Your First 90 Days in Japan: The Setup Checklist
Your first 90 days in Japan checklist runs in dependency order: the airport card unlocks the ward record, the ward record unlocks the number and the insurance, and those unlock the bank account and the phone.123 Follow the sequence below and each step takes one visit; scramble it and each step takes two.
Procedures, fees, and requirements can change. Confirm current details at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications resident-registration pages and your local ward or city office.
Overview
This checklist covers eight steps across roughly twelve weeks. Each step gives a one-line action, a one-line warning, and the canonical guide that carries the full procedure. Nothing here replaces those guides; this page exists so you do things in the order that works.
Counters, certificate speeds, and premium levels vary by municipality. Confirm each step with the office covering your registered address rather than treating one city's walkthrough as national law.4
The Sequence at a Glance
| Order | Step | Window | What it unlocks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Collect your residence card | Airport, day zero | Identity for every later step |
| 2 | Register your address | Within 14 days | Resident record everything keys off |
| 3 | My Number notice and card | Weeks 1 to 4 | Number for tax, insurance, and banking |
| 4 | Health insurance enrollment | Within 14 days of eligibility | Legal coverage from day one |
| 5 | Bank account | Weeks 1 to 2 | Salary, rent autopay, and daily money |
| 6 | Phone number | Weeks 1 to 2 | Verification codes and contracts |
| 7 | Housing and utilities | Weeks 2 to 4 | A registered roof with running lifelines |
| 8 | Year-two reserve and enrollment check | Months 2 to 3 | No surprises in the second year |
Week 0: Arrival and Address Registration
The first two steps are gates, not chores. Everything downstream reads from the records they create.
Collect your residence card at the airport
Do: keep your passport accessible at immigration so mid- to long-term arrivals receive the 在留カード (zairyū kādo, "residence card") on the spot. Watch out: stays of three months or less, Temporary Visitor entries, and diplomatic or official statuses receive no card, and this checklist does not apply to them.5
Card mechanics, carrying rules, and replacement are covered in Residence Card: Japan's Foreign-Resident ID. Treat the card as your root identity document from this moment on.
Register your address within 14 days
Do: visit your ward or city office first, before the bank or the phone shop, and file the 転入届 (tennyū todoke, "move-in notification"). Watch out: the deadline is 14 days from taking up residence, and the NHI counter, the My Number mailing, and the bank's address printing all read from the record you create here.136
Inter-municipality moves need a 転出証明書 (tenshutsu shōmeisho, "move-out certificate") from the old office first, then the new filing within 14 days.14 The full move taxonomy, including proxies and household filings, lives in Address Change in Japan: Tenshutsu, Tennyu, Tenkyo, and the office itself is decoded in Yakusho: Japan's Ward Office as Universal Interface. Your 住民票 (jūminhyō, "residence record") is explained in Jūminhyō: Japan's Residence Record Explained.
Late filing does not pause any downstream deadline. File the address first and argue about jet lag later.
Week 1: Identity and Health Coverage
With the resident record created, claim the number and the coverage before touching money.
Receive your My Number notice and apply for the card
Do: watch the mailbox for the registered letter carrying your 12-digit 個人番号 (kojin bangō, "Individual or My Number"), which arrives about two to three weeks after the resident record is created.2 Watch out: the notice only confirms the number; the photo-bearing Individual Number Card requires a separate application by smartphone, PC, photo booth, or mail.2
Card production takes about three weeks, with pickup after an issuance notice arrives.7 Moving municipalities before issuance means reapplying, so time the application after your address is stable.7 Address or name changes must be updated on the card at the municipal office within 14 days.2 Card-versus-notice mechanics are detailed in My Number Card vs. the Notification Card, and online procedures in My Number Portal: Online Procedures.
Enroll in National Health Insurance if applicable
Do: walk to the 国民健康保険 (kokumin kenkō hoken, "National Health Insurance") counter in the same building on the same trip as address registration. Watch out: enrollment is due within 14 days of the triggering event, and premiums run back to the eligibility month for up to two years while interim care stays full self-pay.3
New arrivals with no prior-year Japanese income are first assessed on the flat-rate portion only; filing the resident-tax or NHI premium-related report keeps the reduction check working.3 Who must enroll is mapped in Who Enrolls in National Health Insurance, and the counter procedure in NHI Enrollment at the Ward Office.
Weeks 1 to 2: Money and a Phone Number
Banks want a phone number, carriers want a bank account or card, and landlords want both. Break the triangle in this order: foreigner-friendly bank first, passport-friendly voice SIM second.
