5 Reasons Why Haneda Airport In Tokyo Is A Fascinating Destination In Itself
If you've ever passed through Tokyo's Haneda Airport en route to Shibuya or Mount Fuji, you might've missed a surprise: Haneda is more than a transit hub — it's a destination. Clean, efficient and full of unexpected charm, it combines modern design with touches of old Tokyo. From Edo-style shopping streets and rooftop observation decks to onsen baths and standout restaurants, there's plenty to experience without even leaving the terminal. Whether you've got a long layover or just a bit of extra time, Tokyo's Haneda Airport delivers far more than you'd expect from an airport. It might just be Japan's best-kept secret.
Here's Why Tokyo's Haneda Airport Must Be On Your Bucket List:
1. It Has An Edo-Style Town Inside The Terminal
Step off the plane and straight into old Tokyo. No time machine required! Haneda's Terminal 3 (international terminal) is home to Edo Ko-ji, a recreation of a traditional Edo-era street that feels more like a film set than an airport concourse. Lined with wooden facades, lantern-lit storefronts, and tatami details, it's designed to mimic a 17th-century Tokyo street. Here, you'll find authentic Japanese eateries serving everything from handmade soba to freshly grilled yakitori, plus souvenir shops selling beautifully packaged local sweets, washi paper, and artisanal ceramics. It's more than just airport decor — it's a clever way to give international travellers a taste of traditional Japan without ever leaving the terminal.
2. It's Home To One Of The Best Airport Hotels In The World
Forget those bland, boxy airport hotels that make you feel like you're in travel limbo. The Haneda Excel Hotel Tokyu and Villa Fontaine Grand Haneda Airport offer actual comfort — and yes, luxury. The latter, which opened as part of the Haneda Airport Garden complex in 2023, brings a level of hospitality you'd usually only find in a top Tokyo district. There's a massive spa, luxurious rooms with bay views, and direct access to the airport terminal. Whether you're arriving late, flying out early, or simply want to crash somewhere quiet after a red-eye, this hotel makes a strong case for staying airside.
3. There's A Legit Onsen Overlooking The Runway
Yes, you read that right — a hot spring bath in an airport! As part of the new Haneda Airport Garden development, the Izumi Tenku no Yu Onsen is perhaps the most genius airport amenity on Earth. Perched above Terminal 3, it offers indoor and outdoor baths filled with mineral-rich water, sauna rooms, relaxation lounges, and jaw-dropping views of planes taking off against the Tokyo skyline. It's open to the public, too, so even if you're not a hotel guest at Villa Fontaine Grand, you can soak away your jet lag or pre-flight nerves in style. Showers are spotless, the vibe is calm, and the experience feels 100% more restorative than pacing around a boarding gate.
4. The Observation Decks Are Next-Level
Plenty of airports have observation decks, but Haneda takes it to another level — literally and figuratively. Each terminal has its own deck (Terminals 1, 2, and 3), and they're open-air with panoramic views of the runways and Tokyo Bay. The decks are a favourite with aviation nerds, couples on casual dates, and anyone looking to snap a killer shot of Mount Fuji behind a taxiing Boeing 777. At night, they're quietly romantic, with soft lighting, a breeze off the bay, and planes twinkling on approach. Terminal 2's deck even comes with telescopes and a cafe — ideal for a coffee-fuelled plane-spotting session between connections.
5. Shopping Here Is Better Than A High Street Mall
International airports are usually great for shopping, but Haneda might just outdo them all. We're not just talking about duty-free perfume or boxes of Pocky. There's a serious retail line-up here, from Japanese skincare brands like Shiseido and FANCL to designer boutiques and quirky Tokyo gifts you won't find elsewhere. Don't miss the Tokyo Pop Town area in Terminal 2 — it's heaven for fans of Studio Ghibli, Hello Kitty, and all things kawaii. You'll also find Japanese bakeries, matcha cafes, and regional snack shops so inviting they'll have you weighing up a checked bag upgrade.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hindustan Times
44 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Japan's Princess Kako receives medal in Brazil as she starts 11-day trip
SAO PAULO — Japan's Princess Kako of Akishino, a niece of Emperor Naruhito, received the highest order of Brazil's powerhouse state of Sao Paulo on Friday as she kicks off an 11-day trip to the South American nation. Her trip also marks the 130th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. The younger daughter of Crown Prince Fumihito and Crown Princess Kiko arrived on Thursday in Sao Paulo. She held appointments with members of the Japanese community on Friday and finished her schedule at a dinner with Governor Tarcisio de Freitas at the state government palace. She was awarded the Order of the Ipiranga at a closed ceremony. Princess Kako will visit another seven cities, including Rio de Janeiro and capital Brasilia, where she is expected to meet President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Speaking to de Freitas, she made reference to the first Japanese immigrants arriving in the city of Santos in 1908 after a gruesome trip through the seas. On the first day of her trip, she visited the memorial to pioneer Japanese immigrants at Sao Paulo's Ibirapuera Park. 'I felt that the immigrants made an enormous effort to adapt to Brazil, and still today are very active in different areas. The fact that Brazil sheltered the Japanese community made the connections between the two countries to become deeper,' the princess said. Today, Brazil has the largest population of people of Japanese descent in the world, estimated at about 2.7 million. About half of those live in Sao Paulo state, official figures show. Emperor Naruhito has no male children, which makes his brother Akishino, Princess Kako's father, the first successor in line. Japan's tradition does not allow women to take the throne. Princess Mako, who is Princess Kako's older sister, was the last member of Japan's imperial family to visit Brazil. She traveled to 13 cities of the South American nation in 2018.
