Originally Posted by
Ndsleep612
Anyone familiar with how long it might take to clear customs at Kansai Airport (Osaka)? Reason why I'm asking is because I'm trying to pick up a pocket wifi and don't think I have enough time with only an hour gap.
Can anyone share their recent experience clearing customs at Kansai Airport? Thanks.
I have gone into KIX twice in 2016 and once this year, 17 March. Your question is only on customs, after you have cleared immigration and collected your bags, or with just carry on, just past immigration.
Almost all passengers go thru a face to face with the Customs staff manning the Customs lanes after baggage collection. Each passenger, regardless Japanese national or Alien (as non-Japanese are called), hands over his/her passport and the completed Customs Declaration, and the Customs staff
may question the pax, and may decide to inspect none or one or more of the pax bags.
I would say, if you are non-Japanese, have minimal luggage, and look like you are from a country that Japan considers non-threatening, and you look like someone who would not take advantage of being in Japan, you are usually let off quickly. I suppose they have profiles of those pax they wish to inspect more closely.
So it all depends. There is no "Nothing to Declare" lane that a mass of pax can travel thru like in HKG or BKK. Every arriving pax in KIX comes face to face with a Customs staff member.