OK, I guess a pretty simple question...

I am flying HNL-NRT-SIN with a 4.5 hour layover at NRT. As I have never been in transit through a foreign country (they have always been my final destination) is it possible for me to go through customs and immigration to get a stamp in my passport, only to turn around and go back in?

No reason why not, but there may be some tax involved. It's now collected as part of your ticket. If you have a BP, you should be able to go in and out.

It is my understanding that there is no out of pocket departure fee for NRT as it is included in your ticket.

at KIX you must pay a departure fee of approx $26 US

I did the exact same thing back in June when flying ICN-NRT-LAX. No questions at passport control, got my stamp, took a little walk outside the terminal and entered the departure area again. No taxes or hassles.

Be careful, I did this my first time ever in TPE (Taipei.) I had a 3 hour layover and my boarding pass for my next flight was stamped "Transit Passenger."

I decided that I needed a Taiwanese stamp in my passport and went through immigration without a hitch. I walked around outside for about 10 minutes and then lined up to "leave" the country.

The immigration officer DID NOT appreciate what I was doing and started to yell. He didn't speak much English and finally someone showed up to translate. I was told that I had "done a very foolish thing" and that I knew I was a "Transit Passenger" so why did I leave the airport?

I denied knowing that I had done anything wrong, and apologized. They didn't buy it and after the legal necessaries, I was escorted by a policeman to my gate. He waited with me for over an hour until I boarded the departing flight.

I asked him if I was black listed from Taiwan and he said, "No, but next time don't leave the airport if you are a transit passenger."

Sure enough, I've had no problems since then entering or exiting Taiwan. To this day, I don't know exactly what the problem was. Maybe they just didn't like "stamp collectors."

Edited to add: Because I left the airport I had to pay the departure tax. It was US$10 or $20. I was given an official receipt so I'm pretty sure it wasn't a "phony fine."

[This message has been edited by eastwest (edited 12-10-2001).]

I do that all the time in NRT on my trip to other Asian destinations. I have done that 6 times just this year (it is funny to see so many same day arrival and deaparture stamps of NRT).

Sorry for not updating this, but I had zero problems going through NRT Customs and Immigration. I went into Narita City and then back through Immigration control 2 hours later!