There are three Japan Airlines business class lounges – JAL Sakura Lounges – at Haneda airport. Two of them are in Terminal 1, the terminal used for JAL’s domestic flights, and one can be found in the international terminal.
While I reviewed one of the domestic lounges as well as the international lounge at Narita before, departing on a Qantas flight from Haneda back in June gave me the opportunity to check out the JAL Sakura Lounge in Haneda’s international terminal for the first time.
The lounge can be accessed by passengers flying in JAL’s and other oneworld members’ business (and first) class and oneworld Emerald and Sapphire status holders. Besides that, it can also be accessed by premium economy class passengers (except for those that upgraded from economy at the airport) and to full fare economy class passengers (except for those traveling to Guam and Korea).
Its entrance is shared with the first class lounge’s, and can be found on the fourth floor of the terminal accessible by a dedicated set of escalators just after immigration.
Lounge Overview
Right after entering the lounge, there was a map of the lounge, as well as a staircase leading to the second floor of the lounge (fifth of the terminal). While the lower level’s featured the dining area, the upper level was designed for relaxing and work.
Starting with the lower level, there was a hallway leading to the dining area which included a flight information display screen, a cloak with lockers, as well as a pair of booths – one for phone calls and the other one with a copy/fax machine.
Across from those booths, there was a small seating area with a television and several dining tables.
Going further down, there was the dining area equipped with dining tables with chairs and benches along the walls, as well as a couple of counter-height communal tables in the middle.
And, of course, there was also the buffet consisting of a counter along one of the lounge’s walls with drinks and snacks, and another large standalone counter right next to it with all the food. More about the actual contents in the next section of this review.
Going to the upper floor of the lounge, near the staircase, there was another cloak and a large table with some reading materials.
The part of the upper level around the staircase, as well as the area to the left of it was suitable for getting some work done. There was another couple of phone booths (they are common in Japanese lounges and can be very useful), and there was a communal work desk.
There were also interestingly looking round seats with privacy partitions, as well as cubicles. And, there was a long counter along the windows. Each of the seats in this section was equipped with a power outlet.
As for the section to the right of staircase, it was designed more with relaxing and lounging rather than work in mind.
Besides a couple of massage chairs, there were dozens of lounging chairs, mostly arranged in pairs around coffee tables. There was also a couple of counters with bar chairs, as well as a counter along the windows with some more sofa chairs.
Finally, there were some fairly comfortably looking sofas with raised backs and sides for maximum privacy.
The lounging section also featured a counter with drinks and snacks.
Food and Drinks Selection
All of the food except for light snacks was located in the dining area of the lower level. Drinks and snacks could be found both in the dining area on the lower level as well as on a counter on the upper level.
Starting with drinks, there was a soft drink dispenser, a coffee machine and a selection of teas, as well as pitchers with juices and other cold drinks on each of the two floors. There were also automated beer dispensers with two brands (Asahi and Kirin) of beer. And, there was a selection of about ten kinds of liquor, as well as of sake and wine.
As for light snacks, there were rice crackers, as well as chocolate chip and butter cookies.
Going to the more filling items that could only be found in the dining area, there was a salad bar with a selection of vegetables as well as fruit salad. And, there was a selection of pastries by Maison Kayser, a well-known Tokyo bakery.
Then, there were two different kinds of soup – a cold corn soup and a Japanese miso soup.
Finally, there were several mains including chicken meatballs with glass noodles, shrimp dumplings and pasta alla genovese, as well as shrimp sushi and udon noodles.
JAL Sakura Lounge Tokyo Haneda International Terminal Summary
Overall, I enjoyed my short stay in the lounge, and if I have some work to do, I will try to get to the lounge a bit earlier as it offers plenty of comfortable “office space.” As for the food, while it didn’t offer the best food spread I’ve seen at a business class lounge, it was certainly more than sufficient.
That said, I hope to have a chance to compare it with the Cathay Pacific lounge at Haneda soon. Unfortunately, that one has limited opening hours making it a bit more difficult to visit.
Click here to read more JAL Japan Airlines flight and lounge reviews
Thank you for the great photos. Disappointing to see only prawn nigiri on offer in the lounge for Japan!