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Arrival in Japan is four checkpoints in a fixed order, and the order never changes whichever airport you land at. Knowing which one is coming next is most of what makes it quick, because each has a different thing it wants from you and having it ready is the whole game.
The four checkpoints
- 1. Quarantine — health screening. Usually a walk-through.
- 2. Immigration — passport, photograph, both index fingerprints, arrival card.
- 3. Baggage reclaim — the only step with no official on the other side.
- 4. Customs — declaration, whether or not you have anything to declare.
Before you leave the aircraft
Have your Visit Japan Web QR codes open as screenshots, not as a live page. Airport wi-fi in the arrivals corridor is unreliable and mobile data may not have connected yet. There are two separate codes, one for immigration and one for customs, and they are scanned at two points several hundred metres apart.
If you did not register, cabin crew hand out the paper arrival card and customs declaration during the flight. Take them and fill them in while seated. Doing it standing at a counter with a queue behind you is the slowest possible version.
1. Quarantine
The first desks after the jet bridge. In normal periods this is a thermal camera and a walk-through, and nobody stops you. If you are visibly unwell, or arriving from a country with an active outbreak notice, an officer may ask about symptoms and recent travel.
Animal and plant quarantine sits here too, and it matters if you are carrying food. Fresh fruit, vegetables, meat and meat products are heavily restricted, including cured and vacuum-packed items that seem harmless. That is a customs and quarantine question with real penalties, covered in the customs allowances guide.
2. Immigration
The long queue. Signs split foreign passports from Japanese nationals and re-entry permit holders; join the foreigner line even if you have been before.
At the desk you hand over your passport and either scan your QR code or give the officer your paper arrival card. Then comes the part first-timers do not expect: you place both index fingers on a small scanner and look into a camera mounted on the desk. It takes about ten seconds. Biometric capture is mandatory for foreign nationals aged 16 and over, with narrow exemptions for diplomats and special permanent residents.
What they usually ask
Purpose of visit, length of stay, and where you are staying the first night. Answer plainly. The address you wrote on the arrival card should match what you say out loud, which is the actual reason to write a real hotel rather than a vague one.
You leave with a landing permission sticker or stamp in your passport showing your status and the date your permission expires. Read it before you walk away. That date is the one that counts, not the 90 days you assumed, and it is the number an overstay is measured against.
3. Baggage reclaim
Nothing official happens here, but it is the right moment to make a decision about your suitcase. Japanese stations are excellent at moving people and poor at moving luggage, and hotel check-in is typically 15:00 regardless of when your flight landed.
Luggage forwarding counters are in the arrivals hall, past customs. Sending the large case to your hotel and carrying an overnight bag on the train is the single change that most improves a first day in Japan — see how takkyubin works and what it costs. If you are keeping the case with you, check the Shinkansen oversized baggage rule before you board anything.
4. Customs
Everyone passes customs, including people with nothing to declare. You either scan your customs QR code at an electronic gate or hand a paper declaration to an officer.
| You are carrying | What to do |
|---|---|
| Nothing over the allowances | Declare nothing, walk through |
| Over ¥1,000,000 in cash or equivalent | Separate declaration form, mandatory |
| Medicine above the personal allowance | Declare, show your certificate |
| Meat, fruit or plants | Declare. Most will be confiscated |
Officers pull people aside for a bag check reasonably often, and it is not an accusation. Answer the questions, open the bag, and it is over in a few minutes. If you are carrying prescription medicine in any quantity, see the medication rules before you fly, not at the desk.
How long the whole thing takes
| Conditions | Aircraft door to arrivals hall |
|---|---|
| Off-peak, pre-registered | 25–40 minutes |
| Typical afternoon bank of arrivals | 45–75 minutes |
| Several wide-bodies landing together | 90 minutes or more |
Build this into any connection you have booked yourself. A domestic flight or a timed bus 90 minutes after landing is a bet, not a plan. Trains into the city run frequently enough that missing one costs very little — see the Narita routes compared.
Four things to do in the arrivals hall
- Get cash. Airport ATMs accept foreign cards reliably, which is not true of every ATM in the country. See which networks work.
- Buy or collect an IC card if you are not using a phone-based one. It pays for trains, buses and convenience stores from the first tap — how they work.
- Collect pocket wi-fi if you reserved one. The counters are in the arrivals hall and close in the evening.
- Send the suitcase if you are forwarding it. The counters keep shorter hours than the airport does.
Sources
- Immigration Services Agency of Japan — landing procedures, provision of biometric information, and landing permission.
- Japan Customs — passenger clearance procedure and declaration requirements.
- Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare — quarantine procedures for arriving passengers.
- Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries — animal and plant quarantine on entry.
Data checked: 2026-09-27
