OK - I flew to Japan last week for a contract in Okinawa. On the way into the country, flying domestically from Nagoya to Naha, had to pull the laptop out of the case. No big deal, do that all the time in the States. Other than that, no big issues (no shoes off, allowed to take my Coke through security, pleasant screeners, etc.).

However, coming back yesterday (22JUN), things have apparently changed. Ran into the same issues on both flights in Japan (domestic OKA-NGO, international NGO-SFO). Went through with the normal routine (laptop out, no metal in pockets, etc.). Then they pull my bag, make me empty EVERY SINGLE electronic item out (iPod, three portable hard drives, four USB thumbdrives, Airport wireless AP, three cell phones, camera, wireless card) and all of my cables into separate bins to rescan them as individual items.

I carefully segregate my items (those lovely amenity kits from international travel make good organizers). Took me 20 minutes at each security checkpoint to inventory and re-pack all of my gear due to this backasswards idiocy.