Originally Posted by Unimatrix One

This is a point that is worth repeating, if for no other reason than to destroy the myth that "all countries agree with the TSA." In Japan, TSA-type policies are only applied to international departures. Domestic flights are still free from liquid restrictions, shoe removal, gate searches, and arbitrary inspection of checked luggage. The reason international flights are subject to TSA-type policies is that certain countries such as the US require it. Initially Japan only applied this screening to flights bound for such countries, but it became logistically too difficult to set up screening checkpoints only at the gates for flights to the US (and UK, etc), so they ended up applying the more stringent screening to everyone at the main checkpoints.