Hello all and thank you for checking out this post. I’m having a hard time getting the details on what its like landing in japan and going through customs/security. What I want to know is how invasive theyre going to get when I go through. I’m expecting metal detectors, maybe drug sniffing dogs, x rays of my luggage etc etc. Besides these things, are they going to physically go through my carry on or checked bags? The internet doesn’t seem to want to tell me anything but what I’m not allowed to bring. I’m not trying to smuggle things, it would just ease my anxiety if I knew a bit more details.
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It isn’t strict or anything. You go through customs, they look over your passport and may ask how long you’re going to stay and see if you have a return flight.
They never looked through my luggage until after COVID. When I arrived in October, they briefly opened my checked luggage case and looked over it, but it wasn’t an in-depth search. Took like 20 seconds extra.
When I went through last week there was drug dogs near the checked baggage carousel but that was about it. I gave the customs declaration paper (I had nothing to declare) and my passport to the customs officer, they looked to make sure the immigration officer put the landing permission sticker in and I was good to go.
They might look through your luggage, but it’s either random, when they have a suspicion, or have a lot of extra time they might do some more checks than usual. But it’s probably not going to happen.
I’ve never had my luggage checked when coming in on an international flight.
I’ve had it checked on a couple of domestic flights, because I bring my film camera which they have to check manually (I don’t want to put it through the X-Ray), and they’ve had extra time then and went through the bags too. I don’t find it very invasive though.
Weren’t really invasive at all, they didn’t look at my bags at all. Just make sure you log into your visit Japan web account and get the paper they hand out to you right off the plane if they still do that, otherwise just walk fast right off the plane. For me going back home was more of a hassle because the check in process feels way longer than prior experiences, meaning the lines are long, so just make sure to check in earlier.