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Edited on Mon Jan-09-06 12:36 AM by Lydia Leftcoast
I'm a Japanese-English translator and have been through Narita Airport many times.
I advise against going into Tokyo on a 7-hour layover, because the fastest train ride takes 70 minutes (i.e. 2+ hours there and back) and that's not counting immigration/customs (30 minutes minimum) on one end and security lines and flight check-ins (60 minutes minimum) on the other. So basically, you'd have all of three hours in one of the world's largest cities.
Besides, the train lets you off in a crowded, confusing part of Tokyo, so you'd just stand around and say, "Okay, I'm in Tokyo. Now what?"
But you are not doomed to sit in the airport for seven hours.
You can go visit the town of Narita. Simply get on the Keisei line train ( NOT the Keisei Skyliner) and ride for about 10 minutes until you reach Narita. It costs about 250 yen, IRC. There is an information booth at the station, where you can get a map that will tell you how to walk to the Shinshouji Temple. The walk takes you through the streets of a typical small city to a large temple complex. Aside from the main temple buildings, there are beautifully landscaped gardens to wander around in. It's all very restful after you've just come off a long plane ride. On the way back, you can have a Japanese meal and/or buy some souvenirs. Five hours is a nice length of time to spend there.
I think a jaunt into Narita would give you a much more pleasant, relaxing, and varied look at Japan than a mad dash into Tokyo and back.
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