Narita, Narita AirportBeyond Seoul
Aspire Lounge, Narita T2: the most spacious room of the trip
After a few days in Tokyo the same thought always arrives at the end. Narrow alleys, narrow shops, narrow hotel rooms. All of it good, and by the last day I want one wide room to breathe in. That is the odd thing about a Tokyo trip.
On flight days the wish is always the same: get to the airport early, finish the formalities, and cool my head somewhere quiet. Then I get to the lounge and it is so crowded that it feels like a snack bar, and the empty sofas outside are the calmer option. I have been thirsty for a quiet lounge for a while.
I had recently picked up a Hyundai Amex Platinum 2, a card that does not earn its fee, because it promised entry to the Centurion Lounge in Tokyo. I looked it up with some excitement. The Centurion Lounge is at Haneda. My ticket was out of Narita. A little deflated, I searched for what Narita had and found Aspire, which opened in the old Qantas lounge space at Terminal 2 and has been there four years already. On the last day I spent four hours there, and it was the most comfortable room of the whole week.
Before you go
| Item | Notes |
|---|---|
| Entry | I used a Hyundai Card Amex Platinum through The Lounge app: register the card, tap for a pass, show it at the desk. The name on the ticket must match the app. Other cards and lounge programs differ, so check yours before you fly |
| Finding it | Terminal 2 Satellite, 2F, after the security check for international flights. Follow the Aspire signs; it is a long walk in and one floor down |
| Timing | Monday morning it was almost empty. I checked no bags and stayed nearly four hours |
| Japanese name | ASPIRE ラウンジ 成田 |
Wide
The first word in my head when I walked in was wide. About 720 square meters, and on a Monday morning nearly empty. After days of narrow Tokyo rooms, I could finally breathe. On one wall two screens ran a looping film of lavender fields, round yellow lights hung from the ceiling, and a red carpet gave the modern, minimal room its accent. It felt like a hotel lounge, not an airport one.
The seating is unusually varied. Wooden tables under porthole lights, window seats with the whole apron in view, and at the back big wingback chairs. I worked at a laptop seat for two hours, then moved to a wingback and did nothing at all. It was comfortable enough to slip my shoes off, and it did not feel like the hour before a flight.
The shared table by the window is the best seat: a long wooden table facing the runway, a power socket and USB at every place, and Aspire’s own Wi-Fi. A JAL plane sat at the gate outside, and I worked with aircraft moving past, which turned out to be good for concentration.
Deeper in, the mood changes again. One wall is a lightbox of a sunrise, so the far room glows warm, and blue lounge chairs line up along wooden tables for eating or reading. The bar is a real one: wine and spirits along the wall beside the Swissport sign, a long row of glasses, red carpet underfoot, a Japanese ink painting on the side wall. Sake and wine are both available and I tried a glass of each. The sake, honestly, was not good, but this trip had been a premium sake trip and the lounge sake was free, so no complaint.
Food
The food and the resting areas are separated; the food is down a dim corridor to the right. Not too much, not too little, well chosen, with tidy cups and an ice station beside them.
I started eating around eleven, slowly, with no wish to overdo it. The first plate was Japanese beef curry, kept in a rice cooker, deeper and richer than lounge food has any right to be, with bacon, an omelette, broccoli and rolled egg on one plate and an iced americano alongside. Then a ramen station where the noodles and vegetables sit separately and you pour the broth over them, which is what you would expect from the kingdom of ramen, and it was very good. Eating at the window with the runway in front of me was the right last picture of Tokyo.
Time went quickly. I had deliberately checked in with only a small bag so I could stay, and I stayed nearly four hours.
Four hours in one lounge without boredom. Usually an hour is enough to feel cramped, but here the room is wide and the seats are so varied that you switch modes: dining seat, laptop seat, lounge chair, bar, all inside one lounge. I will fly out of Narita on purpose next time to come back, though next time I will also get to the Centurion Lounge, and I am dropping the Amex Platinum 2 soon, which means I will be here more often.
I’d recommend it to anyone leaving Tokyo worn down by small rooms, to anyone who wants to eat, work and rest in one place before a flight, to anyone whose card or lounge program includes it, and to anyone with time before boarding. If, like me, you booked Narita without knowing the Centurion Lounge is at Haneda, the mistake may turn out to be the better last stop.
My rating: 5/5. The food was good enough that I filed this under places to eat.