About Suica.

[Sangetsu]

The Suica card is the most efficient way to pay for travel in Japan now. It works on JR trains, city buses, subways, and now many private train lines are beginning to accept it.

On my last trip to Odaiba there was a 15 minute line in front of the ticket machines for the Yurikamome line. Having the Suica card meant I could just pass through the gate without having to go to the trouble of buying a ticket.

You can recharge the Suica card at many ticket or "fare adjustment" machines located at the various train stations.

I don't recommend taking the Narita Express train to Tokyo. It's expensive, and it can be hard to get seats on depending on which time you arrive. Carrying luggage on the train is a nuisance too. You should take the airport limousine buses which leave every 5 minutes or so from the terminal.

The good thing about taking the bus is that it doesn't take any longer than the train, it is generally less crowded, it's less expensive, and it has room for large or heavy bags. What's more, the bus leaves from the sidewalk just outside the terminal where you exit customs, which is much closer than the train platform for the Narita Express. You don't have to go down the stairs, or twist your luggage around to get it through the luggage barriers like you do when you want to use the train.

You can buy your tickets inside the terminal after you leave customs. You can't miss the big orange "limousine bus" sign, nor can you miss the large airport limousine buses. They'll take you to Tokyo Station or Roppongi, or you can take special buses which go directly to many of the larger hotels, or even Disney.

[uktokyoite]

Sangetsu is absolutely right about the airport limousine bus... and I don't want to complicate this but there are actually 2 cards that you can now buy in Tokyo. One is called Suica as we've been talking about - it is run by JR train company. The other one is called Pasmo run by the Metro subway company.

If you take the airport limousine bus from the Narita then in exactly the same way as JR has a deal on Suica that gets you a discount on the Narita Express, Pasmo has a deal that will get you a discount on the airport limousine bus. In every other way the cards are identical and can be used in exactly the same way.

I'm a Pasmo user because my home train line station is on a subway line. The deposit is the same and you can get it back in the same way when you leave Japan.

Hope it helps