The Hindu
9 hours ago
- The Hindu
Pampering your palate: spicing up with Andhra cuisine in Hyderabad
Byline: B. Sai Nikita The flavourful spirit of Andhra cuisine is simmering on low flame in a city long dominated by the regal layers of Hyderabadi dum biryani. From Guntur-style masala blends to the coastal delicacies of Andhra Pradesh, a wave of Andhra restaurants are capturing the palates of Hyderabadis. Manager of the KPHB branch of Military Rajanna Hotel Teja has seen this shift up close. Starting with one outlet two years ago, the hotel now has four branches across the city. 'People come here for food that reminds them of Nellore, Guntur, and Vijayawada tastes,' he says. The hotel's menu features regional favourites like Hoskote donne biryani made with chitti muthyalu rice and Guntur biryani, a masala-rich contrast to the layered Hyderabadi version. 'Andhra food never changes. The taste is in our blood,' he explains. This sentiment is echoed across the city. Sundeep Gunturu, a former software engineer and now an eatery owner, assures that these eateries are not just playing the nostalgia card. He founded Naidu Gari Kunda Biryani during the pandemic, his take on Andhra-style kacchi dum biryani with ghee-laced chicken served in a clay pot has become a hit. 'For ten years it was butter chicken and naan everywhere. Now people are ready to explore their roots,' he notes. His Gachibowli outlet is transforming into a full Andhra coastal kitchen with experimental dishes like jackfruit biryani, tiger prawn specials and more. In Moosapet, Sattibabu Biryani by Raviteja, started by a food blogger turned restaurateur, emerged from eight months of street-level trials. 'We shared over 4,000 sample plates to truck drivers, guards, and delivery workers to perfect the flavour,' he says. 'I personally drove 800 km to different places to understand biryani better. Our biryani won't leave your hands oily or your stomach upset.' It is word-of-mouth, more than influencer charm, that drove his restaurant to its current viral status. This appeal isn't just limited to biryani. General manager of Krishna Godavari Flavours Dhananjay Rao curates dishes from across the Krishna and Godavari belt, where a strong example of coastal influence is seen. 'Our tawa vanjaram and Madeenaguda mamsam pulao are unique,' he says. 'People come asking for specific dishes. We try to match that memory.' Then there's Bhimavaram Bhojanalu, where software engineer Balamurali Krishna turned a humble street food stall into a buzzing hotspot for Andhra meals. 'I serve food close to mom's heart,' he says. With 25-item combos and four kinds of rice, the restaurant attracts both bachelors and families. His USP is quality over gimmicks. 'People can eat biryani once. But they come to my place twice a day.' Despite some scepticism surrounding food blogging and its fleeting trends, everyone acknowledges that social media plays a role when it comes to visibility. 'It feels better to hear 'my friend told me' than 'I saw it on Instagram',' says Dhananjay. 4 a.m. biryani runs Some trends do end up finding a lasting place in the city's foodscape, like Hyderabad's now iconic 4 a.m. biryani. Serving as a haven for hunger, biryani is becoming an early morning tradition for bachelors, techies, friend groups, and food lovers. With steaming plates from spots like Shanta's 4 AM Biryani and Srikant's Hoskote Donne Biryani, people line up before dawn. 'It's a fun experience for the taste buds; these kinds of places really enrich your experience of city living,' shares Rahul, a frequent early-morning biryani indulger. While trends may come and go, the roots of Andhra cuisine in its bold spices and the comforting essence of one's culture is here to stay. Whether it's a homely kodi kura, tangy gongura pachadi, or an early morning plate of biryani, the region's food continues to carve its own niche into Hyderabad's food scene, rekindling a sense of familiarity, nostalgia, and flavours.
