Update

I'm headed back to Japan for the summer come Tuesday. From then I'll be able to add much more to this.

Getting from Narita Airport to Tokyo Station

So you've made it to Japan. Your plane has just landed at Narita International and you've made it through customs... But now what? You're in the middle of Chiba prefecture surrounded by farms.

By now you're totally starved for the Neon and Steel jungle that is Tokyo, and you want to get there ASAP. If only you knew how.　Luckily you've got a couple options.

Most of you will want to go by train, and here are a couple ways to do that. First follow the signs for rail transportation (Either JR or Keisei lines).

Option 1 for ~1100 yen:
Take the Keisei line from Terminal two towards Haneda Airport. (720 yen)
Get off at Keisei Funabashi and transfer to the JR Soubu Line (380 yen) and that will take you straight to Tokyo station.

Option 2 for ~1400 yen:
Head to the JR lines and take the Narita line towards Chiba/Tokyo. Transfer to the Yokosuka/Soubu Line headed towards Yokosuka/Tokyo. This will then take you straight to Toyko Station.

Option 3 for ~3000 yen

If speed and ease of use are more important than $20, you can take the Narita express, which is a speedy spaceship-looking train that runs from Narita to Omiya or Yokohama. A ticket from Terminal 2 to Tokyo runs about 3000 yen with the trip taking around 50 or so minutes. Just stop by one the Narita Express counters at the airport and pick up your ticket.

And like that you're in downtown Tokyo!

Electronic Dictionary

I recently picked up a Canon Wordtank G55 Electronic dictionary to assist me in my Japanese studies. So far, I have been relatively pleased with it.

Its dictionary are sufficiently large for the most part, but obviously since its a dictionary aimed at Japanese speakers, it's lacking in cogent English explanations for a lot of things--especially grammar points. But comparing to what I have before that (nothing), or the last electronic dictionary I had before I lost it, it's definitely a step up.

I managed to snag it off of ebay for about $150, which is about $70 cheaper than everywhere else its sold online. I definitely feel a lot better about spending $150 on it, than I would about $230, but it's a quite decent dictionary, so if you don't have one, it might be worth the investment.