Is a passport required for transit through Narita, Japan (NRT)?

In principle no one will be interested in your passport during your transit until you get to the departure gate. After you deplane, there is a separate path for international transit that takes you through security, past some check in desks (if you need to check in or get your boarding passes) and straight back upstairs to the international departure lounge, without passing through passport control.

Actually I did an international transit through Narita earlier in the week, and I even took a photograph of the sign.

(CI 17 to TPE gets a special sign reminding you that TPE isn't in Japan I think because CI 17 is actually a through flight originating in HNL going via NRT, so there will be a lot of people making that transit, but it is a bit of a quirk there.)

Anyway, the short security queue, shown on the left in this picture, has someone doing a boarding pass or itinerary check, but I think that's mostly to ensure you don't go the wrong way. It's an airport helper staff not Japanese border security. I found my onward itinerary on my phone (I wasn't checked in because this was across onto a separate ticket) and that was enough to reassure her, although she did find it odd I hadn't printed it out, but I don't think I showed my passport.

Now, as for the bureaucracy, will the Japanese government allow this transit on a refugee document? I think that is close to the "Do I need a visa?" suggested duplicate above. But if you specify the origin and destination countries of your journey I can try to pull it up on TIMATIC.