As the second containment of late October 2020 is announced in France, I have to travel to Japan for urgent family reasons. As I write this in 2021, Japan is still closed to the vast majority of travelers, since March 2020, with the exception of Japanese nationals and a few foreign residents under rather strict conditions. I have Japanese nationality and am therefore authorized to re-enter the country at any time.

The flight selection process was relatively efficient: on the one hand, the number of services to Japan is considerably reducedon the other hand, I’d like as much as possible to avoid transits at a time when travel conditions, even for connecting passengers who did not remain on national soil, were already becoming considerably tougher worldwide. A third constraint is added on occasion: I’m traveling with my grandmother, who is 82 years old: minimizing travel time is therefore desirable to reduce her fatigue.

We therefore choose a direct flight from Paris to Tokyo. Our choice will be Air France for its highly advantageous flexibility policy at the time of travel (refunds and changes free of charge). At the time of the trip, Air France was serving Narita airport, located on the outskirts of the city, with three flights a week, and had stopped serving Haneda. Note that the Paris-Narita route indirectly constitutes a territorial continuity line, as the flight coincides with the departure of the Aircalin flight to Nouméa from Tokyo. As far as my grandmother is concerned, we’ll request wheelchair assistance with a simple click on the booking form, which I’ll double up with a message to customer service via the dedicated Platinum member hotline (just in case).

Check-in and airport transfers

On the day of departure, a Saturday and therefore with no work commitments, I joined my grandmother at her home early in the morning to help her with the final preparations, then we headed for Charles de Gaulle airport. Sky Priority check-in was very busy today, with many travellers returning to their homes abroad in preparation for the second lockdown. The welcome is pleasant and I justify my eligibility to enter Japan by showing my Japanese passport. No further formalities are required, and we get our boarding passes. The attendant tells us to wait a few minutes for wheelchair assistance.

The assistance arrives after about ten minutes and my grandmother is seated in the chair. We head for the departure formalities. First of all, the Border Police will not ask for any proof (the travel certificate was already back in force). Then the security check: as I feared, with all long-haul departures from Charles de Gaulle gathered in 2E, the flow of passengers is high, resulting in congestion at the security checkpoint, where social distancing is far from being respected.

Nonetheless, thanks to the priority conferred by the wheelchair accompaniment, we’ll pass the checkpoint rather quickly and with minimal contact with the crowd.

As we leave the checkpoint and head for the Air France business lounge for lunch, an Air France employee seems to be waiting for us. She approaches me and asks me to confirm my identity, and confides that she wanted to meet us as soon as we checked in. It will accompany us to the lounge and afterwards, from the lounge to the plane.

This escort will relieve us of the need to check-in at the lounge reception desk, and we’ll be taken to the quiet area normally reserved for Ultimate members. A truly presidential treatment, in my grandmother’s own words!

Once settled, it’s time for lunch. We’ll go to the buffet, where food is served on request by the staff, while drinks are self-service.

Boarding

Just enough time to make a few calls to the family in Japan before it’s time to board. Our two escorts return with the wheelchair and give us some bad news: boarding is remote, with a few stairs to climb. Our Air France escort told us that she had done everything she could to change the flight gate, but operational constraints prevailed. I ask my grandmother if she feels like making the effort and she nods in agreement.

The boarding process will be via paxbus, but our escorts will reserve the entire back of the bus for us to sit in the space we need.

The driver will unlock the rear door first to give us priority. The rest of the bus doors will be blocked until we arrive in the aircraft. My grandmother has to make a little effort, but always under the watchful eye of our companion.

Our Air France companion assists us with the luggage and leads the way.

The joy of boarding a long-haul plane for the first time since the start of the pandemic is palpable.

We’re settled into our seats, a row of duo seats in the middle of the cabin. Our companions take their leave, and we thank them for their invaluable assistance.

The boarding process is coming to an end. A total of 70 passengers will fly to Tokyo today, including connecting passengers to Nouméa.

My grandmother, rather used to Japanese airlines like ANA and JAL, is amused by the video showing the safety instructions on Air France.

Cruise

We take off and the service begins. Normally withdrawn in the Economy cabin, an aperitif service will be offered to my grandmother and me: Business class champagne and some Japanese crackers.

The meal arrives next. No choice: it’s the same dish for everyone. Starters include pasta salad, while dessert is a far breton…

And for the main course, a beef stir-fry with rice and vegetables. The cabin crew on duty tells me they regret the elimination of choice. Everything is served with a smile, and I’m offered a refill of champagne. The meal is generally of good quality.

Now it’s time to rest a little, or try to. In fact, I enjoy watching the wingflex of this 777 for hours

The meal ended off Stockholm. As the flight is rather empty, we’ll have no trouble finding rows of 4 to lie down in.

