Hello, this is Funun! You must be excited about your trip to Japan, right? In that case, quite a hassle is the immigration procedure.
This is a must for those who don’t know what the immigration process is, or who are looking into how to do it online, etc! This article is as concise as possible and contains only the necessary information.
*This article is for people who have foreign citizenship and are newly entering the country (so-called tourists).
*The article has been brought up to date with the fact that corona vaccine certificates, etc. are no longer completely required, starting with flights arriving on or after May 7, 2023.
What you need
- passport
- airline ticket
- email address
Target Airports
(As of June 2023. (As of June 2023, to be expanded gradually)
- Narita International Airport
- Haneda airport
- Kansai International Airport
- Central Japan International Airport
- Fukuoka Airport
- New Chitose Airport
- Naha Airport
procedure
It will be used at the immigration and customs gates, as shown in the video below.
Note that the link below is the official site. Please note that there are some fake sites out there, and the correct answer is when the url ends with go.jp, which indicates that it is a government site.
https://vjw-lp.digital.go.jp/
Detailed procedures are described in this video. If you have your airline ticket and other documents at hand, it should not be that difficult to follow the procedure. However, it takes time to input the ticket number, so we recommend that you do it as soon as possible after you know the ticket number.
Also, please note that if you are entering the country by sea, you must do so at least 24 hours prior to entry. There is no time limit for air travel.
Since multiple QR codes can be made, it is easy to save them in a screenshot.
Precautions
- If you have a family, the number of QR codes will increase by that amount. The machine must read the codes for the number of people at the customs gate.
- In Japan, customs must also be passed through since 2007.
- Immigration includes visa waiver holders.
- Re-entry visitors do not need a QR code at the immigration gate. With “visit japan web”, you can go through both unmanned and manned lanes at the customs gate.
Prohibited items
Meat, vegetables, and fruits are almost never allowed. Cheese and other items are also not allowed. Basically, it is better not to bring in food. I would like to write about all of them, but the rules are detailed and the article would be long, so please refer to the following site that summarizes them.
https://www.denver.us.emb-japan.go.jp/itpr_ja/jp_consular_mochikomijp.html
It is hard to see on this site, so if you don’t want the hassle, don’t bring it in.
How to do tax exemption
If you buy duty free, you will receive a 10% discount off the purchase price, so you can buy souvenirs and other items at a discount.
Short-term travelers can create a tax-free QR by reading their passport on “visitjapanweb” after entering Japan. They can then present this QR code at a store that supports tax free and the amount will be changed to the post-tax free amount on the spot.
Duty-free goods
Tax exemption is available if the following conditions are met
Foods, beverages, medicines, cosmetics and other consumables
The purchase must be between 5,000 yen and 500,000 yen at the same store.
General items not listed above
The purchase must be at least 5,000 yen at the same store.
The exceptions are gold and platinum, which are not exempt from taxation.
How was it? Please leave us a comment so we can inspire you for the next one! See you soon!
