MamaElf

Hello! I'm new here. I'm not really a frequent flyer, but I have a business trip coming up and need some advice about the travel. This seems to be a good place to get that sort of thing, so here I am.

I'm going to be going to Japan. Pretty sure the Tokyo area, but I don't know which airport I'll be flying into/out of yet. I think likely Haneda?

When I arrive, what can I expect from the customs agents? Is it going to be difficult because I don't speak Japanese? I've traveled outside the US before, but only to English speaking countries, so I really don't know what to expect where that's not the case. I am going to try to learn a bit of Japanese, but this is a sudden trip, so I doubt I'll be able to get anything beyond a few basic phrases (like "please," "thank you," "hello," "goodbye," and "where is the bathroom?")

What about security when I leave? I know the drill in US airports (as much as that's possible...), but have no idea what to expect in Japan. Is there somewhere I can find that information?

Of particular interest to me is how breastmilk is handled. I will have several days worth of it with me when I return. I will need to have it frozen, in order for it to not spoil on the trip, and would prefer to avoid having it go through the x-ray. I've done that before in the US. Is that an option in Japan?

Also, does anyone know if it's going to be a problem with customs when I get back in the US?

Thank you very much for any assistance you can provide me!

exerda

I don't have an answer to your breastmilk question.

However, on the rest: Japanese security is IMHO and IME efficient and courteous. They speak a good deal of English, so don't worry that you speak little or no Japanese. On arrival, I believe you have to give digital fingerprints & photo, and they have a digital thermometer you walk past which is looking for fevers (goes back to SARS IIRC). Departure security screening is much like it is elsewhere, with WTMD and x-ray of your carry-ons.

Hopefully, other posters can chime in on the specifics regarding breast milk.

Loren Pechtel

It's been several years since I've been in Japan but in my three trips there over the years I've never had the slightest trouble with their officials. The lack of language is normally not an issue at border controls--I've been in a lot of places where I don't speak the language, that's never proved problematic.

RadioGirl

Welcome to FlyerTalk.

To expand a bit on what has already been said, you should find that Japanese customs and security staff, airport staff, hotel employees and indeed everyone who deals with the public in any capacity will be professional and polite. At the airports and in the main business/tourist/shopping areas of Tokyo, many people speak English; less so if you move out into the suburbs or visit one of the less touristy smaller cities.

I love traveling in Japan; their reputation for being polite and honest is, in my experience, well-deserved. I speak a very few words of Japanese but have had several enjoyable trips to Tokyo and beyond without any problems.

People who don't speak English will work very hard to communicate with you through gestures or sign language, or to find someone who can help you in English, and they will be apologetic that they can't do better. (I find this very humbling - I'm visiting their country and they're apologizing for not speaking my language.) Someone who speaks good English will often volunteer to help you if you look the least bit lost or confused (in my case, standing on the train platform looking at the schedule).

I can't say about breastmilk but Japan does enforce the same liquids rules - 1 quart baggie of 100 mL bottles - as the US. They also have a special scanner for liquids - I once had a 100 mL bottle taken away for this scan and then returned. If there is confusion you can expect them to be polite but probably firm in enforcing the rules.

catandmouse

Can but +1 all this. The Japanese are extraordinarily courteous even when they are being firm with you. I agree it is humbling to find people apologizing for not speaking English, when my Japanese is limited to Hello, Goodbye, Thank you and maybe half a dozen more words.
The Japanese are used to following rules and expect us as visitors to do the same, which is fair enough, so if something looks odd (and believe me there are plenty of things which look odd to visitors the first time) accept it, try and understand it. I thoroughly enjoy going to Japan.

MSPeconomist

Unless one is confident of knowing a foreign language extremely well, it would seem risky to go through immigration and customs processing in some foreign language. This is not the time to practice your language skills.

RadioGirl

In general this is true, and you can certainly just use English in Japanese airports.

But in practice, my interaction with immigration (except in the US) is, at maximum:

RG (presents passport): Hello/Bonjour/Ohayo gozaimasu
Officer (pages through passport, checks computer, stamps passport): Have a good day/Bon journee/Have a good day.
RG: Thanks/merci/arigato

and my interaction with customs consists of walking through the green door instead of the red door.

Pretty hard to screw that up, even with my limited French and even more limited Japanese.

It seems polite to at least make some effort to use what I can of the local language, even though it's pretty obvious that I'm not a native speaker. And invariably the other person will switch to English as soon as the conversation becomes too complicated for me.

Loren Pechtel

Speaking of ways of communicating--something we saw in Japan in the 70s (whether it's still in use I don't know) that helped a lot: Restaurants with model food on display. The waitresses understood a request to go outside and point out what one was ordering. I have seen this in a *FEW* places in China these days also.

TWA884

From the Narita Airport Security Guide:
And from the ANA website:

RadioGirl

I saw (and used) that in the mid/late 90s and I think a lot of places still have it. My recent trips (since 2010) it was more common to get menus with a photo of every dish. (I guess color printing has gotten a lot cheaper...) We could just point to the picture and nod and smile, which was a relief to both us and to non-English-speaking waiters. Note - when you do this, don't say much more than "this" or "please"; one of my colleagues said "I don't know what this is but I'll try anything" and the waitress must have thought it was a special request or something, because she ran off in a panic to get someone who could translate.
Good find. I expect they'll want to x-ray the milk.

Loren Pechtel

I hadn't thought of that but you're right--I've seen a lot of menus in China with color pictures of the food.

MamaElf

Thank you all very much! I appreciate the help.

Hopefully I'll be able to send the breastmilk through the liquids scanner rather than the x-ray, but if it must be x-rayed, I guess that's what I'll have to do.

BuildingMyBento

I don't always have the opportunity to converse in certain languages - Japanese and Indonesian come to mind - so when traveling, passport control is the first place I use them. There has never been an issue (but I reckon it also helps to be from ____ country).

ROCAT

As others have said do not ask nor try to bend the rules it will not happen, but they will be nice about it. Also make sure your landing card or any other paperwork is filled out completely and correctly as immigration, customs, security and basically everyone else are sticklers about paperwork.

Despite speaking decent Japanese I still enter immigration in English so they know if anything comes up to use English. I had this happen once when I started the process in Japanese and it quickly went above my level which caused some confusion and slowed things down.

greggarious

Yes, the only issue I had was they wanted me to write the name of my hotel (in addition to the address). But they made me do a whole new card (while apologizing)