customs at narita
 

hi could anyone let me know the time it takes to clear customs and imigration at narita i arrive at 20 30 and i have to catch the 21 55 bus to the hotel in tokyo will that be enough time thanks to anyone that can give me the advice bb

I would be concerned

If the plane arrives on time and you are on a Japanese passport you will easily make it.

If things happen as normal you will land late and then spend 20 minutes driving around the airport

If you are on a foreign passport you can expect to get stuck at immigration - it would be very easy to spend 30 minutes queuing. The good news is that after that your bag will well and truly be ready, customs are efficient, (have your passport ready as they will want to look at it) As a visitor you can expect to get waved through and you should be heading for the bus ticket counter ten minutes after you get your passport stamped. After that its straight outside for the bus.

So, I think that it is achievable but you should have a plan B in case you miss the bus. (Train to Tokyo/Shinagawa/Shinjuku and taxi from there ?). You will notice some of the japanese running for immigration, follow them :)

thank you x class for your help i am flying from singapore with cx and the only connection in hong kong is at 15 00 so i am stuck with the flights is it the narita express train ? i have to get to ikebukuro i have been in japan before so i have a fair idea of the trains in tokyo it was last year it took me a long time to get through customs but it was mid afternoon. i was hoping that they were not as busy at night any way i will take your advice and tag on to the fastest japanese runner once again thanks bb

Arriving at 2030 in T2 there are two other flights arriving around the same time (one from Shanghai and the other from Taipei). I reckon that shouldn't cause too much of a buildup at immigration and 1 1/2 hours from landing to train is more than sufficient, even at busy times.

Just don't give the queue minders a hard time if there is a line up. They take you out of line, explain why they are short-staffed and send you back to the back of the line (surprisingly un-Japanese but witnessed in person last week of an LX flight - and no, I was not the one complaining!!)

thanks snoopy for the information i did,nt realize that narita stopped taking air trafic so early here in melbourne we do not have a curfew my house is in direct line with the north south runway but we only have a few planes during the night so i am glad of that once again thanks for going to the trouble for me bb

The trick is to walk briskly to Immigration. You should be OK if you do that. The express train services (JR & Keisei) stop around the same time. It's 30 seconds from the Customs exit to the bus ticket counter, and 30 seconds from the counter to the bus stop. Anything bright orange is bus-related.

Although the last Keisei Skyliner is 22:00, there's a Local at 22:15 and a Limited Express at 22:41. You'd change at Nippori to the Loop Line, or Ueno and grab a cab, depending on your baggage I guess.

Last Narita Express (on JR) is 21:43, so that's no help.

The last two options are to stay at the airport overnight, or get a taxi. Taxis are fixed price into the city.

If you have a suitcase, it can free you up a bit if you have a delivery service get it to your hotel the next morning. It's really cheap.

But I think you'll be fine.