Narita Adds Automated Gates At Immigration

Above, a moving walkway at Narita International Airport's departure gate area. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

While U.S. airports (the TSA, in particular) seem determined to make the airport experience more burdensome and miserable, Japan's airports are taking the opposite route.

Jiji Press reported:

Narita, Chiba Pref., June 23 (Jiji Press)--Narita International Airport near Tokyo has added automated gates at the immigration control that allows preregistered travelers to go through examinations quickly. 

On Monday, the airport serving as a key gateway to the Japanese capital began operating the newly added automated gates, now allowing those visiting the airport for shopping, seeing people off and other purposes to preregister as users of the gates.

In the U.S., unless one has a plane ticket or boarding pass, nobody can go beyond the TSA screening stations to see people off or shop.

Four Japanese international airports, Narita, Haneda, Chubu and Kansai, have this automated system. All one needs to do to get through the gates is to have their passport and fingerprints scanned. This is only a 20-second process.

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