The distribution of arrival formalities forms begins. Unsurprisingly, they are a little more complex and time-consuming than usual. Firstly, a sheet of questions relating to the passenger’s state of health (symptoms). Secondly, a quarantine form with the traveler’s place of residence/stay and contact details. Note that a 14-day quarantine is prescribed for anyone entering Japan from abroad at the time of travel. However, this quarantine is not as radically controlled (by geolocation, for example) as it was in certain Asian countries during the pandemic (Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore…). In addition, there is the customs declaration form or, for the few foreigners authorized to travel, the classic immigration/re-entry form.

Once the paperwork has been completed, the sun is already setting…

It’s time to lie down for the night, but really, I’m so excited to be back in Japan that I couldn’t sleep.

I’ll be chatting to the crew several times during the night: we’ll be discussing their sleeping arrangements in Tokyo, where they’re strictly forbidden to leave the hotel. For the past few months, however, they have been able to have breakfast in the dining room (rather than in their rooms) and go to the gym… A very friendly and attentive crew today.

I return to my original seat as the sun rises. My grandmother didn’t sleep either (to watch movies, as always…).

We’re getting closer to our goal, and I’m increasingly happy to be spending time in Tokyo.

Breakfast (or at least the breakfast basket) is served just over an hour before landing.

Inside, nothing very original: diced fruit, bread, orange juice, drinking yoghurt and a hot cheese filling. Hot drinks are served separately. I deeply regret the tray where slightly more qualitative elements were served.

We begin our flight over the country, here at the level of the Japanese Alps.

We approach Narita from the north, with the prefecture of Ibaraki.

The approach circuit will bring us in from the south, as shown by this view of the town of Hitachinaka.

A final turn must be made for the line-up. The weather is magnificent on this All Saints’ Day, as it will be for the whole of my month-long stay.

We finally landed after 11 hours 30 minutes of flight, at around 8 o’clock in the morning.

But we’re a long way from getting out of the airport and enjoying a sunny Sunday in Tokyo before returning to (remote) work the next day… We will be accompanied by a very kind lady from Narita airport wheelchair assistance for my grandmother.

Arrival

Japan requires COVID-19 screening for all incoming travelers. From March 2020 to July 2020, this was done via a nasopharyngeal PCR test, as most of us are familiar with in France. Since then, and at the time of this trip in November 2020, Japanese health authorities have opted for a saliva test that is faster to perform (and probably less reliable, although that’s another debate).

Arriving at Narita airport is quite unsettling: the airport, once a sign of Tokyo’s international openness, has been transformed into a giant test center for the few incoming travelers. Rows of chairs designed to keep travelers waiting fill the corridors, which are always lined with posters promoting tourism, no longer relevant in the midst of border closures.

A first inspection checkpoint must be passed to validate that you come from a country considered a health risk (i.e., at the time of travel in November 2020, virtually the entire planet, with the exception of a few Pacific islands), and the screening procedure is detailed. Then, at a second station down the way, you’ll be given a test tube and funnel. This means you have to fill them with your saliva in special booths to ensure privacy. Instructions on how to fill the vial are posted in the booths. The authorities also saw fit (or funny) to stick up a picture of a lemon, apparently helping people salivate. An employee then looks at your vial, receives it and sticks an identification number on it, which is used to collect the result later. It has to be said that the organization is meticulous, as always in Japan, and in strict compliance with the barrier gestures.

There are several other inspection stations to pass through, where you are successively reminded of the self-controlled quarantine requirement, and the fact that the use of public transport (including cabs) for 14 days is prohibited. The address where we’ll be staying is noted, as well as the people with whom we’ll be in contact (family, for example). The local telephone number is taken and I’m asked to take daily calls to check on my health. But in practice, they never called me.

This is followed by a wait of about half an hour. The tracking numbers assigned when you submit your saliva are called to receive the test result. We are finally called and given this negative test will. I’m told that people who test positive for COVID-19 are never called, and are sent to hospital for 14 days at their own expense.

After about three hours of formalities, we join our family and head for home.

Bottom line

A classic flight in terms of hard product, but made very pleasant by the faultless accompaniment of my grandmother, on departure, on board and on arrival. The health context (as this word is often misused for the wrong reasons…) considerably alters travel conditions, and the long and restrictive process on arrival in Japan is undoubtedly the apotheosis of the paradigm shift in which we currently live. Nevertheless, we will have to learn to strike the right balance between the philosophy of sanitation (altering service to protect customers and crews) and cost-cutting (altering service to cut costs in times of crisis). The airlines are currently leaning one side than the other, and we’ll let you guess which…

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