Narita Airport to Hakuba

Both Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 at Narita Airport have JR Stations in the basements.

If you are coming directly to Hakuba from the airport, then purchase a ticket all the way to Nagano at the JR ticket counter. With this ticket you need to catch 2 trains.

The first is the JR Narita Express from Narita Airport to Tokyo Station. The Second is the JR Asama Bullet Train from Tokyo Station to Nagano Station. The word for Bullet Train in Japanese is "Shinkansen" (pronounced Shin-Kan-Sen).

How to do it!

1. Purchase a ticket all the way to Nagano. All seats on the JR Narita Express are assigned, so your ticket will have a car and seat number on it.

2. Proceed to the platform. You put your tickets into the automatic ticket gates, and collect them as they pop out the top of the machine. There are always staff on hand to assist. If you have more than one ticket then put them all in.

3. Board the correct car number and find your seat. The trip to Tokyo takes about one hour.

4. The trains arrive at Tokyo station at the underground level. It is about 300-400m to transfer to the bullet train lines. Take the escalators to the main level (2-3 escalator rides), and you'll see signs like the following. The blue logo refers to the Tokaido Bullet Train, that runs to Kyoto and Osaka, while the green logo refers to the Bullet trains running to Nagano, Niigata, and other parts of Northern Japan. So follow the Green signs to the Nagano Shinkansen platforms.

5. Access to the Bullet train platforms is limited to those with tickets, so you have to put your tickets into another ticket machine to get to the platform.

6. There are many signs that let you know which platform your train is leaving from. Most are like the following image. But don't worry as they change between Japanese and English every 30 seconds.

7. The Nagano bullet train generally arrive a the Tokyo platforms about 5-10 minutes before departure, and you'll see people queuing up. Don't worry if the train shows up and you cannot get on board straight away, as they clean the train and change the seating around to face forward. To confirm your train, look for the following on the side of the train.

8. The trip from Tokyo to Nagano can take between 90 minutes and 2 hours, depending on the number of stops the train makes along the way.

9. On arrival at Nagano, you climb 1 floor to get to the tickets gates. There is a escalator towards the front of the train and an elevator at the middle point of the platform.

10. At the ticket gate, you once again put your tickets into the machine, but this time they do not come out. After you exit the ticket gate you turn left and head to the East Exit (see below).

11. Buses to Hakuba leave from bus stop #6 at the East Exit. You can either take the stairs, escalator, or elevator down to the bus stop level.

12. Buses from Nagano to Hakuba do not take reservations. it is on a first come basis, but don't worry, as they will call up another bus if the first one is full. The buses take cash only, and you cannot use 5,000 or 10,000yen notes. So make sure you have enough coins and 1,000yen notes to cover the 1,500yen per person trip.

13. Please do not get off at Hakuba station, but go one stop further to Happo Bus Terminal. lease ask the staff at the Bus Terminal to call us and we'll be there to get you within 10 minutes.