Narita Higashiya Hotel

Luggage & Lockers

by cheesecake17

At Narita International Airport, delivery service counters will send luggage to your hotel the next day or from your hotel to the airport for about ¥2,000 for bags up to 20 kilograms .

Coin-operated lockers are located at all major JR stations, such as Tokyo, Shinjuku, and Ueno, as well as at most subway stations.

Lockers cost ¥300 to ¥700 depending on the size

Naritasan Templetown

by Anjin-san

One of the delightful things to do when visiting Naritasan is to stroll around the temple town. The main pathway (Omote-sando) runs through from JR Narita station to Naritasan. There are many shops along this path.

The main street runs from the station to the the entrance gate of Naritasan. There are quite a few old stores with more than 100 years of history, many Chinese medicine stores built of Dozo(warehouse) style, and large wooden Three-story hotels. There are unexpected surprises not only on the main street but also down the narrow side streets.
Another charm of temple town are the local products like Sweet jelly of azuki beans (yokan), Japanese pickles (tsukemono), fish boiled in soy sauce (tsukudani) or local rice-wine (sake) and strolling along the main street eating hand made rice crackers ( teyaki-senbei) or eating broiled eel in a restaurant.

Being an international city Narita, there are many visitors walking along the main street and also some restaurants and noodleshops are almost used exclusively by overseas visitors.

Narita, Chiba

by Anjin-san

Narita is a city located in Chiba, Japan. It is the site of Narita International Airport, the main international airport serving the Greater Tokyo Area. As of 2003, the city has an estimated population of 98,296 and population density of 748.81 persons per km². Its total area is 131.27 km².

There are various theories regarding the origin of Narita's name, composed of the characters for "become" (nari) and "rice paddy" (ta): that the name "Narita" comes from the ringing (nari) of thunder in the area, that nari is derived from an obsolete word for "fertile," and that the nari is derived from the word for "livelihood" (nariwai).

Narita is known to have been inhabited since prehistoric times; rice farming began in the area around 100 BCE. As the city is located roughly equidistant from the Pacific Ocean and Tokyo Bay, around a number of small rivers, it was a natural political and commercial center for the region.

Urbanization of the area began during the Nara period. Narita-san Temple was founded in 940 CE.

Narita was incorporated as a town in 1889, and Narita City was founded on March 31, 1954. Growth in the area began in earnest in 1966, when Prime Minister Eisaku Sato laid out the plan for Narita International Airport. The development of the airport and accompanying access to central Tokyo led to widespread residential, commercial and industrial development in the city.

Narita was once part of Inba District until March 31, 1954. The city annexed the towns of Taiei and Shimofusa from Katori District on March 27, 2006 and the city now expanded into the Katori District areas. (In the same day in Chiba Prefecture, the cities of Katori, Sanmu, and the town of Yokoshibahikari in Sanbu District were created by the mergers)

The enlarged Narita now has an estimated population of 121,214. The total area is now 213.84km², as of May 1, 2006.

"Areas of Narita"

Central Narita
Central Narita is roughly defined as the area between Narita Station, Keisei Narita Station and the Narita-san Temple. The main road in central Narita is Omotesandô, which is lined with about 150 small shops and has been extensively renovated in recent years; it is widely regarded as one of the best "traditional" city streets in Japan.

Narita New Town
Narita New Town is a planned residential area to the west of Narita Station. It has 16,000 homes with a total population of 60,000. The area was designed in 1968 based on the new towns surrounding London, England, and now houses most of the city's population. Although most residents of the New Town initially commuted to Tokyo or Chiba City for work, many now commute to cities in northwestern Chiba, and a number of businesspeople in central Narita have also moved into the New Town.

Kozunomori
Kôzunomori is a suburban area of Narita located south of the New Town, about 4 minutes by train from Keisei Narita Station. It has a population of about 12,000. The Kôzunomori Station is flanked by a large Ito-Yokado department store, popular with foreign visitors who stay in and around Narita.

Airport and farm areas
Narita International Airport is located on the east side of Narita in an historically agricultural area called Sanrizuka. The construction and later expansion of the airport led to intense civil unrest among Sanrizuka residents. Although land expropriation and poorer farming conditions due to the airport's construction have caused Narita's farming population to drop two-thirds from pre-airport levels, the area immediately surrounding the airport remains lightly populated by farmers. Some abandoned farmland is now used for golf courses, while other plots of land have become unofficial dumping grounds for garbage.

Industrial areas
There are two main industrial zones in Narita: Nogedaira and Toyosumi. Both zones were laid out in the 1960s to take advantage of Narita Airport and the ability to quickly import and export goods by air. Most industries in Narita City predominantly employ Narita residents. An aircraft part repair plant operated by JAL (Japan Airlines) and Pratt & Whitney, called Japan Turbine Technologies, is located at Taiei-kôgyô-danchi, opposite to an Okubo store.

Information Courtesy of Wikipedia
Page and Tips Photos by Mark Rebstad
Copyright © 2008

Narita, you must visit

by yatingchen

"Old City"

Narita city has a famous temple.

The old street toward to the temple stand many traditional houses (scene like in samuari movies). They are most restaurants and omiyage (local-food) and souvenir stores.

On that day is Japan National holiday (nation build). People hung national flag. The temple held the activity: traditional music show and rice wine sharing. We were lucky to experience the event.

Narita - City near the Airport.

by A2002

Narita City is about 5 minutes by train from the Narita International Airport. When you say Narita, many people will only know "it's the airport."

This is a small city or town which not many tourists will explore around. It is not bad if you want to get a glimpse of how a temple in Japan looks like. It is very near to the airport and easy to get around. Transport in Japan is never a problem...