USA to Japan with Japanese layover

Hello,
I will be traveling to Japan in the next couple of months, and I've been checking out the various airlines to compare rates. I'll be flying from the US to Amami Oshima, and the best rates I've found so far have included a layover in Tokyo. The problem is, it's a 17 hour long layover making my total travel time almost 40 hours!
My question: how does one occupy him- or herself in an airport for 17 hours? Since I'm headed to Japan anyway, will I be allowed to leave the airport and come back (the layover is from 4PM to 8:30AM)? Or is that not allowed or even advised? All advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
- tspie

Read a book? Walk Around and have a glimp of everything? if you are lucky get a bite in a cheap off-duty shop?

This is a good question, you can do a lot of things to occupy. but for 17h?? that's a lot, this is too diffucult to anwser

Plenty of time to get out and see part of Tokyo (if you don't mind the train or bus ride into town and the hotel fare you'll have to pay). Make the most of it. Otherwise, I'm not sure if you'll be allowed to sleep on the floor at Narita.

Narita Airport has sleeping rooms that you can rent by the hour if you want to sleep. The airport also has video rooms.

If it were me, I would go into the town of Narita to wander around for a few hours and then go back to the airport and make use of a sleep room for a few more hours.

Thanks to all for the replies.

17hrs!!!
Oh well, it gives you the chance to get out, if only for a few hours. When do you need to be back at the airport? Is it that the flight is at 8.30 and you need to be there an hour or two before to check-in?
http://www.narita-airport.jp/en/guide/index.html is the airport's website. It should give you all the info on what there is to do internally. From experience of terminal 2, there's not much to keep you going more than an hour!
There is also this new website.... Chiba Prefectual Goverment that is selling the area around Narita. Worth checking out what is nearby. It may be safer and easier to go locally than trip in to Tokyo central for a few hours.
If you do go to Tokyo overnight and you have to be back at Narita well before 8.30, then check here Rail that there are trains/buses running early enough to get you there.
I hope it works out for you

my flight the next morning leaves at 8:30, so yes, I'd have to be at the airport pretty early. The trick is though - I fly from the US into Narita, and catch my connecting flight the next morning via Haneda - quite daunting for a first-time traveler! thanks again for everyone's help.

tspie said:

my flight the next morning leaves at 8:30, so yes, I'd have to be at the airport pretty early. The trick is though - I fly from the US into Narita, and catch my connecting flight the next morning via Haneda - quite daunting for a first-time traveler! thanks again for everyone's help.

Click to expand...

I think that itinerary makes your layover not as easy as it seemed at first...

First, connection between Naria and Haneda is very easy, because there are other people like you. There is the Keisei train that takes you directly to Haneda Airport (2-hr ride for 1560 yen, with possible train change somewhere such as Aoto Station) and Airport Limousine bus (75 minutes for fare of 3,000 yen, but no changes and no lugging around baggage). There is information service at Narita for foreign tourists to give you directions and how to do it.

The problem lies in the hours that you are staying in Tokyo.

Problem 1:
(1) There is no train or bus out of Narita after 24:00 and until around 7:00 the next day, making a stayover at Narita Airport impossible for you. (Of course, you can take a taxicab, if you're rich.)

Problem 2:
(2) Haneda Airport shuts down altogether from 24:00 to 5:00. I don't know if they allow people to lie down on airport benches and chairs until the next morning. The airport does not have sleeping rooms or restaurants open 24/7.

The best solution probably is to arrange for a hotel stay near Haneda Airport. You can go straight to the hotel, have a rest or look around (since Haneda is located in central Tokyo) and relax until the flight the next morning.

Personally, I'd prefer this to any other solution that may become nerve-wracking for a stranger in a strange land...

I'll second epigene-san's recommendation.
Once I went to Haneda Airport to meet a friend who was to arrive by the last flight. (Later than 23:00)
Almost all the shops were shut by that time, and there seemd to be no chance to stay at the airport as staff of the airport were shutting the whole place.

Transportation from Narita to Haneda airport:
http://www.narita-airport.jp/en/access/haneda/index.html

Why do you believe this is complicated? This itinerary makes it quite easy to spend some time in the center of Tokyo. Haneda is much closer from the city and leaving at 8:30 is a regular schedule. From anywhere in the center of Tokyo you can reach Haneda airport in 20 - 60 minutes and trains start running shortly after 5. If you want to "sleep in" you can stay somewhere close to the Tokyo Monorail, for example in Hamamatsucho. This train goes directly to the airport and it takes less than 20 minutes, costs 4 USD. But I would recommend to stay in an area which is more interesting late in the evening so you can enjoy your stay over. For example, Shinjuku and Shibuya are very popular areas and the Narita Express or a bus take you right there from Narita Airport. The time to Haneda next morning is about 45 minutes. Take the chance and enjoy your time in Tokyo. If you need more advice please post again.

BTW, in Shinjuku you can stay overnight for about 3500 yen, less than 30 USD.