Ireland day 1337. Tuesday 27 May 2025- To Dublin via Toronto

Today’s summary	Had a lie-in and a leisurely breakfast then checked out and left our hotel (Shinjuku Granbell) for the short walk to the station. Caught the Narita Express train to the airport then checked in for our 1705 flight to Toronto. Next 12 hours on a flight to Toronto but because of the international date line we arrive on the same day an hour before we set off. Then a 4 hour stopover before onward flight to Dublin
Today’s weather	Overcast but mostly dry in Tokyo. Light north easterly breeze. Appx 20c. Similar in Toronto

Today’s overview location (The blue mark shows the location of our route)		Close-up location (The blue line shows where we walked) (No GPX today)

Commentary

Today we set off from Tokyo on the final stage of our exploration of Canada and Japan. We are on our way back to Dublin now, though because of cheaper ticketing we are returning via Canada (Toronto) rather than the more obvious route going west over Asia. Also, because of the vagaries of the International Dateline, we actually arrive in Toronto an hour earlier than we set off, and on the same day. So it’s going to be a very long Tuesday!

We were both absolutely exhausted by about 9:30pm last night so went to bed early and slept solidly for almost ten hours. We allowed ourselves a lie-in this morning and didn’t go down to breakfast until 9am. Afterwards, we did our packing and then checked out of the hotel at 11. We had allowed ourselves plenty of time to get the 12:38 Narita Airport express train from Shinjuku station, because of the complexity of navigating the backstreets of Shinjuku, and also because of the maze-like structure of the rail station itself.

Indeed, it did take us almost 40 minutes to find our way from hotel to platform, but we still arrived with some time to do a bit of train-spotting(!) from platform six. The train journey to the airport was swift, quiet and relaxed, as was the journey through security and border control once we got to Narita Airport. The whole thing took less than five minutes and border control was completed with just a simple face scan and no human intervention at all. Why can’t all borders be like this?

Once in the airport, we had enough time to get something to eat and a cup of coffee, before boarding our 12 hour flight across the Pacific to Toronto. Once we get there, we have a four hour layover before the final flight of this trip, to Dublin. I’ll have a further update on that leg tomorrow – whenever “tomorrow” actually is!

PS we arrived in Toronto 30 minutes early and about an hour before we left Tokyo(!) Just enjoying a Tim Hortons now while waiting for our 20:40 flight to Dublin. Last leg is about to begin!

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Our room at the Shinjuku Granbell hotel. It’s not the best hotel in the world, and Shinjuku sometimes feels a bit edgy. But having said that, the room was comfortable, very quiet and had good amenities. The proximity to the station (for easy transport everywhere) and also closeness to the Thermae-yu spa were the icing on the cake. We would definitely stay there again	In Shinjuku station. It’s absolute labyrinthine and it’s easy to get lost as it is all underground so GPS doesn’t work. Also it is further complicated by the fact that it’s spread out in three dimensions over about four different levels. The curious thing is that despite it being the busiest rail station in the world, there’s no central concourse and above ground there is barely any evidence that it even exists. (The raised yellow lines you can see on the floor, by the way, are also all over the pavements in Japan. They are to make it easier for visually impaired people to get around)

We were on the 1238 Narita Express and – of course- arrived early	View from the train to Narita. Note the Skytee, which we visited yesterday. Surprisingly, even though it’s a fast train, it still takes an hour and a half

Well the good news is that our aircraft seems to have arrived from its inbound flight	A Canadian icon in Toronto Pearson airport – taken just after we landed but before the time we took off from Tokyo

The Narita Express. It looks remarkably like the Thunderbird which we took from Kyoto to Tsuruga. (And also the Fytoget Oslo Airport train). But it’s narrow gauge! Mind you, being narrow gauge means that the carriages are narrow too, which means that the seating is only 2+2, rather than 2+3, which everyone hates (especially if you are in the middle of a “3”)