Moving to Japan: A First-Steps Guide for Expats

Japan’s immigration system has a reputation for being closed, and it is not quite accurate. The system is rule-bound, document-heavy and slow, but it is also predictable in a way that many countries are not - if you fit a status of residence and your sponsor does their part, it works.

The genuine barriers are elsewhere: the language, which takes years rather than months; the housing customs, which involve payments that make no sense until someone explains them; and a working culture that varies enormously between a traditional Japanese firm and an international one.

Status of residence, and the Certificate of Eligibility

Japan organises immigration around status of residence - a category defining what you are permitted to do. Engineer/specialist in humanities/international services covers a large share of white-collar foreign workers. There are separate statuses for instructors, professors, skilled labour, business managers, students, dependants, and spouses of Japanese nationals or permanent residents.

The mechanism is distinctive. Rather than applying for a visa directly, your sponsor in Japan - usually an employer or school - applies to immigration for a Certificate of Eligibility on your behalf. Once granted, you take it to a Japanese consulate and convert it into a visa. This front-loads the process onto your sponsor and is one reason a well-organised employer matters.

Japan also runs a points-based system for highly skilled professionals, scoring education, career, income, age and other factors, which offers preferential treatment including faster access to permanent residence. If you score well it is genuinely worth pursuing, and it is under-used by people who assume it does not apply to them.

Your status determines what work is permitted. Working outside it - including seemingly minor side work - is a serious matter, and permission for activities outside your status can be applied for. The Japan visa section covers the current picture, and the general architecture is in visas and residence permits explained.

Arriving: residence card, ward office, hanko

You receive your zairyu residence card on arrival at a major airport or shortly after, and you are required to carry it.

Then the ward or city office - your municipality - where you register your address. This is the keystone step that unlocks health insurance, pension enrolment, and the municipal services, and there is a deadline. It is Japan’s version of the registration in registering your address abroad.

You will also encounter the hanko or inkan - a personal seal used instead of a signature on many documents. Its use has been declining under a government push towards digitisation, but for banking and contracts it may still be requested, and having one made is a small, cheap errand worth doing early.

Then a bank account, which historically has been one of the more awkward steps for newcomers - some banks require a period of residence before opening an account, and Japan Post Bank has often been the accessible option. And a phone contract, which usually requires the residence card and a Japanese bank account.

Healthcare, which is genuinely good

Enrolment is mandatory. You join either employees’ health insurance through your workplace or National Health Insurance through your municipality if you are not covered by an employer.

The system works well. You pay a percentage of the cost at the point of care with the insurance covering the rest, there is a monthly cap protecting against catastrophic costs, access is fast, and you can generally go directly to specialists without a referral. Waiting times are short by the standards of most public systems in this series.

Premiums for National Health Insurance are income-based and calculated by your municipality. Enrolment is backdated to when you became eligible, so delaying does not save money.

Dental care is included in the system, which is unusual and welcome given how many countries in this series exclude it. Details in the Japan healthcare section.

You will also be enrolled in the pension system, and there is a lump-sum withdrawal available to foreign residents who leave Japan after contributing, subject to conditions - worth knowing about rather than forgetting, per moving your pension abroad.

Money and tax

Japan has a progressive national income tax plus a resident tax levied by your municipality based on the previous year’s income. That second one catches people: it is billed in arrears, so your first year feels cheap and your second year includes a bill for income you earned in year one - and if you leave Japan, the resident tax for your final period is still due.

Japan taxes based on residency categories that distinguish between non-permanent and permanent residents for tax purposes, with different treatment of foreign-source income - a genuinely technical area worth advice if you have income outside Japan. See tax residency explained, and the structure in the Japan tax section.

Salaries in Japan are moderate by developed-world standards and have been comparatively flat for a long time, while the yen’s value has moved significantly - which affects both people paid in yen with obligations abroad and those paid abroad living in Japan.

Housing and the upfront cost

Japanese renting has customs that require explanation.

Shikikin is a refundable deposit. Reikin - key money - is a non-refundable payment to the landlord, traditional and still common though less universal than it once was. Add an agency fee, usually a month’s rent, and often the first month plus insurance, and the total to move into an apartment can be four to six months’ rent.

Most landlords also require a guarantor, and since foreigners rarely have one, guarantor companies exist and charge a fee - this is normal and is the standard solution.

Some landlords are reluctant to rent to foreign tenants. This is a real and well-documented phenomenon, and the practical workarounds are agencies that specialise in foreign tenants, company-arranged housing, and building a rental history in Japan.

Apartments are typically smaller than Western equivalents, often without central heating - room-by-room heating and cooling units are the norm - and insulation standards in older buildings are poor, which makes winters colder indoors than visitors expect.

The general framing is renting your first apartment abroad.

Language and work culture

Japanese takes years. Speaking is achievable with sustained effort; reading is the harder barrier because of the three writing systems and the volume of characters needed for functional literacy. Administration, healthcare forms, contracts and daily life run in Japanese.

You can work in English in international companies, in some technology roles and in English teaching, and Tokyo has genuine English-speaking professional life. Outside those, Japanese is required, and the ceiling on your career and your social life without it is real.

Work culture varies enormously. A traditional Japanese firm and the Tokyo office of an international company are different worlds in terms of hours, hierarchy, decision-making and expectations around after-hours socialising. Ask specifically about the actual culture rather than the stated policy.

Socially, Japan is safe, orderly and courteous, and genuine friendship takes time and language. Long-term foreign residents consistently describe a distinction between being welcomed as a guest and being included as a participant, and the language is most of what moves you between those.

What catches people out

The second-year resident tax bill. The upfront cost of moving into an apartment. Cold apartments in winter. The reading barrier specifically, as opposed to the speaking barrier. And underestimating how much of daily life requires Japanese.

For regional comparisons, moving to South Korea is the closest sibling in many respects, moving to Singapore and moving to Hong Kong are the English-speaking alternatives with very different cost structures, and moving to Thailand is the far cheaper regional option with a looser residence framework.

Regional detail, current status categories and cost breakdowns are in the Japan country guide and the cost of living section. For current experiences with Certificates of Eligibility and apartment hunting, the general forum is where residents compare notes.