India Today
15 hours ago
- India Today
When fighter planes took off from Red Road, in heart of Calcutta, 80 years ago
It was the early 1940s. After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbour, the Americans joined World War II. Japan advanced westward across Asia, running over the Malay peninsula and territories in Mainland Asia. By 1942, the War had reached the Indian subcontinent. The Raj's erstwhile capital and commercial hub, Calcutta, was destined to see some action. It was then that the Royal Air Force (RAF) began using the city's iconic Red Road as an emergency airstrip. The 60-foot-wide boulevard in the city's heart turned into a wartime runway, as the Japanese bombed the city's docks, nearly 80 years historic Red Road, now known as Indira Gandhi Sarani, recently made headlines over namaaz prayers on Eid Red Road was thrust back into the spotlight when the Indian Army initially denied permission for the Calcutta Khilafat Committee to hold Eid al-Adha prayers on the road, citing "military use". However, a couple of days later, the Army gave the go-ahead for the Eid Namaaz at Red Road, which has been held there since 1919. The exceptions were World War II and the Covid years. However, 80 years ago, Red Road witnessed the most fascinating chapter of its history, as Japanese forces closed in and the morale of the British and the residents of Calcutta the use of highways or roads as airstrips has gained attention in recent years in India, such as the Indian Air Force's exercises on the Lucknow-Agra Expressway, the Red Road's wartime role predates these by WAS CRITICAL MILITARY BASE FOR ALLIED FORCES IN WORLD WAR IIadvertisementDuring World War II, Calcutta was a strategic hub for the Allied forces in the China-Burma-India (CBI) theatre. With Japanese forces advancing through Burma and the Indian Ocean in the south, India's eastern frontier was under the former capital, became a critical base for military and commercial operations, and a logistical nerve centre, to keep the Allied war machine wasn't just a lack of airfields that brought the RAF to Red Road. Converting the boulevard into a runway and landing military planes there also served as a public morale-booster. Its wide, straight stretch in central Calcutta made it ideal for landing planes and visual display, according to aviation, maritime and military historian, KS Nair."The very group of six Japanese aircraft carriers which attacked Pearl Harbour in 1941 moved westwards a year later, with one of these carriers venturing into the Bay of Bengal, and from it, dive bombers, much like Germany's feared Stukas, were launched to bomb Calcutta," Nair tells India Today Digital."A handful of Japanese bombers at night triggered utter panic in Calcutta [in December 1942]. The docks were bombed in the city of over a million people. Many terrified labourers, including workers at the dock, deserted the city overnight," adds just Calcutta, Madras, Vizag, Colombo and Trincomalee were bombed by the Japanese in the Indian Ocean Region. WHY KOLKATA'S RED ROAD WAS IDEAL FOR USE BY FIGHTER PLANESThough Calcutta had only a handful of British officers on the ground, it was a key Allied base in the region. The Red Road's location and open layout, stretching over a kilometre, made it ideal for use of small fighter aircraft."To project calm and convey that the city could be defended, the British turned Red Road into an airstrip, both a symbolic and practical move in their war effort," says it served to lift spirits, the Red Road airstrip was practically used until about adaptation, however, was not unique to the world, especially during World War II and the Cold War, highways were repurposed as emergency airstrips; Germany's Autobahns, for instance, were designed to double up for Luftwaffe operations. But Red Road's central location, flanked by the Maidan and the Victoria Memorial, made it stand historian Nair says it was a major event, and journalists were welcomed to cover it, while crowds of people also came out to watch the city at RED ROAD READIED FOR RAF'S SPITFIRES, HURRICANESJayantilal Mehta, a businessman from Calcutta, in his interaction with The Telegraph in 2020, fondly recalled sneaking off to the Maidan to catch glimpses of those rare planes, an unprecedented spectacle for the city's people. The Calcutta businessman in his 1980s, added that every time he crosses the road, he eagerly shares the story with his aircraft such as the Supermarine Spitfire and Hawker Hurricane, key to British air operations in the War, used the strip for quick deployments and emergency transformation of Red Road into an airstrip was also a logistical boulevard, originally designed for ceremonial parades under British rule, was cleared of traffic and reinforced to handle the weight of ground crews and air traffic control units were stationed nearby. The RAF's operations from Red Road were critical to maintaining air superiority in the region. The airstrip also facilitated the movement of supplies and personnel to forward bases in Assam and Red Road was far from an ideal runway. Its cambered surface and corner railings made plane operations tricky."For one thing, the smoke and haze that habitually hung over the city often made it difficult to locate. Not only was it narrower than a regular runway, it was also lined on both sides with marble balustrades and, like any well-engineered road, it crowned in the middle," Toronto-based scholar and author Robert H Farquharson noted in the book, For Your Tomorrow: Canadians and the Burma Campaign, to these constraints, only light fighters like the Hurricane and Spitfire were used on Red Road, as heavier aircraft like the De Havilland Mosquito and Bristol Beaufighter were unsuitable for the tricky conditions."The heavier aircraft risked skidding off the uneven surface, and their larger wingspans could have struck trees or lampposts lining the Red Road," says RED ROAD AIRSTRIP RETURNED AS STREETBut whatever the limitations, the conversion of Red Road into an airstrip proved to be "an effective morale-boosting move," Nair says."Calcutta Airstrip Again Is Street," the Associated Press headlined, as Red Road, once echoing with the roar of RAF fighters skimming past rooftops during the war, was returned to civilian use after the Japanese threat was it called the Red Road? According to historian Soumitra Sreemani, who told The Telegraph, the name came from the red dust that would rise whenever vehicles sped along its on Saturday, thousands, if not lakhs, will gather on this very road to offer Eid prayers, as has been the tradition for years. Over time, Red Road has worn many hats: from hosting parades to prayers to celebrations. But perhaps the most fascinating chapter in its long history, its brief makeover as an airstrip during World War II, is sadly tucked away like a Watch
