My trip to Japan is at its end, and I’m at the airport waiting for my flight back. I thought I’d write a quick post about JAL’s Sakura Lounge, here at Tokyo’s Narita Intl Airport Terminal 2.

1. Getting to and entering the lounge
2. Who can enter?
3. The lounge space
4. The food
5. Lounge amenities
6. Summary

Getting to and entering the lounge

My flight departs from terminal 2, so that’s the location of the lounge I’m reviewing. Note that If your’e at Haneda airport, the Sakura lounges will look different though will likely have much of the same services. At checkin I was given a map and was pointed to where the lounge would be. And good thing that the checkin agent did this because I didn’t see any obvious signage after emerging from passport control. Following the map, however, it was easy to find by turning right and walking along the hallway until the signage for the lounge was impossible to miss on the left-hand side of the hallway.

This is also the entrance for JAL’s first class lounge, which would be to the left. the Sakura lounge is to the right. You’re met with a battery of staff who will check your ticket and advise you about your boarding gate and how long it will take to walk there.

Entering the lounge proper you could walk straight into the dining area, but I decided to take the escalator into the dedicated lounge space first.

Who can enter?

I entered because I’m on a business class lounge but who else can enter the Sakura lounge? First of all, those passengers ticketed on a JAL flight ion First, Business and also Premium Economy – yes you read that right! JAL is one of few airlines that gives lounge access on premium economy tickets. However, you need to have bought that ticket or upgraded it before checking in, or otherwise you won’t get the lounge access. Also, if your’e flying premium economy with a partner in premium economy, you also don’t get access – JAL Premium Economy only.

In terms of membership to JAL’s frequent fllyer program (JAL Mileage Bank), those that get access hare JAL Global Club, JMB Sapphire and Diamond, and JGC Premier.

Although the JAL website doesn’t seem to specifically mention it, I assume passengers ticketed on business class with OneWorld alliance members and other JAL partners also get lounge access, as well as OneWorld Elites at Sapphire and Emerald status.

The lounge space

I’ve frequently heard that the JAL lounge is not that good, so I managed my expectations. Among other things, the food was supposed to be a little basic, with limited options. The truth is that, at least at Narita Terminal 2, I found the lounge to be a very nice space with decent food. As you come down the escalator you’re greeted by a long hallway-esque space, but a map suggests this is only one part of the lounge.

The space has a few seating options, most notably the lounge chairs with a counter and plugs along the window, and various seats and sofas with tasteful lighting and decorations. While this was a nice space, I did notice that after the sun had set, the more distant parts of this hallway-esque space got a little dark, which may be a turn-off for some.

There is also a self-serve buffet, of which kind there are several throughout the lounge.

The food options here are indeed a little lackluster, with some small muffins, a mushroom stew danish and different kinds of chips and bites.

The drink selection seemed very nice however, with Kirin ‘automated draft’ beer, wine, sake, different kinds of lemonade and soda, coffees and teas, and water. No cocktails though, it seems.

The rest of the lounge consists of about four more space. In the lounge proper there is a ‘middle’ space with a reception desk of sorts and seating, including along the window.

There was also a bar that appeared to be unstaffed, and further back there was another space similar to the one you encounter when you come down the escalator.

This area further back had different kinds of seating, from more open to more private options.

There was also another self-serve bar in this space, and the food and drinks options were identical to what I showed previously:

If you go upstairs, you’ll get to the dining space. Here there are two spaces. The ascend the stairs (or elevator) into the first, which includes a cafeteria-style buffet. That is, you actually order the food and wait for it to be served to you on a tray, kind of like a cateteria. Perhaps not as nice an arrangement as at the Chase JFK Terminal 4 lounge, but it works and I had my food within minutes. I found a nice spot by the window, where there is counter space with plugs, and enjoyed the fantastic view over the apron. As I sat down, rush hour on the apron seemed to start, as several widebodies taxied in.

As you might have noticed, the dining area is significantly more busy than the rest of the lounge. This held true throughout the duration of my stay at the lounge. Who doesn’t want free food, I suppose?

The dining area has one more space, past a divider that is called ‘The Dining’. I thought this was a little confusing actually, since I just assumed that the space I was in was of that, but this suggested that wasn’t the case. Regardless, here you find a lot more seating as well as another serving station. To use this you’ll need to scan QR codes to order food by a mobile app. These QR codes are actually plastered throughout the lounge’s seating areas, but it seems you can only order food from this very specific space, and JAL does not intend for you to take any of the food to a different space.

Seating options here were broadly similar to what else was found around the lounge, and mostly consisted of communal tables with lamps and plugs, or small tables with two seats. I reckon this may not be the easiest place to have dinner with a group of people with 3+ persons.

The food

Since I hadn’t heard much that is particularly good about the food in this lounge, my expectations were a little low. Because of that, I had a pleasant surprise. When you approach the buffet, you find there is a nice selection of foods:

I proceeded to order a small JAL curry and a salad. The salad came from the fridge and was spritzed with some water to liven it up, I suppose, while a colleague of the attendant served up the curry. I then carried it back to my seat on a tray, got myself a beer and some water and enjoyed the food with a great view of the apron.

The drinks come from a bar that is similar to what you’d have found downstairs:

These dishes will likely not blow you away after spending time in Japan and having had versions of these foods of higher quality, but the food was tasty and satiating, and the beer refreshing. That’s all I really wanted from it.

When nI finished the food the dining area started getting rather crowded, and they also announced as such, asking people to head downstairs after finishing their meal. And so that is what I did, where I parked myself along the window with a view of a JAL 787.

It was only 4:30pm but it was starting to get dark already. One quirk in Japan is that they don’t seem to do daylight savings, so dawn is around 6am and by 5pm it will be dark.

Lounge amenities

There are a vaiety of additional amenities at this lounge that people will appreciate, all fo them in the Sakura lounge main floor (so not on the dining floor). Most of these are closer to the entrance: phone rooms, a children’s room, massage chairs, lockers as well as showers. Apologies for not making pictures of the chairs, as this space was packed and didn’t want to impinge on their privacy.

I briefly went into the shower space just to see how many showers there were. I counted about 6 or 7 dedicated stalls, though I didn’t go into any of them as they all seemed occupied. These showers can be arranged by talking with the friendly attendant, or you can scan a QR code to access a dedicated app, from which you can order food and also book a shower. When I tried this out, I saw there was a line of 11 people.

So, if you do plan on using this amenity, give yourself time…

Summary

Overall this is a perfectly fine lounge. It’s big and spacious with plenty of different kinds of seating options that should appeal to most people, as well as different group sizes. For the most time the lounge area was pretty quiet and was a pleasant space to sit and relax (and write this review). I generally also really liked the decoration and overall design. The wooden features and carpets give the space a warmth that was pleasant and felt relaxing, which is what I like before a flight.

I also enjoyed the food and drinks, though the dining space is perhaps a little small for the amount of people that want to use. The quality of the food is pretty good, but the style and manner of service is probably a little below the better business class lounges out there. That is to say, the quality of the service is very good – it’s Japan after all. It’s just that the process comes across as if you’re in a cafeteria rather than a business class lounge at an airline’s hub airport. But, all attendants were respectful and attentive and were more than happy to help. Staffing levels were also high throughout the lounge without feeling like it was ‘too much’.

I would certainly be happy to come back to this lounge on future flights. Especially considering that I personally don’t find Narita’s Terminal 2 particularly nice. Much better to spend time and relax in the Sakura lounge instead.