US Citizen traveling to Malaysia through Tokyo - transit visa needed?

score:8

Accepted answer

U.S. citizens can visit Japan without a visa anyway, so there's certainly no need to get one for transiting.

Regarding the second part of your question, you don't have to pass through Immigration at Narita on an international-to-international connection. From the Narita airport's page on international-to-international connections:

When connecting between international flights, passengers are not required to undergo Immigration procedures if they are staying in the departure area (airside) until their next flight.

The page linked above also contains instructions for how to transit from one international flight at Narita to another with instructions specific to each of Narita's three terminals. You should probably figure out which terminals your arriving and departing flights will likely use and read through that guide. In short, though, the transfer process is this:

  1. After exiting the aircraft, follow the signs for "International Transfer."

  2. Go through transfer security. This will be similar to the normal security checks you go through to board a flight, though you might want to look up the specific rules for what Japan allows when passing through security checks, as these may differ somewhat from the U.S. Note that you will need to show a boarding pass or a ticket for your onward flight in order to pass through transfer security.

  3. If you don't already have a boarding pass for your connecting flight, go to one of the transfer desks for your airline to check in and get it.

  4. If your departing flight leaves from a different terminal than where you arrived, you'll need to take a shuttle bus to your departing terminal. The timetables for these buses can be accessed via the link above. These buses are specifically for transit passengers and will depart and arrive inside the airside portion of the terminals, so you will not need to pass through immigration or security again after getting off the bus.

  5. Proceed to your departure gate.

Upvote:7

Copying from comment to answer: If you do not need a visa for entering the country then you do not need a visa to transit because you could, in theory, always transit by leaving airside and entering the country and then go to your next flight. "Sterile" transit if it exists it does to accommodate those who can not do this because they would need a visitor visa to enter.

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