Passenger pickup at Narita airport?

Question

I'm going to be picking up my mom at Narita in a couple of days, and I'm not entirely sure how this works. I know I can take a train into the airport (is Narita express the best option?), but I'm not sure what to do from there. I know in America they've gotten much more picky about going into an airport if you don't have a ticket, etc. Do they have the same kind of restrictions in Japan?

I checked out Narita's website, and as far as I can see there are no designated pickup areas. I want to be able to give my mom a specific place to meet me so she doesn't get lost. Would the best option be to have her go downstairs to the train station in the basement and meet me there? Or is there somewhere more obvious, such as at customs or something that I could meet her? What would be great is if I could meet her at her gate. Can you do that here? Thanks.

Answer 1

I have had to do this a few times already and through trial and error this is what worked for me.

Yes, Narita Express is your best mode of transportation. There are cheaper modes of transportation, but NEX is simple to do.

As far as meeting places, you will have to wait outside of the customs and immigration area. You can download a PDF map from the Narita Airport website and this will help coordinate your efforts. First you must be sure of the arrival terminal. Terminal 1, or 2. The tricky part is when your mother exits the customs control area, there are usually two exit doors. I told my parents to go to the exit that is farthest to the left. That way I would know which door to wait at.
The other thing I did, was to buy a pre paid mobile phone and send it to them in the mail. That way they could contact me once they were in the terminal and at baggage claim. The phone also helped out while they were sightseeing on their own. They would call when they were lost or not sure of where to go. I did this same thing for my parents, mother in law, niece and friends when they visited us in Japan. The phone was the best thing that made everything work.