Well done, Japanese customs officer, for asking questions that I feel like I should be getting more often!
I’m rarely questioned at immigration & customs
I travel internationally a ton, often for the purposes of airline review trips, where I’m visiting a lot of countries in a short period of time. You’d think that this would look suspicious to immigration officers, yet I almost never get any sort of questioning.
Historically, I’ve always traveled with a backpack and carry-on bag, both because there are certain comforts I like traveling with, and because I figure that just traveling internationally with a small backpack would be too suspicious.
Yet for my past several trips, I’ve started just traveling with a backpack. This is convenient in terms of not having to worry about overhead bin space, and not having to lug a lot of stuff around. I assumed that this would arouse some suspicion at airports, but nope, for the most part, it hasn’t.
Like, I took a one night trip to Bolivia, I’m just traveling with a backpack, and you have no questions for me? Admittedly I’d be the dumbest smuggler on earth, and perhaps it would just be so obvious as to not be suspicious. But still, you’d think there would be questions.
I’m not trying to get into an argument about “wokeness” here, but I think it’s important to acknowledge that me being able to breeze through customs and immigration like this at least partly comes down to me being a white dude. I guarantee that if I were an obvious minority, I’d probably be stopped a lot more often.
My funny Japan customs experience
All of this brings me to my arrival in Japan. After flying Korean Air’s A321neo business class, I arrived at New Chitose Airport (CTS), and had to clear immigration and customs. I had no issues at immigration, but then I got to the customs officer.
In Japan, you fill out a customs form, and then each passenger has to go up to a customs officer who reviews the form. Every time I’ve entered Japan, they’ve just sent me on my way without asking anything. This guy looked at my form, and then looked at me, with a slightly confused look on his face.
The conversation then went something like this:
Officer: “Did you collect your luggage?”
Me: “Yes, I just have the backpack.”
Officer: “How long are you staying in Japan for?”
Me: “Just for one night. I fly to Tokyo Haneda tonight, and then to New York tomorrow.”
Officer: “Do you have any gold?”
Me: “No.”
Officer: “Do you have any illegal drugs?”
Me: “No.”
Officer: “Do you have any friends in Japan?”
Me: “Not really.”
Officer: “Is it okay if I search your bag?”
Me: “Of course!”
He then proceeded to search my bag. I’d say it was a reasonably thorough search, as he rummaged through every pocket of my bag. But it wasn’t one of those situations where they’re convinced you’re carrying something, and send your bag through an x-ray, search your body, etc.
After a minute, he simply said “thank you for waiting, so sorry, welcome to Japan.”
Bottom line
I don’t often get questioned at customs, even though logically, I feel like it would be appropriate. So that’s why I was kind of amused by my arrivals experience in Japan, whereby the officer started by outright asking me if I had gold or drugs. I can totally understand how traveling internationally with a small backpack looks suspicious, so I don’t blame him!
Given how rare this kind of questioning is for me, I figured it was an anecdote worth sharing.
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