Afternoon arrival Tokyo-Haneda

Hi,
I went to Japan last time nearly 13 years ago, flying ANA into Narita airport and landing maybe 15.30 in the afternoon. I remember the immigration queue was so long and I think I waited around 1 hour or more in that queue.

I will be flying ANA into Haneda airport this time, arriving around 15 in the afternoon as well.

Is it worse landing in the morning or afternoon considering possible long queues?

In last two years I landed at Haneda 4 times, and the line for foreigners (non-Japanese) was less than 5 minutes. It was shorter than the line for Japanese citizens. That is a big improvement compared to three years ago when I waited more than 40 minutes.

Maybe they have effictivized the flow the past years.

When do you arrive at Haneda usually?

I only remember leaving from Osaka-Kansai in the morning having a seriously long queue but I guess that's also due to having to use a transport to the gate which was heavily congested.

I've been arriving and leaving from both HND and KIX (including leaving from KIX in the morning earlier this year), and never had a single immigration time that was more than 15 mins.

I've arrived at the Haneda International Terminal numerous times over the years. My Air Canada flight arrives around 4:30 so its even closer to the rush hour. Generally lineups are not too bad but if you have fast legs do a brisk walk to Immigration to avoid the passenger crush of your own flight.

As of 4 weeks ago, the immigration area at T1 in NRT was undergoing upgrades and the area was a total mess. It took nearly an hour just to be seen for the initial pre-check, never mind the actual stamp. Arrived at 2:10pm and was done with immigration, luggage and customs by 4:15pm. I blame it on the Olympics and the gear-up towards it.

When's the rush hour at Haneda airport? Or do you mean rush hour in Tokyo?

I had two times to choose from, while the first arrived like 6.30 or something, and the second 15.30-ish.

Haneda is much more efficient and there aren't many arrivals bunched together. I got that by spending hours and hours on the observation deck and watching the planes approach the gates. I've gone through the process there twice and both only took 20-30 minutes tops.

You will have some difficulties with transport into the Shinagawa/Hamamatsucho area as Haneda is one of the busiest airports in the world and the international terminal is the second stop after the domestic terminals.

Ah, you mean the transport may already be full? Maybe I should ride it to the domestic temrinal and get on there then.

You can do that, yes, but it will still be crowded, so keep that in mind!

I understand. Thank you for the warning. I had forgotten that completely.

Would bus be a better option?

Depends on where you want to go and your budget for it. I usually take the Keikyu line to Shinagawa and that's as far as I need to go.

We�fve never had any issues getting the monorail to/from the Haneda international terminal and Hamamatsucho.