Wow, you would have thought that mine was the only plane arriving at Kansai Airport. There were no crowds whatsoever at disembarking. The truth of the matter is that 関空 (かんくう) [Kankuu; Short for Kansai Kuuko or Kansai Airport] is really huge.
From disembarking you take a train to the terminal. It's no longer than a minute, so it's kind of like a horizontal elevator ride.
Immigrants and foreign visitors have to be processed through customs. During the flight, the Thai flight attendants go around saying "Anyone who is stopping at Kansai, Anyone who is stopping at Kansai...(the flight continued from Kansai to Bangkok.) For those of us stopping at Kansai we received the proper customs form. However, if you were asleep or in the lavatory or whatever and never got the form, there's plenty at the customs area in Kankuu.
You could tell it was built with crowds in mind, for there was easily forty meters from the entrance to the customs area to the wide expanse of windowed counters harboring the customs personnel. Though I had the form on me, I had neglected to fill it out, so was directed to go all the way to the far wall (where there were pens and tables) to complete the form. It asked my name, home country address, Japanese address (usu. foreign visitors put their hotel name), passport number, flight number, and a couple other things I've forgotten.
Though built for crowds, at 7pm on Monday I was just about the only person there. Thus I was in and out of customs in a flash. I proceeded downstairs to baggage claim, where as luck would have it, my bags were just appearing. Next, I thought It was time to look for Kyoko. I thought I she had told me she'd be waiting outside customs, by the baggage claim. She in fact was waiting outside baggage claim. So I walked up and down the baggage claim area a few times, then gave up and proceeded to final baggage check-out.
"Were you looking for something?" the attendant asked me. "Yeah," I replied with a shrug, "My fiancee." He smiled and said "Perhaps she is waiting somewhere else." Thank you, master of the obvious. But he was exceptionally polite, even if it was perhaps rehearsed, and I was on my way after showing my paperwork and answering a few questions about my baggage and purpose of visiting Japan.
My first sight after leaving the baggage claim room was that of Kyoko. And what a welcome sight she was. She smiled and said "Welcome to Japan!" That first hug was the greatest feeling I'd had since the last one when seeing her off in December. Suddenly it was as if we had never even parted, and we were one again.
The last thing I did inside Kankuu was exchange some currency. Not even thirty minutes in the country and Kyoko was prodding me to practice my Japanese. The attendant was not at the counter, so I said, "ごめんください..." [gomen kudasai; A common greeting upon arriving someplace. Kind of like "Excuse me, I'm here."] The rate I got wasn't that far from the market value - 117.5￥ for each dollar (market value is about 120-122.)
We proceeded out of the terminal and bought tickets for the bus to downtown 大阪 (おおさか） [Osaka].