Prophet of the Way wrote:

> Declan Murphy reports that multilingual signs are up now
> (http://groups.google.co.jp/groups?selm=41FE3FD2.9060105%40hotmail.com). 

"Declan Murphy" also reports that the new airport was a complete and
utter shambles for most of this morning (or least from 9.40 to when I
left at 12:30). The staff were getting lost, passengers misdirected etc.
For the first week or so, it is going to be a zoo. It took a while, but
eventually my customers were able to catch their flights home. The key
reason why it was such a shambles was because coach loads of daytripping
old farts were traipsing about collecting the free omiyage on offer.

> Arrive early if it's your first time there.  Kanayama is a smaller, friendlier
> joint station, like JR/Keisei Nippori in Tokyo.

There is no information (in Japanese or any other language) regarding
how to /where to transfer to JR lines. If you aren't familiar with
Meitetsu, best to use the airport buses, even if you are only planning
to go to Nagoya's shinkansen station. The expressway was nice and fast,
and I was cruising along in the 120-140 km/hr range, but the designers
that be have effed up the connections between the Chita and Isewan-gan,
so you have to get off the kousokudouro and then back onto it again.

> 3. By boat
<snip>
> Airport - Toba ferry
> http://www.isewanferry.co.jp/tokoname/tokoname.htm (J text)

If you are planning on taking the ferry to Toba in Mie,

http://www.yamasa.org/japan/english/destinations/mie/toba.html

*DO NOT* go to the ferry terminal. Nowhere on the way to the terminal,
or even inside it, is there any mention that you need to walk all the
way back to either the bus or train station and go to Tokoname first.
Probably a real bitch if you have luggage.

> JR Central will run special shuttle trains to the Bampaku-Yakusa Expo Station on
> the Aichi Kanjou Railroad ("Aikan", "Aichi Loop").  Get on this train at Nagoya
> if you want a seat.

Or get on at Okazaki, where you are guaranteed a seat.

-- 
"UFJ in general are a bunch of shitheads" - tourist in not-quite-Japan.