Japan (日本) is getting more and more popular with tourists every year, which makes the tourist visa a very hot topic. This visa acts as your entry ticket so to speak. With the 2020 Tokyo summer Olympics coming up, I bet quite a few people are interested to know their options.
Now, people from a list of countries can be happy as not everybody needs a visa to visit Japan as a tourist. Japan has a so-called “Visa exemption” agreement with 68 countries and regions throughout the world. That means, if you’re a citizen of one of those countries, you can enter Japan with just a valid passport.
This link (Ministry of foreign affairs of Japan) provides you with a full list of every included country.
If your country is among those, you can pack your bags and receive your “entry permit” (which is just a stamp in your passport) on the day you arrive.
Citizens from countries with this agreement can usually stay 90 days with some exceptions.
Applying for your tourist visa
If your country is unfortunately not on this list, you need a tourist visa to enter Japan. You can usually get these for 15,30 or 90 days. You can apply for such a visa at your nearest Japanese embassy or consulate in your home country. The application normally costs around 20-30$/€.
You need a few documents for this application. I’ll give you a list:
- Valid passport
- Frontal photograph
- Flight ticket
- Hotel bookings OR an invitation letter from friends or family in Japan
- Documents to proof your financial means (i.e. bank statement)
- Signed application form
- Rough schedule of your trip
With these ready, you can head to your nearest Japanese consulate and apply away. Be sure to inform yourself which amount of money you need for your desired visa length as the requirements change frequently.
The procedure until they finish your visa should take about 1 – 1.5 weeks. Once collected, you can look forward to your Japan trip.
Although not a tourist visa, I recently applied for the Working Holiday visa. It works almost the same way, just with a few more documents. The people working at the consulate were very helpful and my visa was done in under a week.
So, if you’re worried about your visa application, just go for it! Everything will be fine.
And with that said, I thank you for reading today’s article.
If you found it useful, please consider sharing it with your friends and family, it would mean a lot to me!
Let me know if you have questions!
Next up, we’re going to take a look at Japan’s study visa which is a little different.
See you there!
