Japan arrival guide (resident card, social security, My Number, pension…)

If you’ve just arrived in Japan or are arriving soon, it is important for you to complete the administrative procedures outlined in this guide. This includes obtaining your resident card, registering for social security, applying for My Number, and contributing to the pension fund.

Before diving into it all, you should be aware of the following:

• You will be regularly asked to write your name in katakana. These are a set of Japanese syllabaries used to transliterate foreign names and words. Use an online translation tool to convert your name into katakana. Note that in Japan, the family name is written before the given name.
• In addition to the system for denoting years in the west, Japan also has its own system that is based on the imperial reigns. As of 2019, Japan has been in the Reiwa 令和 era. That means 2019 translates to Reiwa 1. The previous era was the Heisei 平成 era, which started in 1989. So if you were born in 1995, that would be equivalent to Heisei 7 (i.e. the 7th year of the Heisei era). It is a good idea to know how to express at least your own year of birth in the Japanese way.
• Japanese employees rarely speak English, so they may use online translation tools when interacting with you.
• For all administrative procedures you will need to present your resident card. If you attempt to bypass or skip certain procedures such as paying social security contributions, it can come back to bite you in the long run and hurt your chances of obtaining future visas to Japan.