Move-In Day Checklist

The Move-In Day Checklist is the dependency-ordered task list that turns a signed lease into a working home: keys, condition photos, utilities, internet, ward filing, and garbage rules.¹² Gas needs a booked safety visit and fiber internet needs weeks of lead time, so the order you work this list decides whether you shower hot on night one.

Confirm current details with official sources

Procedures, fees, and requirements can change. Confirm current details at your ward or city office and with the utility suppliers named by your agency.

Overview

This checklist serves renters on signing or move-in day, in any Japanese municipality. It covers the first-day sequence only: receive keys, document the room, start electricity, gas, and water, schedule internet, file the new address, and learn the garbage schedule.¹³

Work the list in dependency order. Book the gas visit and the internet installation as soon as the address is fixed, since both need appointments. File the address notification within the legal window after moving in.⁴⁵³

The table below shows the whole sequence with booking lead times. Lead times are as stated by each supplier on the listed dates; confirm current slots with the supplier your agency names.

Order	Task	Lead time	As of
1	Receive keys, photograph condition	Day zero, before furniture arrives	n/a
2	Book gas safety visit	About 1 week ahead; earlier in March to April peak	2026-094
3	Apply for fiber internet	2 to 4 weeks (see Internet section)	2026-04-085
4	Start electricity and water	Online or by phone, no visit in general	2026-07-102
5	Attend gas visit	About 20 to 40 minutes at the unit	2026-07-102
6	File address at ward office	Within 14 days of moving in	statutory3

The agency or manager names the electricity retailer, the gas supplier, and the water bureau tied to the unit. Open each account in your own name, even where a service already appears to run.²⁶

Receive keys and document the room condition

Do this before any furniture goes in. An empty room photographs cleanly, and every scratch you record now is evidence you keep for the deposit discussion at move-out.¹⁷

Key handover and the inventory sheet

At handover you receive the key set and confirm the number of keys against the contract or handover sheet.¹ Check which key opens what, including the entrance, mailbox, and any shared-area doors, while the agent is still reachable.

Photograph meters alongside the room condition

Record the electricity, gas, and water meter readings on day zero, in the same pass as the damage photos. Dated readings protect against billing for the previous tenant's use.⁶

Ask who to contact about locks or a lost key, and keep that number with the lease papers. A lock problem discovered at midnight is much cheaper when you already know the call point.¹

Photograph every pre-existing scratch, stain, and wall hole

MLIT's restoration guideline treats entry-time condition checks as the effective way to prevent deposit disputes later: confirm wear and damage at move-in and again at move-out.⁷ The 原状回復 (genjō kaifuku, "restoration to original condition") rule charges tenants only for damage from intentional acts, negligence, breach of due care, or beyond-normal use. Aging and normal-use wear are covered by rent, not by the deposit.⁷

Photograph floors, walls, ceilings, fixtures, and the insides of appliances, with dates attached. Include close-ups of every scratch, stain, nail hole, and wall mark, plus wide shots proving which room each detail belongs to.⁷¹ Keep the inventory sheet with the photos so the two corroborate each other at move-out.

Start electricity and gas

Power and heat come before unpacking. Electricity starts without a visit in general, while gas cannot start until a technician has stood in the room.²⁴

Electricity: breaker on, contract in your name

Apply online or by phone as soon as the move-in date is known. TEPCO, the main supplier for Tokyo and the surrounding region, offers English-language moving-procedure contact with third-party telephone interpretation.²⁸⁶

In many units the power is already flowing at handover once the breaker is on, but practitioner sources stress the tenant must still register the contract in their own name, since billing otherwise follows the prior account (limitation: the breaker-on practice is described by practitioner sources, not by TEPCO's English pages).⁶ Confirm the retailer for the unit with the agency, because the prior tenant's supplier is not necessarily the one you keep.

