6 hours in Narita

I will have 6 hours to spare after landing at Narita on Tues prior to flying off to Sapporo. This is my first trip to Japan - can I leave the airport - will I have time to go anywhere in that time? Suggestions on where?
Many thansk

Mary, since you are going from an International Flight to a domestic one, you'll clear Immigration and Customs at Narita. So after that you are free to leave the airport or do whatever you want.

However, note that it will take at least 1-2 hours to clear Immigration/customs at Narita then you have to go through the process of making a domestic flight connection, so that means going through domestic security. During this time I'm sure you'll want to do some things like currency exchange and such.

Nearby to the airport is Narita City, if you arrive early and clear Immigration and customs fast, sure you could probably spend maybe 3-4 hours in Narita city before returning to the airport for a domestic flight, though factor in time to clear security.

However, note that it will take at least 1-2 hours to clear Immigration/customs at Narita

That is not true! Most people spend less than an hour in immigration and customs. Ironically, the situation seems to have further improved since the introduction of fingerprinting. Most people spend now less than 10 minutes in line for immigration. Of course, there are still other situations when it is crowded and it can take more time. But it is unlikely to take more than an hour.

I agree with Uji, can't take that long... Took me about 20 min to get through... I was one of the few foreigners in the queue - the Japanese people on the flight had to wait a lot longer! :D So I think you can definitely go outside, though with all the luggage, it is perhaps easier to just stay at the airport and read or something like that... there are many shops that you can look at, etc.

While I agree most times it takes a few minutes to clear, I did get stuck at Narita in a line with no end once. So I should say "up to 1 hour". But in other cases yes, its a breeze.

Many thanks for this folks. Got here today, did Narita City as sugested by the Tourist person - she was very helpful and also got throught customs very quickly, even with fingerprint and photo. Narita City not to big but beautiful shrine and Pagoda - just waiting for my flight to Sapporo now with plenty of time to spare. Once again many thanks. Now what shall I do in Sapporo - daughter is also looking for work there - any ideas?