I admit that I'm an anal person. I'm never late, obsessively
tidy, impeccably organized, and borderline OCD. I'm not
without vices, however. I drink rum like a pirate and am sadly
addicted to nori potato chips. Getting back to the
point--maybe the reason Japan and I click so well is because it's
just as anal as I am. Take their airports, for example...
NRT to LAX
Departing Narita airport I embarked for my hometown of Los
Angeles. ANA's internet check-in was a godsend, and Narita's
attached shopping paradise made short work of killing the mounds of
spare time I inevitably allow myself. The most pertinent perk
for me, though, was the immigration line. As you'd expect, it
was long; but it moved faster than a Shinkansen high on the finest
Colombian coffee. Every single
booth had an immigration
officer in it. Multilingual signs clearly directed the
newbies. It was a testament to Japanese efficiency.
After landing in LA and heading down the stairs to immigration, I
wanted to go right back to Japan. Freakin' chaos. I
flashed back to the time I was at McDonald's in Italy. Are
there even lines?!
Oh wait...there are
lines. I just couldn't find them at first because they're not
moving and they snake back to the tarmac. And this was the US
citizen line. I couldn't even imagine what the foreign
passports line was like. What an utterly torturous welcome
back to my home country.
Was every booth open? Of course not. What's even worse
was that the booth for airline crew would sit idle for tens of
minutes at a time. Could they not service waiting customers in
their downtime? Of course not. At least my bag was
already waiting for me by the time I got through.
It's also worth mentioning that LAX is forever under
construction. When are they gonna finish it? Japan
could've built 3 airports by now.
Every time I visit LA, I'm instantly reminded of the primary reasons
I left in the first place. Japan's efficiency and customer
service spoils the hell out of anal me.
LAX to NRT
Again, ANA's internet check-in allowed me to breeze right through to
step 2. I highly recommend choosing an airline that offers
this service. Most probably do.
The next challenge--airport security. Uggg...I wasn't looking
forward to this. Surprisingly, it wasn't bad. The line
moved along quickly and every screening booth was open. No, it
wasn't as fast as Narita, but it looked like TSA finally got their
act somewhat together. I wonder how many complaints and
lawsuits it took. Interestingly, they weren't even using that
expensive-looking body scanner. Nice to see tax dollars
well-spent.
Arriving in Narita I was greeted by an immigration line running at
peak efficiency. Two people were ahead of me in the "re-entry
permit holders" line, and as we waited I saw officers from the
"Japanese passports" line servicing other lines including
ours. Learn from this, USA. Learn from this.
I got my bag and whizzed though customs without issue. This
has always been my experience at Narita. Unfortunately, such
words rarely describe LAX.
Final Note
Does this article seek to summarize the airport experience at every
airport in Japan and the US? No freakin' way. Yes, some
Japanese airports might suck while other USA airports rock. I
executed my comparison using narrative from a single experience,
which is anything but a scientific approach. Take it for what
it's worth (whatever that
means).
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