Hanaeda

Hanaeda Airport

Tokyo has two airports. The bigger and newer, Narita, is located quite a ways out of town. The smaller and older, Hanaeda, is more or less in the city. I've always flown in and out of NRT, but for some reason, this trip had me visiting HAN!

It's a cool airport! It doesn't feel small at all, and there's a ton of stuff to do while waiting for a flight.

For example, on one floor, there was a tiny shrine with a vending machine where you could buy a prayer card that looked like an airline ticket. I guess these cards must be for safe travels.

a wall of prayers at the airport

When I'm at Narita, I like sitting on the viewing deck with a snack, so when I arrived very early at Hanaeda Airport, I decided to do the same! It was a chilly day, and very windy, but the views were nice and the cool air felt great.

Hanaeda Viewing Deck

Hanaeda has a bunch of cool shops that look like a small Japanese town. There are restaurants, snack shops, and all sorts of souvenir shops for last-minute shopping.

shops in Hanaeda Airport

When I visited, there was a special flower display at the airport. Several areas in the airport had these big, beautiful "photo spots" set up, which highlighted the region's local summertime flowers.

flower display

It's not a bad airport to spend some time in! But the best part of being at Hanaeda, though, was that it meant that I was on my way home to visit my family!

an airport photo spot