NRT to eliminate extra passport checks [as of Mar 31 2015]
Jun 27, 2013, 6:40 pm
#1
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NRT to eliminate extra passport checks [as of Mar 31 2015]
Nikkei reports this morning that NRT is installing 150 new security cameras, including 70 cameras linked to a facial-recognition system, so that they will be able to eliminate the passport checks for everyone coming into the terminals. No word on exactly how long the checks will continue, but there does appear to be an end in sight...
Link (in Japanese, subscription required): http://www.nikkei.com/paper/article/...Y3A620C1CR8000
Link (in Japanese, subscription required): http://www.nikkei.com/paper/article/...Y3A620C1CR8000
Jun 27, 2013, 10:06 pm
#2
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Assume this is airport entrance not immigration. The check at the entrance has been so perfunctory for so long, I can only imagine it was for job preservation. They must have found another non-productive function for the security personnel to perform.
Jun 28, 2013, 1:02 pm
#4
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Good news!
Last month was my first time departing from NRT in years (I usually transit through or use HND), so the passport check after getting off N'EX caught me and quite a few other trains passengers off guard. I wish there was some announcement as we were pulling into the NRT stations as lugging a large suitcase and fumbling around for my passport was not exactly fun.
Last month was my first time departing from NRT in years (I usually transit through or use HND), so the passport check after getting off N'EX caught me and quite a few other trains passengers off guard. I wish there was some announcement as we were pulling into the NRT stations as lugging a large suitcase and fumbling around for my passport was not exactly fun.
Jun 28, 2013, 1:27 pm
#5
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I wonder how they'd respond if a Japanese person with no ID showed up to take a domestic flight from NRT... ID isn't required for domestic, is it? Or did that change?
Jun 28, 2013, 6:26 pm
#6
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I thought the inspection was required for anyone entering the airport, whether or not they're flying. (Unless you're talking about some other ID check...?)
Jun 28, 2013, 9:24 pm
#7
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But if someone who is not legally obliged to carry ID on their person is taking a domestic flight for which ID is not required (I think), I just wonder what the agents at the inspection counter would do. Given Narita's history, I wonder if they'd have the sense just to inspect the person's bags and let them pass.
Jun 29, 2013, 3:40 pm
#8
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My understanding is that the inspection portion was reserved primarily for Japanese citizens. Foreigners presenting a non-Japanese passport get waived through, but Japanese citizens may be pulled over for inspection (although in practice it rarely happens). My understanding was that the whole point was to protect the airport from domestic terrorism by the local farmers and others that are militantly opposed to it, and not for general aviation safety.
Jun 29, 2013, 4:35 pm
#9
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Yes. The checks at the airport perimeter and railway station were primarily aimed at protecting the airport itself from domestic militants. The decision to move to cameras with face recognition is probably down to the fact that they know who the militants are. You can be sure that the police have been monitoring them for the last few decades.
Jun 30, 2013, 9:26 am
#10
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Also, they don't seem to even require passports at the entrance inspections. I've gone through twice by just showing my NEXUS card (which otherwise counts for nothing in Japan).
Jun 30, 2013, 10:43 am
#11
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When I have driven people to Narita then my passenger has handed over the passport. I never presented one and they didn't ask for it. I guess a white guy with Shinagawa plates is unlikely to be a Chiba militant.
It's been a while but I am not sure that I went through a checkpoint when taking the shuttle bus from offsite parking?
It's been a while but I am not sure that I went through a checkpoint when taking the shuttle bus from offsite parking?
Jun 30, 2013, 6:12 pm
#12
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Jun 30, 2013, 7:18 pm
#13
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Yes. The checks at the airport perimeter and railway station were primarily aimed at protecting the airport itself from domestic militants. The decision to move to cameras with face recognition is probably down to the fact that they know who the militants are. You can be sure that the police have been monitoring them for the last few decades.
Jul 7, 2013, 3:53 pm
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Jul 7, 2013, 8:38 pm
#15
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For the first time yesterday, one of the officials actually looked at my passport photo. That was the second most shocking point of the day, after learning that one of the T1 restaurants didn't have kaki furai.