wagyl wrote:Thank you for reminding me. It is interesting to hear your experiences. I have never experienced enough delay at immigration either leaving or entering (exclusive reentry permit lanes for the win!) Japan to go to the effort of signing up. It sounds like there is little enthusiasm for the system within Immigration either.
I share your experience during entering. But I never saw special reentry permit lanes on the way out. I've always seen Japanese, resident foreigners, and tourists all commingled. And I always waited at least 10-15 minutes in those lines until the automated gate program began. I absolutely love the dirty looks I get from hundreds of waiting people (including Japanese) as I breeze past them. A few people always try to follow me, and always get turned away by an attendant, as they did not sign up for the program or were not eligible. Sign-up took about 5 minutes if I recall, and was well worth it.