Our first order of the day was to find Pocari Sweat at a convenience store.

One of the shrines along the Omotesando decked out for the upcoming festival.

Shrine along the Omotesando. It looks as if preparations are already underway for the festival.

Three-Storey Pagoda, Naritasan Shinshoji.

Lanterns set up in preparation for the Narita Gion, Naritasan Shinshoji.

The Great Pagoda of Peace, Naritasan Shinshoji.

A view of Naritasan Park from the Great Pagoda of Peace.

The omotesando leading to Naritasan Shinshoji.

The bizarre "Code of Conduct" at the closed Belly Button restaurant.

Transit at Narita

June 22 in Japan ⋅ 🌬 29 °C

We went into Narita Town during our five hour layover. From the airport, we took the Keisei Rapid Line for one stop and from there we walked down the Omotesando (shopping street) towards the Naritasan Shinshoji Temple.

Because we arrived past 5pm, most of the shops along the Omotesando were already closed. I was hoping at least one of the sweet potato stands would be open but, alas, that was not to be. We did enjoy a soft serve ice cream, though.

At Naritasan Shinshoji, we did a perfunctory exploration of the main temple complex, but we didn’t explore the adjacent park as daylight was fading. We’ll be back in two weeks to observe the Narita Gion Festival, and we will have more daylight hours to explore then. At the temple, we saw signs that preparations were already underway for the big festival.

On a prior layover, I spied a vegan restaurant called Belly Button. My internet research indicated the restaurant would be open, so we planned to stop there for dinner. Sadly, that was not the case when we got there. At the restaurant entrance was a bizarre code of conduct which we could not figure out.

After our failed dinner attempt, we decided to head back to the airport to eat our dinner at the lounge.Read more