I've done bunking in the lobby, and it's not so bad.

A few years ago (during the Senate Watergate hearings, actually), I had the joy of traveling semi-aimlessly through Europe and North Africa. We got to Algiers late one afternoon, and it turned out that all of the (relatively few) hotel rooms in the city were booked. Turned out there was a law that a hotel had to let you squat in the lobby if all their rooms were taken, so we did. One of the many benefits of a socialist government, apparently.

I'm confident, though, that your time at the Blue Wave will be less bohemian.

My booking at Honke Bankyu all set now. Several rounds of email with their very helpful reservationist who is going to arrange for a taxi to get me to Yunishigawa-onsen in advance of the first bus so that I can catch an earlier train. Taxi will run me a cool 5,000 yen, but I was prepared to pay that much more for the ryokan in any case, so no worries. I'll get to NRT three hours before departure. No lounge access for me this time around, but I think I'll survive. I hear that NRT's got free wifi at the Terminal 1 gates area now, so that's nice.

Hm, thinking about my return journey home now and have a little issue that one of you may be be able to help me resolve.

I almost never eat the food served by airlines. Premium class transoceanic, maybe, particularly if the catering was done in Japan, but that's about as far as I'll go. The food literally makes me ill. So I pack my own. For my return trip from Japan what would be really ideal would be a bento, but the last time I did this trip I was unable to find a decent bento (or really any bento at all) at Narita. Fortunately I was flying business class so it wasn't such a big deal, but this time I'm in coach, so I'm thinking ahead.

Ideally I'd buy one before starting my journey to Narita, or en route, but I'm starting pretty early from Yunishiga-onsen (which is not going to be a hotbed of activity, I feel) and my connections are pretty tight, so unless there's a kiosk literally at my elbow on the platform that's not going to be an option either. I've seen bento on the food and beverage carts in the trains, but haven't been too impressed.

So, have any of you purchased bento at Narita? And if so, where? There are restaurants and food shops (for gifts, mostly), but I couldn't find a decent place for bento, and I did ask.

Or maybe I could ask Honke Bankyu if they could prepare a bento. Hmm, raw venison on the plane....

Whoops, never mind: http://www.narita-airport.jp/en/shop...hop/result.php

Last time I was looking near the gates. Looks like I can just take care of it before going through security (assuming that the notation "before passport control" refers to departures...hmm, maybe I should look at the map).

I was thinking back on my last trip out of NRT and how it could be that I managed to miss finding a place to buy a bento between the train and the gate, and then it came to me: I was never on the train. My last flight out of NRT was a connecting flight from Bangkok, so I was never land-side at NRT. I had packed snacks and fruit from Bangkok, though, so it wasn't complete bust.

Yes Therese there are lots of stores for you to spend that unused yen on after you drop your bags off in the security check and then again after you clear outgoing immigrations. I usually load up on boxes of Japanese treats(ie manju, chocolates, cookies, arare, etc as they make nice and beautifully wrapped gifts when I get home. There is a sushi bar recommended at NRT by Kuranosuke but I think its on the arrival side of the complex.

Aloha!