Arriving HND at 2230; sleep nearby or head into town?

I've got a trip in 2 weeks where I'm scheduled to arrive at HND at 2230 on a Friday night. Should I bother heading into town that night or just sleep by the airport and save my strength for a bender on Saturday?

Much obliged for the thoughts.

I'd stay nearby. There are plenty of hotels not too far away (including The Strings -Intercontinental- that I really want to try), but on the other hand if you want to head into town instead you'll be able to get a train fairly easily.

I think Tokyo from roughly the Yamanote line inwards is far more interesting than the sterile area around HND. Contrary to the above poster, I'd do my best to immerse myself in the city as soon as I could.

The area around Kamata is quite interesting and has a much more "old-school urban Japan" vibe than most parts of Tokyo, so it could be an interesting choice for a first night. I would probably still take the 20-minute train ride to get to Shinagawa or Hamamatsucho.

I'll be arriving at HND at that time too. We decided to take the train to Shinagawa and stay there for the night.

I think the first consideration is whether the public transportation that you would take from the airport continues to run frequently very late at night and whether the nearby hotels have frequent shuttles at that hour. The best situation is taking the Friendly airport limobus directly to your hotel without a long wait, but these have infrequent schedules that generally end pretty early. Taxi fares can be extremely expensive in Tokyo. If you use public transportation, can you easily find and walk to the hotel very late at night or get a taxi there from the nearest train/subway station? I'd also consider prices of candidate hotels; it seems silly to pay a lot for a top hotel when you arrive very late and leave the next morning. OTOH, it can be much more convenient to immediately settle into the hotel where you will stay during your visit, assuming not doing a MR.

If you anticipate wanting food after arrival, you should also check on availability (hours for hotel restaurant (ick), room service (ick), very nearby restaurants where English is spoken, etc.); staying near the airport might mean that hotel food is your only option after checking in.

I was somewhat concerned about the chances of the subway service closing down and leaving me with a high cost transfer option. I took the risk and booked in the Nihonbashi area. Flight was a few minutes early and I was at my hotel room about 70 minutes after wheels down. Not too shabby.