Gas: book the in-person safety appointment

Starting gas requires you, or a named adult representative, to be present while a technician opens the valve, runs an ignition test, and explains the safety rules.⁴ No representative, no open valve. That single rule makes the gas slot the binding constraint on the whole move-in day.

Request the start about one week in advance (as of 2026-09; confirm current slots with Tokyo Gas or your contracted supplier), and earlier in the March to April moving peak.⁴ The earliest openings go to requests made by 7:30 a.m. for an afternoon visit the same day, or by 6 p.m. for a morning visit the next day (as of 2026-09).⁴ Attendance slots run 9:00 to 12:00, 13:00 to 15:00, 15:00 to 17:00, and 17:00 to 19:00 Monday to Saturday, with Sunday and holiday visits ending at 17:00 (as of 2026-09).⁴

Missed gas visit means no hot water that day

A missed appointment rarely converts to a same-day revisit during busy periods. Be at the unit for the full window with the stove and water heater accessible.⁴

Confirm the gas type and supplier with the agency before applying. 都市ガス (toshi gasu, "city gas") and LPガス (LP gasu, "LP or propane gas") use different appliances and hoses, so a stove bought for one type does not fit the other.²⁶

Start water service

File the start-of-use notice with the municipal water bureau for the new address. In Tokyo the Bureau of Waterworks accepts online applications 24 hours a day across the 23 wards and the Tama-area municipalities it serves.⁹ The 水道局 (suidōkyoku, "waterworks bureau") for other cities takes the same notice by its own online form, phone line, or mailed postcard.⁶

Water is often already running at handover. File anyway, with your name, address, and move-in date, so billing transfers to you from day one.⁶⁹ A paper notice is frequently left in the mailbox or near the meter and mails back with prepaid postage; the online filing covers the identical procedure.⁶⁹

Schedule internet before you need it

Apply for fiber as soon as the address is fixed, not on move-in day. New fiber installation needs a scheduled construction visit with the tenant present, while units with existing wiring may allow self-setup without any visit.⁵ Which path applies depends on the building's wiring, not on preference.

Allow 1 to 3 weeks at minimum; practitioner sources describe waits of 2 to 4 weeks when technicians are busy (as of 2026-04-08; confirm current lead times with NTT or your chosen provider).⁵ Spring moving season lengthens every queue. The 光回線 (hikari kaisen, "fiber-optic line") contract also needs a separate internet provider on top of the line itself, so confirm both halves before counting the job done.⁵

File your new address within 14 days

Bring the residence card to the municipal office covering the new address. The 在留カード (zairyū kādo, "residence card") gets the new address written on its back at the same counter that takes the notification.¹⁰³

Newcomers from abroad file the 転入届 (tennyū todoke, "moving-in notification") within 14 days of taking up residence, bringing the residence card or a passport where no card was issued at the airport.³ Movers from another Japanese municipality first file the 転出届 (tenshutsu todoke, "moving-out notification") at the old office, collect the 転出証明書 (tenshutsu shōmeisho, "moving-out certificate"), and file the moving-in notification with that certificate within 14 days of settling in.³ Movers within the same municipality file the 転居届 (tenkyo todoke, "change-of-address notification") instead, with no certificate needed.³

The same visit connects the health insurance, pension, and residence-certificate records that depend on the registered address.¹¹⁰ Ward counters and required documents differ by municipality, so check the new office's foreign-resident page before going. The 区役所 / 市役所 (kuyakusho / shiyakusho, "ward office / city office") for the area of residence, not work or study, is the correct counter.³

Learn the garbage schedule on day one

Collection categories, pickup days, and set-out times are set per municipality, down to the neighborhood block. Read the ward's calendar and the building or neighborhood notice board on day one instead of carrying rules from a previous address.¹¹

Shinjuku City publishes multilingual sorting guides and collection-day information, and household collection there is generally free, while large-quantity and large-sized pickups carry fees.¹¹ Oversized items fall outside free household collection, so arrange the large-sized-waste pickup instead of using the regular station.¹¹ The ごみカレンダー (gomi karendā, "garbage collection calendar") on the notice board is the day-to-day authority; the 粗大ごみ (sodai gomi, "oversized or bulky waste") booking line is the one number worth saving in the phone.¹¹

