Japan: visa and entry rules
What you need to get in, how long you may stay, and what an overstay costs
Japan's borders: every crossing point
Other 7
Airports 10
Japan is an island state and has no land borders.
All entry is by air and by sea. The main airports are Narita and Haneda in Tokyo, Kansai in Osaka, Chitose on Hokkaido and Fukuoka on Kyushu.
By sea there are ferries to South Korea — Fukuoka and Shimonoseki are linked with Busan, and this is the only regular international route that is not by plane.
Cruise ships are received at Yokohama and Kobe.
People move between the islands by domestic flights, trains and ferries, and there are no border formalities inside the country.
Bringing a car into Japan
You cannot reach the country overland under your own steam — there are no land borders.
Japan recognises International Driving Permits issued under the 1949 Geneva Convention. A permit issued under the 1968 Vienna Convention is enough on its own to keep you out of the driver's seat.
This is the main trap for anyone planning to rent a car: an International Driving Permit that works almost everywhere else is useless here.
Traffic drives on the left.
Temporary vehicle import into Japan follows local rules. They are changed, and confirming the procedure in advance is safer than setting off and hoping.
Travelling to Japan with a pet
The rules are among the strictest in the world, and the preparation takes more than six months.
An international-standard microchip is mandatory.
Two rabies vaccinations are needed, plus an antibody test after them.
After the test there is a 180-day wait before entry — this is precisely why the whole thing takes so long.
An import notification is submitted in advance, no later than 40 days before arrival.
If the set of documents is incomplete — quarantine of up to 180 days.
Overstaying your visa in Japan
The consequences are harsh: detention, deportation at your own expense and an entry ban counted in years.
The size of the fine will be determined as you leave the country. There is no finding it out in Japan in advance, so take cash.
Japan treats breaches of the rules on length of stay more strictly than most destinations, and a further visa after a deportation becomes practically unattainable.
Extensions are arranged at the immigration bureau in advance, before the visa expires.
What else to check before you go
更新日
Entry rules change faster than anything else on this site, and they change without notice. We cross-check every page against several sources and state the date it was verified, but that does not replace the main step: before you travel, check an official source — the country’s consulate, its immigration service or its e-visa portal. Especially if more than a couple of months have passed since our check.