Arrival at Narita Airport

Many questions are asked about how much time it takes to clear immigration at Narita Airport.

I would be interested to hear from actual recent travelers how much time they needed from landing of the plane (touch down) until they get off the plane, cleared immigration, got their baggage and cleared customs.

My personal recent data of June 4 (Monday) around 14:00:

0:00 touch down
0:10 arrival at the dock
0:15 exit the plane
0:20 clear immigration (Japanese line with re-entry permit, no questions asked)
0:30 get baggage and clear customs (no look into the suitcase, accompanied by Japanese wife)

It took me 30 minutes from landing of the plane until I cleared customs. Half of that time was spent inside the airplane.

My recent experience (two occasions last year) of a single Australian entering Japan is also of a very quick processing and no baggage inspection. Out of Narita within half an hour.

Hi Uji
Have been to Narita 2 times in last 3 years and going again in Sep.
First time arrrived at 18:15
and arrvied in Shinjuku on
Nex after 20:00 and same again last year.
Seem to remember allot of planes arrived first time and
Japanese went into a different line and cleared customs long before rest of world. Last year not so bad
maybe 20 minutes as did a runner from plane to shuttle train and into airport from terminal 2 but the wait to get JR pass was about 15 minutes alone before catching train.
On average 45 minutes for airport maybe then JR pass then train.
I think it would depend on arrival time more then anything as staff levels would be higher during day and afternoon at airport I feel.
May I add you are doing a great job on this site.
ps have any knowledge of hiking near Nara at Kamikitayama village and Odaigahara plateuu near Nara?.
Kiwi

I visited narita airport 3 times since last October.

My planes touched down at around 14:00 to 14:40 in these visits. 2 times with UA and one time with Dragonair.

Perhaps there are a lot of planes coming in for that time slot, I found it long for me to clear immigration with my family. We have to take the international queue of course and we were lined from almost the outmost layer of the queuing area (We were not slow in walking!!). The queue was digested slowly until (a) they open more counters for the second queuing area and (b) all Japanese have done and they allow other tourists to use those counters.

For Oct, we were faster and when we touched down at around 14:30, we managed to buy JR East Pass and take the 15:43 NEX. For March this year, we touched down earlier at around 14:10 but the queue was longer and we just made it for the 15:43 NEX.

Sometimes you know there may be questions from Customs too but for these 3 recent visits we recevied no question at all at Customs.

I didn't recall how long it took us in December as we took another connection at Narita and we did not bother how long it took us there.

It depends on what airline
you fly, what gates they use and the size of aircraft. I fly United(companion fare) 747 from LAX. I've always disembarked from gates 74 or 76 and the walk alone takes 10 minutes unless you trot.
Anyway, this is the"average"
for 12 flights into Narita.


TD to gate arrival=10-15min.
Exit plane=10min.(Bus.class) 10-20 from coach.
Clear immigration Avg.20min.
Baggage = 5-20 min.
Customs= 5 min. without surfboard 15 min. with (???)

Total: 50 to 90 minutes average.

Note, From LAX UA has only one flight to NRT arriving sometime around 4 to 5 P.M.

It took me 30 minutes from landing of the plane until I cleared customs. Half of that time was spent inside the airplane

Say what?
Uji san, It took you 30 minutes just to get your baggage & clear customs.

75 minutes total. Or maybe I'm missing something . . .?

It took me 30 minutes from landing until clearing customs. But I used the Japanese immigration lines because I have a re-entry permit.

Sorry, I now understand your confusion. I hope the following clears the confusion:

0:00 indicates arrival time
0:15 means 15 minutes after arrival
0:30 means 30 minutes after arrival
1:00 would mean one hour after arrival

I had the quickest through time ever coming back from Hong Kong this Tues- I flew Northwest business class (used mileage) so was off the plane really quickly. Planes also spend a lot less time getting from the runway to Terminal 1 than they do to Terminal 2. The gate was close to Immigration and there was only one person in front of me (I have a re-entry permit too). As my luggage had a priority tag on it it was one of the first out. For once Customs did not want to open my bag (I had a small wheelie suitcase because it was a short trip- when I come back from India or SE Asia with my old backpack I usually get it thoroughly searched) and I was in the arrivals area in about 20 minutes total! My plane was about 30 mins early to land as well.

Usually when I'm in economy on an airline that lands at terminal 2 at a busy time of the year and they decide to look in my bag it takes me about an hour to get out of the airport at least.

Uji,
Thanks for the clarification.

I too have a re-entry permit and I'll go to whatever line is shorest.

When I arrived on August 1, I cleared immigration without any delays (Japanese line with re-entry permit), but then I had to wait more than 15 minutes for the baggage. As a result, it took almost 50 minutes from landing until passing customs.

We arrived in the satellite building of terminal 2, which requires a short shuttle ride.

Beginning sometime in November Immigration will begin fingerprinting all incoming foreigners, even those with re-entry permits and permanent residency (minus the special category of Korean Japanese residences). I can only imagine longer back logs in the lines.

I arrived at Narita Airport yesterday, December 30. The pattern was as usual:

First it took us 10 minutes to reach the gate after landing. Then it took another 5 minutes until actually leaving the plane.

Immigration took less than 3 minutes in the "re-entry permit" lane (one person in front of me; fingerprinting and photograph worked on the first attempt and did not even take 30 seconds). The line for "foreign passport holders" looked rather long, though.

The baggage came within 5 minutes afterwards, and customs just waved us through.

So, 30 minutes after arrival, we were through.

This thread seems to be a bit out-dated now, but is the timing to clear custom/immigration still apply - 4 years later?

I will be flying in to Narita by Malaysia Airlines, touching down at 7.40am. I have a connecting flight to Chitose (Sapporo) at 10.15am with ANA departing from Narita. Would I have enough time.

Appreciate any current experience on the arrival hall in Narita. Thank you.

We were there in October of 2011. Took about half an hour as we first got in the wrong line, make sure you get in the line for foreign tourists, the longer one! We also had carry on luggage. Very fast and efficient.

... Japanese line with re-entry permit,...
Don't you need a Japanese passport to be in the Japanese line?
If so, why do you need a re-entry permit?
(I always considered my re-entry permits comparable to a ticket to Disneyland.)-LOL

The thread is four years old. Things have changed since then. These days, there are three separate lines for a) Japanese passport holders b) re-entry permit holders c) foreign passport holders

Re-entry permits are used by foreign residents of Japan.

I was there in May. There was no one in line and the Immigration man even took my Japanese wife, too. That was a shocker. It took no more than 15 to 20 minutes from leaving the plane to going out the door into the concourse.

Actually, very much depends on how many planes has landed around your time of arrival.. I think there is a website under JR (?) which lets you know the arrivals at Narita.. try googling..
I was there twice this year - once met a huge crowd, the second time, not much of a crowd..
To make sure you are not diverted out of line by an immigration officer who screens immigration forms of people in queue, make sure you fill up the immigration forms (both front and back) and customs form. Also, look serious (no jokes or small talk to custom officer processing you...) all knows all custom officers across the world have no sense of humor! haha. Happy New Year!

Went in Nov......once I got to the gate and out of the plane, I was through everything in 10 minutes! Couldn't believe it! never been that fast. Hit it just right I guess. normally it's 30 minutes to an hour.