Entry guide · 2026–27 edition
Visit Japan Web is the optional online service that replaces the paper arrival card and customs declaration most travellers used to fill out on the plane. Since 2025, Haneda, Kansai, Narita and Fukuoka airports have added a Joint Kiosk that reads your QR code and passport once for both immigration and customs. Here is exactly what to register, what changed, and where the system still trips people up.
The 30-second summary
Register on Visit Japan Web well before you fly (about two weeks ahead is ideal), completing both immigration and customs sections, then check that your QR code shows and screenshot it before you board. At Narita, Haneda, Kansai and Fukuoka you can scan the code and your passport once at a Joint Kiosk, then go through a dedicated immigration booth and, if customs needs no inspection, the e-Gate. The separate tax-free QR only works at stores that accept it.
Quick Facts
| Operator | Digital Agency, Government of Japan (services.digital.go.jp) |
|---|---|
| Launched | December 2021 |
| Required? | No. Paper arrival cards and customs declarations are still accepted on the plane and at the airport. |
| QR code generated | One unified code for immigration and customs (combined since 25 January 2024), plus a separate, optional code for tax-free shopping at stores that accept it. |
| Time to register | Roughly 15 minutes for one person, longer for families. |
| When to register | Any time before you fly — about two weeks ahead is ideal. Visit Japan Web’s guide and FAQ set no cut-off; the Immigration Services Agency asks you to finish before you reach the immigration hall. Check that your QR code shows before you board. |
| Family registration | You plus up to 10 accompanying family members (11 people) on one account. |
| Joint Kiosk airports | Narita (Terminals 1, 2 and 3), Tokyo Haneda (Terminals 2 and 3), Osaka Kansai (Terminals 1 and 2) and Fukuoka. First in use April 2025; Narita Terminals 1 and 2 since 24 September 2026. |
| Cost | Free. |
Finish it before you fly
You’ll want data on arrival. Visit Japan Web’s QR code shows offline only if you stay logged in, and logging back in needs a connection, so airport Wi-Fi alone is risky — an eSIM that activates the moment you land (or a prepaid Japan SIM) keeps your QR ready before you reach the kiosk.
Visit Japan Web is run by Japan’s Digital Agency, and neither its guide nor its FAQ sets a registration deadline before arrival. The Immigration Services Agency simply asks you to finish before you reach the immigration hall. Leaving it to the plane’s Wi-Fi, or to airport Wi-Fi after you land, is still a gamble. Register well before you fly, check that your QR code shows before you board, and take a screenshot as a backup.
What Visit Japan Web actually is
The system is for anyone arriving in Japan from abroad: foreign visitors, returning foreign residents and Japanese citizens (the last two use only the customs part). It does one job: it lets you pre-fill the immigration and customs paperwork online, then walk through the airport with a QR code on your phone instead of a pen-marked paper card.
The Digital Agency runs the platform at services.digital.go.jp/en/visit-japan-web/. There is no native app — it is a browser-based web service, and the registration link goes straight to a regular login page in Safari, Chrome, or whichever browser you use. The “app” terminology you may see in older guides refers to the same web service. The Digital Agency has warned about look-alike apps such as “Visit Japan Web Info”, so use the website.
One important note about scope: Visit Japan Web is for arrival procedures into Japan. It is not a visa and does not replace one; check on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website whether your nationality needs a visa for Japan. If it does, you still arrange that separately at an embassy or via the eVisa portal — Visit Japan Web is the layer on top of that, handling only the arrival card and customs declaration.
What changed in 2025–2026: the Joint Kiosk
The biggest change on arrival is the Joint Kiosk, run by the Immigration Services Agency and Japan Customs together (Customs’ English pages also call it the Integrated Kiosk). Kansai (Terminals 1 and 2) and Haneda Terminal 2 started using it on 1 April 2025, Narita Terminal 3 on 7 April 2025, Haneda Terminal 3 on 11 April 2025, Fukuoka on 1 December 2025, and Narita Terminals 1 and 2 on 24 September 2026. Visit Japan Web has issued one unified code for immigration and customs since 25 January 2024 (they were two separate codes before that), but without a kiosk you still show it twice: at the immigration counter, then at customs. At the kiosk you scan the QR code and your passport once. It takes your photo (and, for foreign visitors, your fingerprints) and sends your passport details and declarations to immigration and customs together. Foreign visitors still see an immigration officer, at a booth for kiosk users (Japanese citizens use an automated gate), and if customs needs no inspection you walk out through a face-recognition e-Gate.
Without vs with a kiosk
Without a Joint Kiosk
Show your QR code at the immigration counter, then scan it again with your passport at a customs electronic declaration terminal, or show it at an inspection desk.
With a Joint Kiosk (Narita / Haneda / Kansai / Fukuoka)
Scan passport + QR code once at the kiosk, then go to a dedicated immigration booth and, if no inspection is needed, through the customs e-Gate. Your data reaches both agencies in one go; the officer check remains.
