I booked the hotel and flight package from Rakuten Travel and it was surprisingly cheap. The 7 nights, 8 days package including the airfare cost 140,000 yen (US$1400) for 2 people. That is like 70,000 yen (US$700) per person for 7 nights in a hotel and the airfare!
The airline in the package was All Nippon Airways and the flight was from Tokyo Haneda airport to Taipei Songshan instead of the much farther Tokyo Narita airport. Because international flights from Tokyo Haneda airport are usually targeted to business travellers, the flight tickets are usually much more expensive, thereby making this hotel and flight package even more of a deal!
Historically, Tokyo Haneda airport was designated for domestic flights while Tokyo Narita airport was designated for international flights. At the time, they changed the laws to allow for short distance international flights to Asia at Tokyo Haneda airport so an international terminal was newly built.
The brand new international terminal at Tokyo Haneda airport.
Unlike Tokyo Narita airport which is more than 1 hour away from the city, Tokyo Haneda airport is only around 30 minutes away from the city and has a monorail that connects the city to the airport.
The Tokyo Monorail. The ride was actually quite bumpy.
Unlike other airports, the monorail station is literally right in front of the international terminal. In less than 5 minutes of walking, you enter the terminal building.
One of the features of the new international terminal, is that they recreated a typical shopping street called the "EDO Marketplace" based on the Edo-era (old Tokyo) and recruited a lot of famous restaurants and shops to open a branch at the airport.
Old and new, the simplicity of Japanese architecture.
Further upstairs was another shopping area called "Tokyo Pop Town". The shops here all sold pop-culture related goods.
What would be Japanese pop-culture without Hello Kitty?
Some merchandise sold in the Tokyo Pop Town.
Goods from Studio Ghibli.
And Pringles socks!
Next was the "Cool Zone" which featured shops that sold electronics, stationary and other fashionable goods.
At this point I was hungry and I noticed an interesting fast food restaurant called "R Burger" (now shuttered) which made "burgers" using the Chinese-style steamed buns as the buns for the burger. Also the "fries" where actually fried tofu. The taste was only so-so I thought.
Like other Japanese airports, the international terminal also has an extensive observation deck for viewing airplanes.
The control tower and the domestic terminals in the background.
A green roof.
View of the terminal from the upper floor.
Most of the departures during the daytime were to Asian destinations while most of the departures during the late night were bound for farther overseas destinations.
Preparing to pass the security check.
At a gift shop inside the secure area. Tokyo Sky Tree souvenirs.
Compared to other airports, the international terminal is actually quite small.
Waiting to board our flight bound for Taipei Songshan airport.
The boarding pass. This was my first time taking All Nippon Airways!
Taxiing to the runway.
While we were preparing to depart, another plane arrived.
Tokyo Haneda airport from the air. For the bottom runway, part of it is actually a bridge-like structure suspended above the water!
Flying past Yokohama and the Yokohama Bay Bridge.
The airline meal. I had a "Western-style" meal while my mom had a "Japanese-style" meal. The meal was actually quite good!
Finally, arrival at Taipei Songshan airport at 3:45 pm after departing Tokyo at 1:20 pm.
The interesting thing about the Rakuten Travel hotel and flight package is that it included someone to pick us up from the airport and to bring us to our hotel. Sure enough as soon as we exited the baggage claim area, there was someone holding up my name waiting to greet me! So this is the omotenashi service that Japan is famous for?! (even though I booked it from an online travel website like Rakuten Travel)
After checking into our hotel, it was already dark so we headed to the Ximending area of Taipei. It was supposed to be one of the "hip areas" of Taipei where youth gather (according to guidebooks).
In Taiwan, the land of night markets, even in the hip areas there are street food vendors!
Just like Japan, in Taiwan the convenience store is ubiquitous, except in Taiwan, 7-Eleven seems to dominate.
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