On 7 September, the second stop of the Haneda Terminal 3 lounge tour was American Express's Centurion Lounge. It had opened on 16 July 2025 — the first Centurion Lounge in Japan and the thirtieth worldwide, not yet two months old. The space still smelled faintly new, yet the service already ran steady. It sits upstairs past security, near Gate 114.

A reserved-seating sign in the Centurion Lounge: the Centurion members' corner.

A Dark Space in Japan Blue

Where the JAL First Lounge is brightness, the Centurion is depth: dark seating, black-and-white photography, quiet corners, and one great wall of indigo porcelain tiles — Japan Blue, from Japanese indigo dyeing, is the lounge's signature colour. The long bar is its stage, bottle shelves and pendants glowing against the dark; Centurion members get reserved seating and a private room of their own, and even the washroom's grey tiles keep the same quiet theme — though on this day the cardholders' room was packed to the point that the exclusivity had already been discounted.

Black-and-white photography and dark seating: the Centurion space is deep, dim and slow.

A wall of indigo porcelain tiles: Japan Blue is this lounge's signature colour.

A quiet corner: armchairs, side tables and one bright painting.

The long bar: bottle shelves, pendants and a row of stools — the lounge's stage.

The PRIVATE sign: a room reserved for Centurion members.

The washroom: dark grey tiles and a run of mirrors, on the same quiet theme.

Champagne at the Table

Service works differently here: you do not fetch champagne from the bar — a server comes to your table and pours it for you. Two glasses and the Centurion card rest side by side on the table; the price of admission, woven into an ordinary scene.

Poured at the table: champagne served at your seat, the Centurion way.

Two glasses of champagne and the Centurion card on the table: the price of admission, laid bare.

An Open Kitchen and a Sweets Bar

The food, first, comes with a rule: everything is self-service. There is no ordering at the table — you walk to the open kitchen, order, wait, and carry it back yourself. The kitchen displays an Ozaki beef certificate — branded wagyu from Miyazaki. Ramen arrives still steaming, the mini burgers' patties are seriously thick, and the hamburg steaks under their glossy sauce are a main, not a side. One round table can hold ramen, burgers, wagashi and two champagnes at once, with the whole apron beyond the glass — every plate of it fetched on foot.

The open kitchen's Ozaki beef certificate: branded wagyu from Miyazaki.

A wooden condiment box and miso soup — even the small things arrive properly divided.

Ramen made to order: chashu, nori and spring onion, still steaming.

Two mini burgers — small, but the patties are seriously thick.

The full table: ramen, burgers, wagashi and two champagnes, with the whole apron beyond the glass.

Another angle, another spread: the way to eat here is a little of everything you like.

Hamburg steaks, three thick slices under a glossy sauce: not a side dish, a main.

And one more plain fact: there is no Centurion-exclusive dining here — whatever the open kitchen makes is served to the whole room alike. On the bar, a Yamazaki 12 Year single malt waits for those who know. The sweets bar shapes nerikiri wagashi into tiny seasons. The most Japanese moment happens at the bar: matcha whisked to order — first a hot bowl raised to the blue outside, then an iced matcha latte with a matcha monaka. Japan's first Centurion does its local homework thoroughly; this is not the global template copied over, but a lounge that could only grow in Japan. The bones are good — space and food both. But the name Centurion sells exclusivity, and on this day exclusivity was not delivered: no cardholder-exclusive dishes, every plate fetched yourself, and the private room crowded beyond the name. For a lounge two months old: 81.