How much time this saves is not published. Immigration and Customs say the aim is to remove the steps the two procedures duplicate and shorten arrival as a whole, so treat any minute figure quoted elsewhere as an estimate. A few practical limits: every traveller, family members included, uses the kiosk separately; children under 135 cm cannot use it; a passport without an IC chip works at the kiosk but not at the customs e-Gate; and hours vary by terminal (Haneda Terminal 3 runs 24 hours, Narita 7:00–21:30), so a late arrival may find the kiosks closed.
Other airports, including Chubu Centrair, New Chitose and Naha, have no Joint Kiosk as of October 2026. The QR code works there too: show it at the immigration counter, then at customs, where those three airports (like Narita, Haneda, Kansai and Fukuoka) have electronic declaration terminals and e-Gates. Confirm with your arrival airport before flying if you want to know exactly what to expect.
The QR code, explained
Older guides that describe two arrival codes are a common source of confusion. Since 25 January 2024, Visit Japan Web bundles immigration and customs into a single unified code — you still have to finish both sections before it appears, and there is a separate, optional tax-free shopping code.
Immigration + customs
Unified arrival code
One code covering both the arrival card and the customs declaration (combined since 25 January 2024). Scanned once at a Joint Kiosk; where there is no kiosk, shown at the immigration counter and again at customs.
Not a code: both sections required
Why it can fail
The unified code only appears once you complete both the immigration and the customs sections. Stop partway and there is no code to show.
In stores (limited)
Tax-Free Shopping QR
For tax-free purchases: stores that accept it read your passport details from it. Carry your passport anyway; screenshots of this code are not accepted.
Both immigration and customs sections must be completed before the QR code is issued. Older guides describe a separate immigration-only code; that format ended with the merger on 25 January 2024, and codes created before then no longer work.
Step-by-step registration
The whole process takes roughly 15 minutes for a single traveller, longer for a family of four. Have your passport, flight number, and arrival hotel address ready before you start.
Create an account at vjw.digital.go.jp
Email + password. The interface is available in Japanese, English, Chinese (simplified and traditional), Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, German and French. There is no app to download — bookmark the website on your phone’s browser.
Add your personal details and passport
Name, date of birth, nationality, occupation, and passport details. You can scan the passport’s photo page with your phone camera or type the details by hand. If the photo upload fails, retake it in brighter, even light — glare and shadows can make the scan fail.
Add family members (up to 10 per account)
Family members going through arrival procedures at the same time as you can be linked to the lead traveller’s account. The same passport details and personal information are required for each. The lead traveller will hold all the QR codes on their phone at the airport.
Register the trip: flight number and arrival date
Enter the flight number, scheduled arrival date, and arrival airport. If your flight number changes — code-share, schedule disruption, rebooking — edit the trip (or register a new one), then check the flight number in the immigration and customs section too: it is filled in from the trip but saved separately. Re-create the QR code and take a new screenshot.
Complete the immigration (disembarkation) section
Address in Japan (your first hotel is fine), purpose of visit, length of stay, occupation. The questions about prior immigration history must be answered honestly — the immigration officer will see the answers when scanning the QR.
Complete the customs section
You will be asked about cash exceeding ¥1 million, prohibited items, gifts and merchandise, and whether you are carrying anything someone else asked you to bring into Japan. The QR code only appears once this section is finished.
Generate the QR codes and save them offline
Take a screenshot of each traveller’s QR code. Visit Japan Web’s own registration screen and the Immigration Services Agency both say a screenshot can be used; if you correct any registered details, update the immigration and customs section too (it does not update automatically), then re-create the code and take a new screenshot. The live code also shows offline if you logged in beforehand and stay logged in. Don’t rely on a printout: the Digital Agency says the code has to be shown on a smartphone or tablet.
Family travel: every passenger needs their own QR code
Many families assume that one QR code generated by a parent covers everyone in the booking, but it doesn’t. Every person entering Japan — including infants and children under three — needs their own individual QR code. The website lets one account manage the whole family, but after adding each family member you have to complete the immigration and customs registration for each one before that person’s QR code is generated. (The lead traveller can choose to declare customs for the family at the same time, which skips part of the customs questions for the others.)
From one parent’s account:
- Register your own details first. Complete your own passport scan and registration on the parent’s account.
- Add family members under Register User → Details of family members travelling with you. Up to ten family members per account. Each needs their passport.
- Go to “Register planned entry/return” and select your trip. At the top there is an Applicant dropdown that defaults to your name.
- Change the Applicant dropdown to the first family member. The page now shows that person’s information with status “not registered.”
- Complete the immigration and customs declaration for that person. Click Register. The status flips to “registered” and a Display QR Code button appears for them.
- Repeat steps 4–5 for every family member. Each person now has their own unique QR code, accessible from the parent account.
If you register only yourself, the other family members will have to use the paper forms instead. Registering each person at home takes a few minutes.
The tax-free shopping QR and the November 2026 change
Visit Japan Web added a tax-free QR code in April 2023. A store that accepts it reads your passport details from the code, though you still need to carry your passport; it works only at those stores, and the Digital Agency says a screenshot of it cannot be used. It is only for foreign visitors staying as Temporary Visitors (or on diplomatic or official status). Japan is moving tax-free shopping to a refund system for purchases from 1 November 2026. Purchases up to 31 October 2026 are still tax-free at the till. For purchases from 1 November, you pay the consumption tax at the till, customs confirms at your departure airport that you are taking the goods out, and the store or its refund agent then pays the tax back.
