Depends. The other day the paper lines were shorter but the qr lines were moving faster and there were more of them. It just didn't seem as fast at first because there was one giant line that filtered down to all the kiosks, but I was actually out in 5 minutes after grabbing my bags and the people that hit the paper lines at the same time were all still waiting.

Oh boy. Landed in NRT at what I assume it was peak time. It was INSANE. I mean ALL CAPS INSANE. The line for visitors extended a good couple hundred meters before the actual immigration hall. Thankfully, a flash of my APEC card and I was at the re-entrants/APEC/Crew line in no time. From disembarkation at 4:20 PM, I was at the train hall around 4:45 PM, so not too bad for me. But for many others, it was ugly.

Customs, on the other hand, was quick and painless. It seems all the stations take either the paper form or the QR code (this is JAL T2).

Last Friday (3/31) landed at NRT around 4pm on JL8005 from JFK. Absolutely massive lines, never seen it like this before. Took about 2 hrs 45 minutes to clear immigration, was only able to leave the airport just before 7pm (nearly making me late for a dinner reservation in Roppingi - had to take a taxi direct to the restaurant with my luggage...)

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Sounds like they are removing all COVID requirements in May - https://www.timeout.com/tokyo/news/j...n-may-8-040523 - wondering if this will help with Customs/Immigration

Timing and terminal are important! I landed 3/31 around 3:20 pm (NH7) and immigration had about 4 or 5 lines of pax in the queue. Used APEC - no line; paper customs form, and on the 3:44 N'ex.

it'll help remove some of the bottlenecks (dont need the separate section where officials check for VWJ barcode/paper for)

but i'd imagine more people will visit japan and cause longer lines at immigration / touristy spots

I know this is the NRT thread but are there any experiences arriving into HND recently? My flight arrives at 5 AM at HND.

My brother arrived into NRT at 6 AM and he said it was a breeze. I assume the same can be said for HND. Sounds like the problems are at the peak afternoon hours.

Arrived in NRT T1 late morning yesterday. There were men in groups of half a dozen or so every 50 metres or so along the concourse until you reached the quarantine checkpoint/immigration hall. They probably used to check vaccination records but not any longer and were redundant.

Passport control had c.100 people from a flight somewhere in Asia in the queue but I only had to wait a few minutes. Most people had VJW QR codes on their phone or in print. One or two were filling out forms. By the time I picked up my checked luggage the queue for customs had gone. Bring a lone traveller I must look suspicious and was asked a few questions some of which the customs guy answered on my behalf, e.g. I guess you only have personal clothing, etc.

One of the smoothest arrivals in NRT.

Arrived NRT T2 4pm Friday. Our JAL from NY did not offboard transit passengers first. I was First off the plane but as started walking another plane had just emptied ahead of us. Exited immigration 4:45. There were 8 moveable kiosks on the line but before immigration to do fingerprints and picture. This helped speed the line. Smart.

while on the line I looked back and saw that end of line was about 50% longer than when I entered so somewhat lucky I think to have cleared immigration so quickly. Much better organized and staffed than when I entered Japan early January and it took 1.5 hours to clear immigration.

I'll be arriving there two Fridays from now for a quick trip 3-day trip to grab my TTP card, arriving about the same time on ZipAir at 4:10pm. Thanks for the data point.

Nice. How long did it take to get out of prelim inspection? I applied 3/25 and still haven't changed status.

8 days, applied using group A (having US global entry). I'm surprised you haven't gotten yours yet.

me too as we're in the same boat re: GE. weird!

You took a taxi from NRT to Roppongi just to make it to a dinner reservation...? Did you already prepaid for this dinner? That is a ¥24000 taxi ride!