A Tokyo airport delivered my worst travel experience in a long time

There must be more than 1000 people crammed into one section of the small arrivals hall.

We are log jammed in the entrance, going nowhere for 30 or so minutes, until a kind of line forms and those ahead start shuffling, inch by inch, to a destination I can’t see from the back of the line.

It took more than two hours to reach the immigration desk at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport.Credit: Bloomberg

It’s hot, there’s no water, and someone ahead in the line, who seems to be experienced with this airport, says it might take three hours to reach the immigration desk.

It takes more than two.

Arriving at a destination is always a thrill, but it’s often tempered by the knowledge you may have to negotiate a long “other passports” line at immigration.

For me, that’s usually the worst part of any trip. I’m dead tired after a long flight and impatient to get fresh air, a coffee or to bed.

I did not expect Tokyo’s Haneda Airport to offer the worst airport experience I’ve had for a long time.Credit: Bloomberg

Some airports are notorious for their disorganisation. Others process so many people that even orderly lines take an hour or so.

But I did not expect Tokyo’s Haneda Airport to offer the worst airport experience I’ve had for a long time.

I hadn’t been prepared. I’d been looking forward to a swift exit. The Japanese have traditionally been known for their organisation and politeness. How could it be otherwise?

I’ve been to Haneda a few times before, and I have no recall of it being anything other than easy. I am so confident that I bring a handheld duffel bag instead of my usual rolling carry-on case.

Big mistake. The walk from the gate is far longer than expected. When we reach the arrivals hall, there are people streaming from all directions, forming scrums that coalesce around only two or three narrow entry points.

Once I move on to a line, I have to lug the bag on my arm or push it along the floor by my feet as people progress at a snail’s pace. I don’t have any bottled water or snacks on me (my advice to anyone entering Tokyo via Haneda is to bring supplies).

There are no vending machines, but there is a water fountain by the toilets at one end, as someone kindly points out. Only, I have to leave the line to get to it.

People are fanning themselves with their tickets. I imagine the infectious diseases we might all catch being squeezed into a poorly ventilated space.

Eventually, each of us reaches the kiosks where our fingerprints are taken and passports scanned, and we rejoin the line for the last leg, which takes us to an actual immigration officer.

Once through, luggage has been neatly stacked by the conveyor belt, so that part is simple.

I wonder if the crowds are an aberration, and I’ve been unlucky to arrive in Tokyo on a peak travel day. There has been some kind of holiday in this week, apparently, but a couple of people in the line tell me this muddle is quite usual these days.

It isn’t just the number of people being processed; it’s the very chaos created by a system that probably is efficient for a normal number of travellers but fails when arrivals are heavy.

It seems Japan is becoming a victim of its own success. I’d say a good percentage of people on the line are Americans. A few tell me they are visiting because Japan is so inexpensive.

Australians have had a long love affair with Japan. It remains one of the most magical places in the world to visit – with a graciousness that the Western world can’t match.

Right now, it’s also extremely good value – one of the few countries where our currency has some heft. From January to September this year, arrivals from Australia were 637,000, surpassing 613,000 for the whole of 2023.

While tourists tend to blend into a mega metropolis like Tokyo, Kyoto has banned tourists from part of its geisha districts due to bad behaviour and overcrowding.

It’s horrifying to see another of the world’s heritage cities go the way of Venice.

More than 3 million international travellers entered Japan in August this year, up 36 per cent from the year before. I hope Haneda isn’t the tip of the iceberg – evidence that Japan isn’t coping well with the numbers.

On the other hand, leaving is easy, and I’m through passport and immigration control in less than 10 minutes.

Perhaps some Japanese secretly like things this way. They’d be too polite to say otherwise.