Things have changed a lot since the "bad" old days when all the booths seemed to be staffed by cranky old men. In my first experience with an Immigration agent, I made some polite comment or question in English (such as "Good morning" or "How are you") and the Immigration agent angrily barked back in Japanese (I had just finished a year of Japanese in college and was coming to Japan on an exchange program), "You're in Japan now, speak Japanese!"

As the other posters have mentioned, immigration staff nowadays are quite affable and efficient. Same with customs.

Get into line at immigration, there are two sections--one for residents of Japan and one for visitors (Do the signs still say "Aliens"?). When you finish immigration, go right down the stairs/escalator to baggage claim. Pick up your bag(s) (you may want to get a cart first if you have a lot of baggage--it's free, unlike what I find in the US), and get into line at customs. There are also two sections here--one for items to declare (dutiable) and one for no items to declare. When you finish here, go through the doors and into the arrivals area. There are booths here that will deliver your luggage to your home or hotel, give information, and sell tickets for trains and limosine buses into Tokyo, etc.