The train is on time and on point. It arrives at the station on the exact time that you see on the monitors, and leaves at the exact time printed on your ticket as if it is in sync with every watch.

Once you are on your way, you can relax, recline your seat to a comfortable angle, and yet still have nice leg room.  It doesnt feel awkward to recline since the person behind you will still have a lot of leg room. You can switch on your wifi, register, then surf the net for free. Well, to be perfectly honest, it is not the most reliable signal though - but at least it's there and that you can probably use it to check your next ride from Tokyo to your destination/hotel.
Your return ticket on the other hand, is an open ticket for 14 Calendar days - meaning, you should use your return ticks within 14 calendar days.  Well, most single entry Japan visa is good for 15 days anyway.  Lemme give an example.
If you arrived in Narita on January 1 and purchased a round trip NEX ticket, you can use the return tick until January 14 - meaning, if you will fly back to where ever from Narita, you can use your NEX return tick anytime from Jan 2 to 14.  Simple.
Reserved seating still apply for your return ticket.  To do that, you need to go to a JR East office for reservation.  What we did is, we went to the NEX office in the Shinjuku station to reserve our return seat to Narita.  In the office, you can select the day and time of the departure from your chosen station. In our case, we were scheduled to leave on the same day on a 10pm flight. We reserved our seat in the morning for a 6pm departure of the NEX from the Shinjuku to Narita.  Same thing applies, there were seat numbers that you need to follow.
There you go. That was quite easy and seamless. It was easy, really, as compared to reading stuff online. 
I hope this helps. Enjoy Japan! Enjoy Tokyo!



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