Landing at Osaka International Airport (Itami)

What ITM is like

Itami is Osaka's original airport, hemmed in by housing, and today it handles domestic services almost exclusively. Foreign travellers who pass through it are usually connecting in from Tokyo or another island rather than entering the country. The building is far smaller than Kansai, and the walk from gate to exit is short by any standard. Its appeal is how quickly you can be out of it, not what is inside it.

On arrival

Because it is a domestic operation there is no immigration queue: you are off the aircraft and out of the building almost as soon as the bags appear. If your line has been running since the airport you flew from inside Japan, it simply stays with you and needs no attention. Anyone who arrived internationally and connected here should confirm the line is still working before leaving the building, because this is a smaller place with fewer people to ask if something is wrong. The exits toward the transport pick-up points are close and plainly signposted. Give yourself a minute to check rather than discover a problem in a taxi.

How far the airport Wi-Fi gets you

The Wi-Fi is adequate for a building this size and, because there are far fewer people than at Kansai, often faster than you would expect, though the same terms page stands in the way. The thing to understand is that most people are not inside long enough to get any value from it. If you are connecting with a short wait, leaning on your own line is simply less work than logging in again at every airport you touch in a single day.

Getting into town

The main way out is the monorail that runs along the suburbs and meets the lines heading into central Osaka, with buses straight to the main station district as the other common choice and a reasonable run when the road is clear. A taxi makes far more sense here than from Kansai simply because the distance is so much shorter. Almost the whole route is above ground through residential neighbourhoods, so the signal is continuous with barely a gap. The data you spend on this leg goes on the map and on checking when the next connection leaves, not much else.

What people ask about this airport

• Do not confuse it with Kansai — Both get called the Osaka airport in conversation, yet they sit in different directions and a long way apart, so confirm the code on the ticket before you set off.
• A domestic connection needs no new line — A line already running in Japan keeps running here on its own; changing airports inside the same country does not call for a new install.
• The walk inside is shorter than you plan for — The building is small enough that people reach the pick-up points earlier than their own schedule says, so spend the spare minutes settling the onward route rather than waiting idle.