Departing US connecting through Haneda into Beijing on the outbound. Upon departure from Beijing can

Cindy, are you saying that you plan to do the following: US - Haneda (Japan) - Beijing - Haneda (Japan) - US? If this is the case, such an itinerary would be ineligible for 240 hour visa free transit because this is a return flight and not a transit. It is important to understand that the immediate points before and after your mainland China visit have to be in two different countries or eligible territories (eligible territories are Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macau). So, you can create (alter, adapt) your itinerary to look like, for example: US - Haneda (Japan) - Beijing (mainland China in general) - Seoul (South Korea) - Haneda (Japan) - US. As you can see, like this such an itinerary becomes eligible because we have two different countries as immediate points or to be precise Japan and South Korea. Just take your time to play with different flight options and create an itinerary that will make you eligible for 240 hour visa free transit.

Thank you Borut! Very helpful.