Note: this is just my personal experience; does not necessarily mean that everyone will have the same situation, but want to ease a bit of the anxiety I had regarding customs and immigration during this time.
I arrived in Tokyo Haneda yesterday, fully anticipating and preparing for customs and immigration to be horror stories. I had come across series of posts online of other people’s experience saying that it took them anywhere from 3-6h to pass through during Golden Week or during the past few weeks. All of this had me convinced that I would be unable to make it into downtown Tokyo before midnight.
Anyways, long story short, things were okay. The process was definitely quicker because I had done my immigration and customs declarations of VisitJapanWeb ahead of arrival, but the entire process took 10-15m max. The line into immigration was just over 1 row and at least 8-10 booths were open on both the domestic and international sides.
This could have been for a multitude of reasons (later afternoon flight arrival, a few days into Golden Week etc.) Nevertheless, if you’re arriving in the next few days, I wouldn’t stress yourself out more than necessary about wait times — the employees at the airport were all very kind, helpful and organized which made what could’ve been a stressful situation a calm one!
Hope this provides a bit of reassurance to anyone else who is worrying about the process.
8 comments
Wouldn’t the horror stories be about travelling within Japan, not at international customs?
Honestly the time required to clear immigration and customs is heavily depended on how many planes arrive in the same period. Your best best is to just check the airport schedule.
You arrived early/mid Golden Week when most of the crowds are still leaving Japan. Wait until the weekend when it’ll be busier with people returning home.
Arrived in Haneda Saturday with the same experience. 0 wait time, just had to go through each area. Stayed in Asakusa through Tuesday and it wasn’t nearly as packed as people have acted it would be for Golden Week.
In Kyoto now and while Kyoto station was busy, it was still nothing compared to the crowd at something like a Disney park in Florida or Cali.
The days off of golden week start today, and the issue is on domestic travel departures. Very little impact on international arrivals.
Do we still need visit Japan web now that their covid entry requirements are gone?
Spent more time explaining why I only had a backpack than queuing. Not Tokyo though but international flight anyways
I flew into Haneda on Friday. The line was a little long. Took about 30 minutes to clear, but not awful.