Hi Everyone!
Narita Airport is still the main arrival hub for international flights connecting to Tokyo. As you may already know, there's a great package available called the [Suica & N'EX] which is a discounted ticket for the Narita Express* and a Suica IC card which you can use to pay for your local travel on almost and kind of transport throughout Tokyo and other places in Japan. Buying this package is a great deal if you don't have a JR Pass or haven't activated it yet.
What's new however is that JR East now is offering a package much similar for travelers arriving at Haneda Airport, called the [Suica & Monorail]. This package comes with a discounted ticket for the Monorail and a 1,500 yen preloaded Suica card. The design of the Suica card is unique and only available for foreign visitors making it a great souvenir too!
Note that the Monorail is covered by the JR Pass but this package is especially useful if you activate your JR Pass at a later time or don't have one. The JR East Office at Haneda is open between 11:00 - 18:30, you can buy the Monorail + Suica package here, as well as activate your JR Pass.
What is a Suica Card / IC card anyway?
In short an IC card is a prepaid card which you can use to pay for your travel on all kinds of transports, vending machines, stores and even coin lockers. Simply swipe your card over the ticket gate when you enter a station and again when you leave the station. This way the right amount is directly taken of your cards balance and you won't have to buy tickets every time you travel. You can recharge an IC card on any station, simply put your IC card in an automatic ticket machine, press the amount you wish to put on the card and insert the correct amount of yen in the machine and you are ready to travel on.
Enjoy!
Daniel
*The Narita Express is the way to travel between Narita Airport and major stations in Tokyo, such as Tokyo station, Shinjuku, Ikebukuro and Yokohama.
