OskiBear

Arrived around noon with what was seemingly a few thousand other passengers - all appearing to be from Mainland China. Line to be processed was over an hour long. Is this a common daily occurrence? On the way out, also noticed a whole slew of chinese passengers shopping duty free.

And I thought KIX was relatively quiet!

Pickles

We came in on the CX flight from HK, arrived at the far gates but hoofed it to immigration, getting there around 12:40. We were some of the first from that flight to reach immigration, and the first "maze" was full. Over the next twenty minutes the second "maze" also filled up. Took us about 45 minutes to get through, insane for KIX.

My guess is that people at the very back of the second maze would take 90 minutes or more to get through. When we got to the baggage carousel, the carousel was completely full, even after staff unloading hundreds of bags yet to be picked up by passengers.

To their credit, Japanese immigration played it right. They had pretty much all the stations not reserved for electronic gates open for business, with a 10:1 ratio between foreign passports and Japanese passports. The "clientele" was mostly mainlanders, but there was also a planeload of Taiwanese and one of Koreans, plus my Honkie-filled tin can.

It also compares favorably to those idiots at ICN (yes, "Best Airport in the World" ICN), where a few days ago they had 5 stations for foreigners open and 20 for Koreans as flights kept arriving. The best part is that it wasn't a single line, but separate lines for each immigration station, so it was a total scrum as the lines in the middle were blocked by the lines at the edges. It took them ages to switch lines from Korean to foreigners, which they did with a calmness and deliberation worthy of Delhi, Mumbai, or MIA immigration. Took me 90 minutes to get through that time. Very embarrassing for the Koreans, never seen such a total fail in what is reputed a very efficient society.

mapleg

I have usually found KIX more of a hassle than NRT or HND for immigration line ups. KIX is also the only time where a custom's officer felt the need to paw through my belongings even asking if I had a "guide book" to assist me while touring Japan.

a9504477

I can second the comments re customs at KIX. Virtually every time i arrive there they feel the need to go through my luggage (apparently having a Thai immigration stamp in your passport is sufficient for them to suspect you a drug dealer) while i was never stopped once at HND/NRT/FUK/Naha.

Kansai215

My home base is KIX and I know the immigration lines there are quite horrible I do feel badly for those who are not Japanese residents (I am temporarily and have the documentation). They wait in line for over an hour while I am whisked through a special line. Never have waited more than five minutes to clear KIX immigration.

txflyer77

Huh, maybe that's why I was pulled over by NRT customs for the first time last month. I was pulled out of the green lane leaving NRT on an overnight connection going home from Thailand.

bmwe92fan

I can third this one - it seems the only time I get "searched" is when coming into NRT from BKK - any other city I just get waived through but when coming from BKK - they close the lane and have a look - nearly every time....

acregal

KIX immigration loves to search me - the only place I don't get searched coming back from is the US.

The last time I came back one of the old guys in the immigration area kept telling me to go to the non-resident line even after I told him I live in Japan. Ironically, in NRT, when I came back and all of the lines were empty they made me walk over to the resident lines.

ICN immigration is terrible and they searched my friend's luggage there. In addition to it taking forever, I remember at least half of the immigration people openly using their phones.

MSPeconomist

Osaka is a major city with very few foreigners compared to Tokyo. Of course, Kyoto attracts lots of foreign tourists, but they probably fly through NRT/HND and arrive at Kyoto by bullet train (or bus if part of a tour group) becasue they tend to visit other parts of Japan on the same trip. So KIX would tend to be a big new international airport with somewhat less experience in dealing with foreigners.

Pickles

Is that so? It's been around for 20 years, and it was designed as an international airport. Pretty much all of the Kansai-area international traffic comes through KIX.

abmj-jr

All this is rather interesting but I wonder if ethnicity and point of departure might figure into some of the problems folks have experienced. In the several times I have arrived via KIX, I have had zero problems, never been searched or had my bags opened and rarely had to converse with the agents other than the usual nonsense. I look like someone's kindly, white haired, somewhat overweight Caucasian grandfather who would never be bringing contraband into the country from San Francisco. I don't even remember long waits in line other than the first time when I was at the back of economy and hadn't yet developed the habit of stretching out the long legs to get to the front of the herd.

Ironically, I learned to hide my Japanese ability at Immigration and Customs when entering Japan. The few times I spoke Japanese to the agents they always seemed to suddenly take more interest than when I looked like just another clueless tourist.

Somewhat off-topic, many years ago I was arriving at Quito with a group of rather scruffy, long-haired young mountain climbers, all with huge duffels full of gear in addition to our more usual stuff. We were passed through without a second glance or bag being opened but a group of Korean or Japanese business types on the same flight were scrutinized down to their underwear. Every bag opened and every person questioned extensively. Racial profiling? Probably. I think it happens everywhere to some extent and often to those who fit the profile for the particular boogie men for that particular port of entry. Perhaps the Japanese Immigration folks are looking more closely at those coming in from BKK or other Asian ports.

ChrisLi

I get searched every time as an early 30 Chinese arriving in Japan alone, guaranteed.

joejones

The Osaka region has a ton of foreign residents and visitors. You just don't notice them as easily because they are predominantly East/Southeast Asians, whereas the mixture in Tokyo is more diverse. KIX is particularly popular with Chinese and Koreans these days, as it's a quick flight, there are lots of LCCs and they love the local shopping scene (same situation in Tokyo to some extent although there are fewer really cheap flight options here).

acregal

It might be the age thing.... early 30s here. I went with a friend to Korea in 2013 - he didn't get searched but the same agent (we were in line together) searched me.

As others have mentioned, there are tons of foreigners in Kansai - walking through Shinsaibashi and at least half of the people are foreigners (usually Chinese or Korean).

kevincrumbs

I never get searched on this basis and I'm of the same demographic but like other posters have mentioned, the only time I've ever been searching arriving into Japan was at HND after flying TG BKK - HND. There was no Thai passport stamp as I had connected in BKK from PEN that same day. Even when the gentleman was searching my stuff, I figured it was precisely because I was a solo male traveller arriving from Thailand.

I'm flying TG BKK - KIX in a little over a month, so I'll brace myself for the extra screening (and hope I can make my NH KIX - HND flight on a tight connection).