Great pictures thanks for sharing. I love the Varig photo. My first trip across the Pacific to Japan was on a Varig 707 through Anchorage, but that was before Narita so we flew into Haneda. I was amazed by the number of people in the arrivals lobby. I’d never been anywhere that crowded in my life and felt a bit overwhelmed. My first trip out of Narita was early summer 78. It was a Northwest 747-100 which flew to ORD. No Detroit or Minneapolis back, and the only flight going further east was the Pan Am 747 SP.

Security going into Narita was very tight back then. If I remember correctly you could take the Keisei line to a station just outside the airport perimeter, and then from there you transferred to a bus which was carefully searched before going into the airport. Security guards boarded the buses and intently perused the passports of all the passengers. It kind of reminded me of a cold war epic when someone was trying to escape out of East Berlin.

Fun memories. Thanks again for sharing.