Open a bank account
Do: start with Japan Post Bank, presenting the residence card showing your ward-written current address with more than three months of period remaining. Watch out: applications filed within three months of period expiry are refused until after renewal, and cards mid-renewal cannot open accounts.86
Arrivals under six months are handled as non-residents under foreign-exchange rules and must switch status at the six-month mark or face transfer delays and surcharges.9 The document checklist is itemized in Bank Account Opening Documents in Japan, the Yucho walkthrough in Japan Post Bank for Foreigners: Opening a Yucho Account, and the six-month mechanics in Bank Account in Japan for Foreigners: The Six-Month Rule.
The card's back face needs the ward-written address first. An unregistered card buys a wasted trip.
Get a phone number
Do: take a passport-friendly voice product first, such as a monthly voice SIM from a foreigner-oriented provider, while your resident paperwork settles. Watch out: mainstream resident carriers center on the residence card plus registered-address matching, so walking in on day two with an unregistered card stalls.1011
Voice-capable eSIM still follows identity-verification rules, with pickup or in-Japan verification where required; data-only products give internet but no number and no SMS.11 First-month options are compared in Prepaid SIMs for the First Month, resident-carrier strategy in Mobile Plan Considerations for Foreign Residents, and dual-SIM mechanics in eSIM and Multi-SIM Setups in Japan.
Weeks 2 to 4: A Roof and Running Utilities
Housing and lifelines close the loop. Budget before you sign, and start utilities before move-in day.
Secure housing if not pre-arranged
Do: budget four and a half to six months of rent for move-in (as of 2026; confirm current figures with listing estimates), spanning deposit, key money, agency fee, guarantor fee, prepaid rent, insurance, and lock change.12 Watch out: key money at zero to two months and the agency fee are sunk on day one and never come back.12
The guarantor-company norm, the deposit-versus-key-money split, and foreigner-friendly paths are detailed in How Renting Works in Japan, The Guarantor Company System, and Share Houses and Serviced Apartments. The line-item anatomy is dissected in Move-In Cost Breakdown: What 4-6 Months Actually Buys.
Activate electricity, gas, and water
Do: file start-of-service requests days before move-in, not on the day. Watch out: connection requirements vary by provider and property; the per-utility walkthrough lives in the canonical guides below.
The per-utility walkthrough, including retailer choice and autopay setup, lives in Utility Activation: Electricity, Gas, Water and Electricity in Japan: TEPCO and New-Power Retailers.
Months 2 to 3: Lock In the Base
The last two items are slow burns. Handle them while everything is calm, because neither announces itself until it bills.
Build your residence-tax year-two reserve
Do: set aside monthly from the first paycheck, because residence tax follows the January-1 municipality on the prior calendar year's income and bills from around June, which means year one is quiet and year two is not.13 Watch out: the June-of-year-two drop is the normal cycle starting, not a payroll error.13
The full lag mechanics and reserve sizing are covered in The Residence-Tax Year-Two Surprise. Treat that article as required reading before your first June.
Year-one take-home pay is the inflated baseline. Skim the reserve monthly and year two feels flat instead of shocking.
Confirm pension and insurance enrollment settled
Do: check health-insurance and pension deductions on the first payslips to confirm which track you are on. Watch out: gaps between employer coverage spells require NHI enrollment within the same 14-day logic, and silent gaps back-bill.3
Employer coverage is mapped in Shakai Hoken Overview, and the job-change gap mechanics in Health Insurance When Changing Jobs in Japan.
Good to know
Doing steps out of order costs repeat trips
The bank needs the ward-written address, SIM delivery needs the matching address, and the NHI counter needs the resident record underneath.1610 Order is not advice here; it is the procedure. Each inversion buys a second visit.
Your ward office visit sets the clock for everything else
The 14-day move-in filing starts the My Number mailing window and anchors NHI eligibility timing.123 Treat day one at the ward office as day zero for every clock on this page.
The bank-phone-apartment triangle has documented break-the-cycle paths
Foreigner-friendly banks open without a phone number, passport-friendly voice SIMs issue without a bank account, and guarantor-company housing signs without a personal guarantor.81012 You never need to solve all three at once; break one side first, then convert to mainstream products later.
See also
- Move-In Cost Breakdown: What 4-6 Months Actually Buys
- Utility Activation: Electricity, Gas, Water
- The Visa-Bank-Phone-Apartment Chicken-and-Egg Problem
- The Residence-Tax Year-Two Surprise
- Share Houses and Serviced Apartments
- My Number Portal: Online Procedures