For purchases from 1 November 2026: keep every tax-free item with you (customs checks purchases receipt by receipt, and one missing item loses the refund for that receipt), and do the customs check at the departure airport before you check in your bags, within 90 days of purchase. At Narita, Haneda, Kansai, Chubu, Fukuoka, New Chitose and Naha, the Japan Tourism Agency says Visit Japan Web can also be used for that check online, over the departure lobby’s dedicated Wi-Fi before security.
What goes wrong, and how to fix it
These are common issues and how to fix them.
| Issue | What to do |
|---|---|
| “My QR code didn’t generate” | You probably didn’t complete the customs section. Go back to the trip page and finish both immigration and customs to unlock the QR codes. |
| “My flight number changed” | Edit the trip (or register a new one), check the flight number in the immigration and customs section, then re-create the QR code and take a new screenshot. |
| “Passport photo upload keeps failing” | Retake the photo in even daylight, no glare or shadow. Place the passport flat on a contrasting background. Manual data entry is always available if the photo path keeps failing. |
| “Airport Wi-Fi is unreliable” | Take a screenshot of your QR code before you board; the Immigration Services Agency says screenshots can be used, including at the Joint Kiosk. The live code also shows offline if you logged in beforehand and stayed logged in. |
| “My phone is dead at the airport” | Carry a power bank. The Digital Agency says the code has to be shown on a smartphone or tablet, so a printout is not an official backup; with a dead phone, fill in the paper arrival card and customs form instead. |
| “I made a typo in my passport details” | Correct it under Register user, then update the immigration and customs section too (it does not update automatically), re-create the QR code and take a new screenshot. |
When you might want to skip Visit Japan Web
The system is optional, and there are situations where the paper alternative is fine:
- You are arriving at an airport without a Joint Kiosk and don’t mind filling in the paper forms.
- You don’t want to register a passport and email with a foreign government’s database (a reasonable preference some travellers hold).
- Your flight number is changing repeatedly close to departure and you’d rather just fill out a paper card on the plane.
- You are travelling with elderly relatives who find the website fiddly. Paper arrival cards are handed out on board and are available at the airport.
The paper forms still work. The argument for Visit Japan Web is cleaner data entry on a phone keyboard rather than a tray-table pen, plus access to the Joint Kiosk and the customs e-Gate where they exist.
Sort these before you land
Visit Japan Web handles immigration; these handle everything from the moment you step off the plane. You can have them waiting — delivered to your hotel, an airport locker, or a convenience store.
Japan data SIM
Online the second you land — no airport-counter queue. Or compare an eSIM if your phone takes one.
Power bank
A long arrival day of maps, QR codes and photos drains a phone fast.
Japan plug adapter
Japan uses Type-A two-pin outlets. One adapter and you can charge everything.
Luggage scale
Weigh your bag before the flight home so a souvenir haul does not cost you at the gate.
Pre-flight checklist
Before you board, confirm
- Account created with valid email + password
- Passport details entered for every traveller (you plus up to 10 family members)
- Trip registered with correct flight number and arrival airport
- Immigration section fully answered
- Customs section fully answered
- QR code generated for every traveller and screenshot taken
- Still logged in to Visit Japan Web on the phone you’ll carry (the QR code then shows offline)
- Phone charged or charger packed in carry-on
FAQ
Do I have to use Visit Japan Web?
No. Paper arrival cards and customs declarations are still distributed on inbound flights and available at every airport. Visit Japan Web is an optional digital alternative for travellers who prefer to fill out the paperwork in advance on a phone or computer.
How early can I register?
You can register any time before you fly; about two weeks before departure is the sweet spot — late enough that flight details are stable, early enough that you aren’t doing it at the airport. Visit Japan Web’s guide and FAQ set no cut-off, but don’t leave it until you’re in the air; check that your QR code shows before you board.
Can I use a screenshot of the QR code?
Yes. Visit Japan Web’s registration screen and the Immigration Services Agency both say a screenshot of the QR code can be used, including at the Joint Kiosk. If you correct any registered details, update the immigration and customs section too, then re-create the code and take a new screenshot. The live code also shows offline if you logged in beforehand and stayed logged in. The separate tax-free QR is the exception: screenshots of it are not accepted.
Does Visit Japan Web replace a tourist visa?
No. If your passport requires a Japanese tourist visa, you still arrange that through an embassy or the eVisa portal. Visit Japan Web only handles the on-arrival paperwork — the immigration arrival card and the customs declaration.
What about the tax-free shopping QR — does it still work?
Only at stores that accept it, where it supplies your passport details (carry your passport anyway), and a screenshot of it won’t work. Purchases up to 31 October 2026 are still tax-free at the till. For purchases from 1 November 2026 you pay the consumption tax at the till; customs confirms your purchases at the departure airport before you check in your bags, and the store or its refund agent then pays the tax back.
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