NRT T1, 2pm today (Monday). Unforgiving long immigration line, took one hour, one lane for all foreign passports (QR or not). Customs line much longer for QR, saved time with paper form.

Compare this to KUL and SIN which took 30 seconds each with Autogate and no line. Cherry on top: it's considerably hotter in Tokyo right now than the aforementioned "always hot" SE Asian countries.

Thanks in advance. Does anyone have any ideas on the current Narita immigration/customs waiting times? I have about 90 minutes from arrival to the last airport limousine bus that goes to my hotel. If it helps, I have access to the expedited immigration line (APEC Business Card).

The APEC business traveller cards have basically no wait.

That is very helpful. Really appreciate it.

Just adding my data point. With the ABTC card, I was in and out in only 15 minutes from the plane arriving the gate to walking out of the airport. Thanks everyone for the advice.

The duality of Japan never ceases to amaze and confound me. Here you have a country that has been on the cutting edge of technology for at least half a century, and yet when it comes to bureaucracy, they are still stuck in the technological stone ages. It is completely inexcusable how awful the process of arriving and clearing immigration/customs is in Japan, and it has continued to be horrible throughout whatever changes they make to the system. Any change they do make is always for the worse, and they almost seem unapologetically proud of how bad things are. This BS with the QR codes at Customs is completely bewildering and unprecedented, at least for any of the ~45 countries I have visited. I can't think of another place that makes customs such a PITA, in addition to the already loathsome immigration queues. When passing through HND a few weeks ago, I honestly had no idea what was going on and the signs were about as clear as mud. By the time I figured it out, I just ended up going to the paper customs exit and turning in the written form, despite having a QR and using the QR at the immigration desk, as the QR kiosk lines were indeed absurd. Fortunately, I had the good sense to complete the written form on the plane, despite having applied for the QR prior to the trip.

Of course, the passport/immigration line was also horribly long (~1 hour). The one line was randomly being redirected to a series of kiosks where the passports and fingerprints were being scanned for about half of the people in the queue. What made no sense at all is that both the people who used these kiosks and the people not going through the kiosks were still going to the same passport control officers, and the time spent per person didn't seem to change for people who had already wasted time on the kiosks before providing the exact same information to the officers at the desk. At first, I got my hopes up that the kiosks were meant to replace the stop at the desk, but that proved to be wishful thinking.

When I used to make regular visits to Japan prior to COVID, I had the TTP card via Global Entry and was able to use the kiosks. As great as that system if you can actually get the card, even it is still very poorly conceived and implemented program. It requires submitting a new application every three years (as opposed to almost every other comparable program by other countries, which is valid for the life of the passport, and actually makes a distinction between renewals and applying for the first time). They frequently take six months or longer to approve the application, and then you still need to appear in Japan in a timely matter with the correct amount of revenue stamps to actually get the card. The process would absolutely not be worth the hassle in almost any other country in Asia or Europe.

Because clearly Global Entry is valid for life and requires no renewal. :)

I am heading for my third entry to Japan in 2025, and so far the customs process has been a matter of spending a minute or two in totality.

This time NRT immigration "only" took 30 minutes. Still long, but OK if checked a bag and need to wait on it anyway. Last time cleared HND immigration in 5 minutes, then waited over an hour for luggage!

If you did biometrics at the kiosks, you will not be asked to do it again when you are at the immigration booth. They added the kiosks to lessen the work needed at the booth. Last Dec, I noticed that bulk of the wait was actually the immigration officer doing/encoding something on his PC and waiting to print/printing? of landing permission.

Except that I did provide it at the kiosk and was asked to do it again at the booth. From what I can tell, it was the same for everyone else. Don't ask me why.

I have received e-gate access in half a dozen other countries via GE reciprocity, and they are all good for the life of the passport. Also, GE gets renewed, which is not that same as the initial application and often does not even require a visit to an office. Japan's TTP does not allow for renewal, so every application is the same as the initial, including the excessive wait times and onerous paperwork required.

Lol I live in Korea and got my TTP last year. I actually lost it a trip and had to get it replaced (which involved walking to what felt like an incorrect and empty part of the airport, but the staff was very helpful even though it took a while). The process is kinda hilarious, and I've found it to be nearly useless since I sometimes fly into terminals that don't have it or the flights I take are on narrow-body jets and there just aren't that many people when I land anyway. Thought I had some good foresight in getting it, but alas it's been more useful for bars/clubs and to just show people I have a Japanese ID for fun.

That's been pretty much my only use for it. I use the APEC line, which takes a few minutes, never even bothered to look for the automated gates. I guess for me it's like Mallory and why he wanted to climb Mt. Everest.

JL67 on Jan 30th, J, so early off the plane. Had the QR from Visit Japan Web, Passport was almost no delay/no line, the bag showed quickly and Customs was 5 minutes solely due to me choosing the wrong line (guy in front was scrambling for papers, and other lines were a couple long). Overall, as painless as LHR on Immigration and slightly more bothersome with Customs.

Just a current DP -- arrived on 10/11 at 17:30 -- took about 40 minutes to get through Immigration. Bags were waiting and through in no time.

They are still doing the stupid fingerprint thing in the middle of the line -- until it backs up too much and they let everyone go through and pass you...