It's unpredictable wherever you go.

At FCO, I snapped at the passport official because the EU-queues sat vacant for twenty minutes. He said that because those EU-desks don't have stamps, they can't process everyone else. While that may be the case around the EU, it's quite the easily resolvable excuse...

My experience in Japan has often been the same. Japanese citizens desks stay idle while the outer country people wait. I can't comment on how the deal is in the US because I'm from there, but that's not to say it's more or less efficient than elsewhere.

It would be great if Japan implemented such a program. I hope it doesn't get tied to the APEC card. For one, the US is still not issuing them, and also, it's valid only for business travel. I know the right-wingers will raise a fuss no matter what, but in practical terms, since Immigration "never" asks questions coming into Japan anyway (at least for low-risk travelers), automating the process won't reduce national security or cause a wave of illegals to suddenly land, especially if pre-enrollment is required. I know that if you abuse the Temporary Visitor status by using it to unofficially live in Japan, eventually you'll get stopped on the way in and questioned further. Whatever criteria they use to do this could be added to automated clearance, such that once you step over the invisible line you get sent to Secondary just as you do today, so that's not an issue. The response to the anti-immigration people is that by using automation to process low-risk travelers, the immigration officers have more time to scrutinize who's left and thus a greater likelihood of actually catching the problem cases before they enter the country.

I have Global Entry and it makes it so much easier coming back into the US (GE provides automated US Immigration clearance, and "skip the line and no questions (usually)" Customs clearance. And, Global Entry now automatically allows me to use the automated gates when entering Australia, with no pre-enrollment necessary. And, I just got enrolled for automated Immigration clearance in Hong Kong. It would be wonderful to have it for Japan.

In the Hong Kong version, a machine dispenses a printed receipt (which is about the same size as the Japan Immigration sticker) for non-residents that you are responsible for keeping with your passport. Japan could easily do the same thing, making the dispensed receipt be the same as the current passport sticker, having a peel-off backing that the traveler is responsible to remove and put the sticker in their passport.

In fact, the Hong Kong machines used dispense an actual sticker that you were required to put into your passport.

I know this is an ancient thread, but the trusted traveler program has finally started. Three and a half years from proposed to implemented- is this considered fast by Japanese standards?

Thread in the Trusted Travelers forum for the mechanics of the new program.

The US DOES issue them. I got one with my Global Entry application. The only issue is that US-issued APEC cards do not get you around visa requirements (as the US is unwilling to offer reciprocal treatment to Asian nationals) so they are only good for skipping long lines at immigration.