Procedures at Narita airport

I am currently in Tokyo - been in Japan for 2 weeks and am leaving today. Narita was very easy and very smooth but you need to have your boyfriend's address on hand as you have to put it on your arrival forms. You will have 3 areas to go through before you reach where you boyfriend is. First will be the health check where you turn in your health form and they check your temperature. They don't stop you to do that unless there is a problem - it is one of those devices where they can just point it at you and take your temperature. You won't even realize they are doing it.

The 2nd part will be immigration. You hand them your form, put your finger on the fingerprinting device and look into the camera for a picture. Very quick.

The 3rd part is customs. You have to pick up your luggage and go through the line with a customs inspector. They may or may not search your luggage, but should not be a big deal.

As others mentioned, how long it takes depends on how many people are there at the time. We got through in about 45 minutes so it should not be too bad. They move you along very quickly.

You can also rent a cell phone in japan pretty cheaply if you would like to have one. Softbank allows you to reserve one online (and that is their cheapest price) that you can then pickup at the airport or have delivered to you. Might make you feel a bit better in japan as you will not have to worry so much about being separated from your boyfriend!

Have fun, there are a lot of interesting things here.

Thank you so much Deborah. You were a great help! I did actually just reserve a rental phone through Softbank, thanks for the recommendation! It will be a great help, as I can more easily communicate with my boyfriend when we're apart. I'll be able to communicate with some friends too who are also going to be in Tokyo around the same time. :)

I have a question about the fingerprint taking process. Do they just take your one index finger's finger print?

I have a problem with sweating everytime :D That's why I ask :D

Immigration Bureau says "the index fingers of both hands"....
http://www.moj.go.jp/NYUKAN/nyukan64-2.pdf

Thanks! My hands sweat a lot :( Do you think that it can be a problem when I am entering to Japan? I mean would they think that I am a suspicious person? :)

Typically people's hands are too dry to get a successful scan so your being rather moist may actually make it easier for you. However, if your hands are particularly wet then it may make it difficult for the scanner to read your print. You may have to try a few times to have a successful scan.

Just try not to stress about it though, its not uncommon to have to rescan. Go in assuming it will take a few tries.

Oh thanks yllwsmrf! By the way, how long do you have to put your hand to the device? 5 seconds or longer?

No, not that long. It doesn't take much more than a second or two to scan.

Thanks a lot!