Good to know

The gas visit decides when you get hot water

No other utility needs you home, so the gas appointment is the schedule that matters. Book it first, keep the whole time window free, and have the stove area and water heater accessible when the technician arrives.⁴² A representative can stand in, but they must hear the safety explanation and relay it faithfully.⁴

Water can run before the bill knows your name

Flowing taps do not mean the account transferred. Until the start-of-use notice is filed, billing still points at the prior tenant, which tangles the first bill and any later move-out settlement.⁶⁹ Filing takes minutes online and removes the ambiguity entirely.

An internet gap is normal, so plan the bridge

A dead week or two without home internet surprises almost every new tenant. A pocket WiFi, a home router, or phone tethering covers the gap between move-in day and the construction visit.⁵ Order the bridge service with the fiber application so both arrive in the right order.

One ward procedure does not prove the next ward

Shinjuku's multilingual guides and collection-day information answer for Shinjuku only. Collection days, category names, and filing counters change at municipal boundaries, and water bureaus differ the same way.¹¹³ Confirm with the office covering the new address rather than generalizing from any single city's procedure, including the examples in this checklist.

See also

• Signing Day: What Actually Happens
• Internet and TV: Utility Setup Overview
• Move-Out Procedures: Closing Utility Accounts
• Address Change in Japan: Tenshutsu, Tennyu, Tenkyo
• Oversized Trash (Sodai Gomi) and the Prepayment Sticker
• Move-Out Inspection and Deposit Negotiation in Japan

References

Footnotes

1. A-Realty. "Essential Post-Move-In Procedures for Residents in Japan," 2026-08-24. https://arealty.jp/blog/essential-post-move-in-procedures-japan ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

2. official.tokyo.jp (independent guide for foreign residents, DroR Corp.). "Electricity, gas and water," last verified 2026-07-10. https://official.tokyo.jp/moving-in/utilities/ ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

3. Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC). "Move in / Move out" (Basic Resident Registration System for Foreign Residents, English). https://www.soumu.go.jp/main_sosiki/jichi_gyousei/c-gyousei/zairyu/english/move-in_move-out.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

4. Tokyo Gas. "Procedures for Starting, Stopping, or Modifying Gas/Electricity Service (When Moving, Etc.)" (English). https://home.tokyo-gas.co.jp/language/en/gas_power/procedure.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰

5. Sakura Mobile. "NTT FLET'S Hikari Internet: Pricing, English Support and How to Apply," 2026-04-08. https://www.sakuramobile.jp/blog/japan-home-internet/what-is-flets-hikari ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

6. JapanHeya. "How to Set Up Electricity, Gas and Water in Your Japanese Apartment," 2026-04-24. https://www.japanheya.com/blog/setup-utilities-japan-apartment ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

7. Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT). "原状回復をめぐるトラブルとガイドラインについて" (Restoration guideline page). https://www.mlit.go.jp/jutakukentiku/house/jutakukentiku_house_tk3_000020.html ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

8. TEPCO Energy Partner, Inc. English top page (moving procedures contact, third-party telephone interpretation). https://www.tepco.co.jp/en/ep/index-e.html ↩

9. Bureau of Waterworks, Tokyo Metropolitan Government. "Online Application" (English, start/stop water service). https://suidonet.waterworks.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/inet-service/uketsuke/main_english ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

10. Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC). "Basic Resident Registration System for Foreign Residents" (English). https://www.soumu.go.jp/main_sosiki/jichi_gyousei/c-gyousei/zairyu/english/index.html ↩ ↩²

11. Shinjuku City. "How to Dispose of Recyclable Resources and Garbage" (English, official). https://www.foreign.city.shinjuku.lg.jp/en/kurashi/shigenyagomi ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