Often1

OP's rant is not about long lines, efficiency or the immigration process in general. Rather, he was subjected to a specifically rigorous immigration & customs experience which may have been caused by:
1. random selection
2. targeted selection due to attitude, observations, unwillingness to answer simple questions such as the address at which he was staying)
3. targeted selection of people who meet a general description because border authorities are looking for such a person and need to verify that OP isn't that person.

This happens at pretty much every border in the world. You can enter NRT 100 times and on the 101st, they are looking for a 5'10" male with brown hair and all of those people get a bit more attention.

If you don't know your cousin's address or the address of the hotel at which you will be staying, it is adviseable to obtain this before departure.

s0ssos

I think there are others who have flown through NRT multiple times without ever having immigration/customs issues. Sure, you can say you never know why, but it seems to happen more at KIX. My guess is this different mentality (I would call it small-town, sort of like how you get more hassle with TSA at a smaller airport than a major one).

When you say it is adviseable to obtain the address, why? You mean for the purpose of immigration? It is absolutely meaningless to have the address in Japan, as my cousin will pick me up, or you just tell a cab the hotel name. Addresses don't help foreigners find locations in Japan, as their scheme is completely foreign to us.

mapleg

The authorities in Japan want to have your address in case they need to track you down for some reason which could include a health issue (example infectious person on the plane).

I really don't understand your comment that addresses don't help foreigners find addresses in Japan. Whether you understand an address or not has nothing to do with the fact that an address should be provided on the immigration form. Are you seriously suggesting "Oh, my cousins house" is a valid response to that form? By the way, I am a foreigner and I understand Japanese addresses. Perhaps more study on the topic will assist you.

LapLap

I've had a bag searched at NRT. Had quite a lot of luggage, got asked about it, and what they saw by going through the largest bag corroborated the information I had given (they didn't need to continue with the rest).

Also, don't agree that addresses are useless to foreigners. Picked up the Kodansha Tokyo Atlas for my first visit (2002) and now it's even easier to find anywhere (and see how the address system works) using Google Maps.
Seems to me that having a cousin in Japan just made the OP rather complacent so that there was no real need to get to grips with the realities of visiting Japan. mapleg just listed some sensible reasons as to why immigration authorities want an address.

s0ssos

Do Japanese people also list their address in case the authorities need to get touch with them if there were an infectious person on the plane?
I see, the authorities care so much about foreigners but not Japanese.

abmj-jr

Geez! This thread has degenerated from a semi-rational but apparently sincere rant to complete and utter inanity. Time to drop it and move on.

nishimark

They live in Japan. They know their address.

WilcoRoger

So to the OP - you won't fly to KIX, because a) you had to fill in your hotel's address and b) customs happened to look through your bags. Wow, major hurdles. (I use NGO, KIX, NRT & HND - at each usually I'm waived through and at each I have occasionally been stopped).

The other rants about KIX are just that - rants. But of course feel free to fly to NRT even if your business/holiday takes you to the Kansai area. But be careful - there might be a change of policy at Japan Immigration, so next time (the horrors!) even at NRT they might ask you to fill in your hotel's address. What then?

joejones

Everyone has to give their address to customs on the customs form, regardless of nationality.

Japanese people don't have to give their address to immigration since immigration is only concerned with controlling entry by foreigners.

Often1

It ranges from silly to self-harm not to provide an address. If you don't understand the address, all you need to do is copy it.

If you gave someone at KIX a hard time about insisting on a real address and that turned into getting your bag searched, you will likely find that if you give any border a hard time about a legitimate question --- and this is a legitimate question --- you can expect to be treated to all of the offerings of the border authority.

Can't even blame them.

Pickles

My bag gets inspected at customs in HND and NRT every time. It's usually pretty cursory and quick, but they always open it and poke around a bit and ask a couple of questions.

evergrn

If you've been able to get by with just writing down "cousin's place" on your landing card and then being waved through at NRT, then it seems to me the officers are not doing their job. "Cousin's place" is hardly a meaningful info. Anyways, I just can't understand why you're getting worked up over this. Just write down your cousin's address next time.


You are very unlucky. I can't remember the last time I had my bags searched by customs at TYO (I have had quite a few bag searches at departure security and randomly at the gate before boarding, though).

nishimark

If they must contact a Japanese person (for example, disease carrier on the flight) they just get their address/contact info from the airline.

Beltway2A

Alternatively, they can get that information from the registry of addresses that local governments and residents are required to maintain.

This entire thread has gotten pretty silly though, I'm not sure why we're all still playing along.

armagebedar

If we can have a rational, polite discussion that does not degenerate into bickering and name-calling I will keep the thread open.

Regards,
armagebedar
Japan forum moderator