Moving to Japan as a foreign resident is genuinely manageable, but the order in which you do things matters more than most relocation guides admit. Miss the Certificate of Eligibility window and you delay your entire move by weeks. Register at the wrong ward office and your zairyu card address stays blank. This checklist is organized by phase, not by priority ranking, because Japan's bureaucracy is largely sequential — each step unlocks the next.
Phase 1: Six to Three Months Before Departure
The single most time-sensitive item in this phase is your Certificate of Eligibility (COE). The COE is issued by the Japanese Immigration Services Agency and proves you have a legitimate reason to reside in Japan before you enter. Without it, you can apply for a visa at a Japanese consulate, but processing takes significantly longer and approval is less predictable.
- Your employer or sponsor in Japan typically files the COE application on your behalf. Confirm they have done this — do not assume.
- COE processing takes 1-3 months for standard work visas. The window varies by consulate and by how thoroughly the application is prepared.
- Once you receive the COE, you take it to your nearest Japanese consulate along with your passport, visa application form, and passport-size photos. The visa itself usually takes 5-7 business days from there.
Documents to prepare in parallel:
- Notarized birth certificate (needed for residence registration and some employer paperwork)
- Marriage certificate if applicable, also notarized
- Apostille-authenticated versions of both if you're coming from a country that participates in the Hague Convention — Japan accepts apostilles directly; non-Hague countries need consular legalization
- Degree certificates if your visa category requires them (Engineer/Specialist in Humanities is the most common category requiring this)
- Criminal background check — some employers and visa categories require one, and obtaining it from your home country can take 2-4 weeks
International shipping decisions:
Sea freight runs ¥100,000-250,000 for a studio or one-bedroom volume (roughly 1-3 cubic meters). A full household move — multiple bedrooms, appliances, furniture — can reach ¥300,000-400,000 and sometimes more. Transit time is 4-8 weeks depending on origin, so ship items you can live without for two months.
Air freight costs three to four times as much per kilogram. It makes sense for essential items you need immediately: a laptop, medications, a few weeks of clothing, and important documents.
Items not worth shipping to Japan: large furniture (Japanese apartments have specific dimensions and built-in storage that often makes Western furniture unusable), US or European 110V/220V small appliances (Japan is 100V), and anything bulky enough that domestic replacements would cost less than the shipping fee. Furniture rental is available for the first months while you get settled.
Phase 2: Three to Zero Months Before Departure
- Arrange temporary housing. You will need an address for your zairyu card within 14 days of establishing residence at that address. Short-term monthly mansions (マンスリーマンション) and guesthouse rooms in the ¥60,000-120,000 per month range provide this flexibility. Options like Sakura House, Oakhouse, and various Weekly/Monthly mansion services accept foreign residents without a Japanese guarantor.
- If you are targeting a long-term apartment, begin the search now. Foreign-friendly agencies and guarantor companies (covered in detail in the apartment hunting guide for foreigners without a guarantor) allow you to initiate the application before you arrive, though signing and key handover generally happens in person.
Moving season warning: Japan's domestic moving industry operates on a highly seasonal calendar. March and April — when Japanese company transfers, school year starts, and university enrollments coincide — are peak season. Moving company fees during this period run 1.5 to 2 times higher than off-peak rates, and in some cases movers are simply not available on your preferred dates. If your arrival falls between mid-February and early April, book your domestic move and any temporary housing 6-8 weeks earlier than you would otherwise. Arriving in May through February gives you substantially more flexibility and lower prices.
- Close or consolidate bank accounts at home. Identify a bank that works internationally with low foreign ATM fees as a bridge while you establish Japanese banking.
- Notify relevant parties of your departure: tax authorities, pension providers, voter rolls, subscription services.
Phase 3: Establishing Your Residence in Japan
This is the most compressed and consequential phase. The 14-day clock for address registration starts from the date you establish residence — when you actually move in to your address — not from your arrival date at the airport.
Ward office registration (転入届):
Go to the city or ward office (市役所 or 区役所) covering the address where you are living, even temporarily. Bring your passport and your zairyu card. Fill out the 転入届 form (available at the counter). Staff will stamp your zairyu card with your registered address — this address stamp is what activates the card for most practical purposes.
See the full ward office registration walkthrough for what to expect at the counter and which additional procedures to complete in the same visit.
First two weeks checklist:
- Register at ward office within 14 days of establishing residence (required by law)
- Get zairyu card address stamped at the same visit
- Apply for My Number card (マイナンバーカード) — when you register, the ward office will issue a "kojin bangō tsūchisho" (個人番号通知書, personal number notification slip) with your 12-digit number and a QR code. Use that QR code to apply for the physical plastic card online or at the ward office counter. The card itself takes approximately 4-6 weeks to arrive and is free. It is increasingly useful as an ID document, health insurance card, and for online government services — apply early.
- Enroll in National Health Insurance (国民健康保険) at the ward office if your employer doesn't provide company health insurance
- Open a Japanese bank account — Japan Post Bank (ゆうちょ銀行) accepts new residents most consistently in the early days; see the bank account opening guide
- Get a Japanese SIM card for a local phone number, which you'll need for bank verification and various applications
- Register with your country's embassy (most offer online registration for nationals residing abroad)
Phase 4: First Three Months
- Set up automatic bank transfers (口座振替) for utilities, rent, and NHK fee if applicable
- Submit My Number to your employer for tax withholding paperwork
- If driving: obtain a Japanese driver's license if eligible by license exchange (免許の切り替え). Note that the written test was revised in October 2025 — it now covers 50 questions with a 90% pass threshold (previously 10 questions, 70% threshold). Allow more preparation time than older guides suggest.
- Enroll children in school if applicable — your ward office's education section (教育委員会) handles public school enrollment; the process requires your residence registration and zairyu card
- File for pension exemption if your income is below threshold or if your home country has a social security totalization agreement with Japan (the US, UK, Germany, and several others do)
- Consider applying for a local library card — ward libraries often have English-language materials and serve as useful neighborhood anchors
Guarantor Services for Foreign Residents
The guarantor requirement (連帯保証人) is one of the main friction points for foreigners renting apartments. The practical solution is renting in buildings that use guarantor companies (保証会社) instead of personal guarantors, which now accounts for the majority of rental listings in Japan. Companies like LEONET and Global Trust Networks (GTN) specifically serve foreign residents, accepting applications without Japanese income history.
Costs are typically 0.5x to 1x month's rent as an upfront fee, plus an annual renewal fee of ¥10,000-20,000. This is substantially less than the alternative of being rejected from 80% of available listings.
For more on the overall Chiba relocation picture — neighborhoods, commute times, schools, and what the area is actually like to live in — see the expat relocation guide for Chiba.
Bottom Line
The moving to Japan checklist for foreigners is long but not complicated once you understand the sequencing: COE first, then visa, then temporary housing, then ward office registration within 14 days of establishing your residence address, then banking and SIM in parallel. Most steps have clear deadlines and clear locations. The ward office visit is the one that unlocks everything else — get there in the first week if possible, not the last day of the 14-day window. Everything after that is something you manage calmly rather than scramble through.