How to get to Asakusa from Narita airport?

Question

My best friend and I are staying in Asakusa for 7 days at the end of August. If we buy the 10-day JR Rail Pass, would we be able to get the pass at Narita Airport and take the Narita Express into Tokyo/Asakusa using that particular rail pass?

Answer 1

Take the Keisei Skyline from Narita to Ueno.

From Ueno, take the Ginza metro line to Asakusa.

If you stay in Tokyo all the time, do not buy a Japan rail pass, its expensive for nothing.

In Japan you can get a Pasmo card form a 500Y deposit which you can recharge with money and  use for both JR train and metro system.

Answer 2

The long answer is that yes, you can take the Narita Express with a JR Pass into Tokyo station. Now, the problem is that Tokyo station is way past Asakusa, so that isn't exactly how you want to get there.

The best way to get to Asakusa is to take the Keisei limited express (not the Skyliner) from Narita Airport, get off at Aoto station, hop onto the train on the other side of the platform, and get off at Asakusa station. You can take the Skyliner all the way to Ueno, but there will be a lot of walking and luggage hauling to get to the subway station. A walk to the other side of the platform is much easier.

One thing you have to understand is that there are multiple railway companies in Japan. The JR Pass is only good for the JR company. The Keisei line and all Tokyo subways are run by different companies that aren't JR, so a JR Pass may not be useful.

Another thing is that there are multiple JR companies. The regular JR Pass is good for all JR companies' lines, but Tokyo is served by JR East. The reason I mention this is because the regular JR Pass is sold in 7-day increments. There's a 7-day pass, a 14-day pass, and a 21-day pass. JR East sells a separate JR East Pass that's only good for JR East lines. JR East Passes come in 5-day and 10-day versions.

Since you mentioned a "10-day JR Rail Pass," I was wondering if you may not be aware of the difference between the regular JR Pass and the more limited but cheaper JR East Pass. A 7-day JR Pass is 28,300 yen. A 5-day JR East Pass is 20,000 yen. It takes at least an excursion out to Osaka to break even for the cost of a JR Pass. Otherwise, you're better off buying individual trip tickets.

So the short answer is no. A JR Pass will not get you to Asakusa from the airport. And the other caveat is that both the JR Pass and the JR East Pass are only sold outside of Japan, so you can't buy it at the airport.

JR Pass:

http://www.japanrailpass.net/

JR East Pass:

http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/eastpass/

Answer 3

you have to buy the pass BEFORE you come to Japan. You can't get it in Japan.  The JR Narita Express goes to Tokyo so you need to switch to the JR Yamanote Line and go about 10 minutes in the direction of Ueno/Ikebukuro - basically north. To get to Asakusa you need to get off at Ueno and change to the Ginza subway line. It's the third and last stop and you have to pay for that ticket (160 Yen)

Answer 4

If you mean 10day JR EAST Pass, you know it costs Yen32000 and you can't use it to go West by Shinkansen to Nagoya, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima etc.

JR East is only valid to move to and fro limited area mainly northern part of Honshu island.

http://www.jreast.co.jp/e/eastpass/index...

If you want to go West, you must apply 7day JR Pass instead, which covers all over Japan and costs Yen28300.

http://www.japanrailpass.net/eng/en001.h...

Talking about going to Asakusa, you at first would take Narita express to Tokyo and have to change to  local train to Ueno, then, take tokyo Metro Ginza line to Asakusa.

If your hotel is located Asakusa, your baggage might annoy you a lot to transport by hand. There are so many downstairs, upstairs and long  pathways to connect with each other. Escalators and elevators could be possible for help.

Tokyo metro doesn't accept any JR pass so that you need to buy ticket additionally. It cost Yen160 only not much though.

Anyway take Yamanote line or Keihin-Tohoku line North bound from Tokyo then get off at Ueno. Take Tokyo metro Ginza line from Ueno, G16 to Asakusa G19. It takes just few minutes.

http://www.tokyometro.jp/global/en/servi...

Answer 5

JR does not take you to Asakusa. You have to change trains several times.

If you want to go from Narita to Asakusa, it's better to take Keisei line.

http://www.keisei.co.jp/keisei/tetudou/k...

You can get to Asakusa by changing train only once. But you cannot use JR Pass for Keisei trains.

Answer 6

JR Rail Pass will not be very helpful to reach Asakusa but you can use that to reach Tokyo. For Asakusa, it is better to take the Keisei line up to Takasago/Aoto and then change over to Asakusa line to reach Asakusa.

For more travel information, you ma visit "Life in Japan" menu of the following website;

http://jobdine.com/japan