FAQ · Politics & Government 43

The conventional short form of the country name is Japan, and there is no conventional long form. In Japanese the local short form is Nihon or Nippon, and the local long form is Nihon-koku or Nippon-koku. The English word Japan comes from the Chinese name for the country, Cipangu. Both Nihon and Nippon come from the Japanese words nichi, meaning sun, and hon, meaning origin. That pairing is frequently translated as Land of the Rising Sun.

The country calling code of Japan is 81, written internationally as +81. To call a number in Japan from another country, dial your exit code, then 81, then the national number without the leading 0. Numbers used inside Japan start with the trunk prefix 0, so a mobile written 090-1234-5678 is dialed from abroad as +81 90-1234-5678. Calls placed from Japan to another country begin with the exit code 010, followed by that country's code and the number. A Japan mobile number has 10 digits after the country code, and mobile ranges were originally assigned to networks such as Softbank, KDDI, NTT Docomo, Okinawa Cellular, and Rakuten Communications, though a number can later be ported.

Japan's internet country-code top-level domain is the label jp, classified by IANA as a country-code top-level domain in Latin script, and its status is active. The manager is Japan Registry Services, with its office at Chiyoda First Building East, 3-8-1 Nishi-Kanda, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 101-0065, Japan. The registry website is given as jprs followed by jp, and the WHOIS server is whois followed by jprs and jp. The technical status is delegated, with name servers labeled a through h under the dns and jp labels. IANA last updated this record on 6 November 2026.

In Japan, vehicles must keep to the left side of the road. The Road Traffic Act, which took effect in 1960, says in Article 17 that a vehicle must travel on the part of the road to the left of the center, and left-side vehicle traffic was already the practice before that law. The first written rule was an 1881 notice from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, which told rickshaws that met on the road to pass on the left, and a 1900 police regulation again put vehicles and horses on the left of the carriageway. Okinawa used the right side while it was under United States administration after the war, then switched to the same left-side rule as the rest of Japan on 30 July 1978. Bicycles count as vehicles and must also keep left, while pedestrians on a road with no sidewalk must keep to the right edge unless that side is dangerous.

A demonym is the particular word used for a resident of, or a person from, a given region or municipality. In English, people who live in Japan are called Japanese, formed by adding the suffix ese after the country name. English also uses other endings, such as an in Asian, ish in Irish, er in Londoner, ite in Sydneyite, and i in Israeli, and these words for people are capitalized. In Japanese, the usual pattern is to add the character for person or for child after a place name, sometimes with a small tsu, rather than a complex suffix like those in English. The English word demonym spread after Paul Dickson's book Labels for Locals in 1997, which traces an earlier use to George H Scheetz in 1988, while National Geographic attributed the proposal to a 1990 book.

Asked what flower represents their country, most Japanese are likely to point to cherry blossoms. The flower treated as official is the 16-petal chrysanthemum used for the imperial seal. Japan has no legally defined national flower or seal, but the imperial seal appears on the cover of Japanese passports, on some Japanese coins, and over the doors of Japanese diplomatic facilities overseas. Chrysanthemums originated in China and were imported into Japan as a medicinal plant in the Nara period, from 710 to 794. It is believed the chrysanthemum became the imperial symbol when Emperor Go-Toba, who reigned from 1183 to 1198, chose the flower as his personal emblem.

Japan's parliament is the National Diet, and it consists of two houses, the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors, whose elected members represent all the people. The House of Representatives has 465 members, a term of four years that ends if the house is dissolved, a voting age of 18, and a minimum age of 25 to stand for office. Its seats are 289 from single-seat constituencies and 176 from proportional representation, and this house can be dissolved. The House of Councillors has 248 members serving six years, with half elected every third year, a voting age of 18, and a minimum age of 30 to stand. Its seats are 148 from plural-seat prefectural constituencies and 100 from proportional representation, and this house cannot be dissolved.

Japan has no retirement visa and no visa based on a pension. The closest status is Designated Activities for sightseeing, recreation, and similar activities, for people aged 18 or over, and the stay is no more than one year and does not lead to longer residence. It is open only to citizens of countries and regions listed in the notice, including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, South Korea, and most European Union countries, but not China, India, the Philippines, or Vietnam. The applicant and spouse together need bank savings of at least 30 million yen, or 60 million yen if both apply in their own right, plus private medical insurance, because holders of this status are excluded from National Health Insurance. The Certificate of Eligibility is free, a spouse from a listed country may come along with private insurance, and the status has no category for children.

Remaining in Japan after the period of stay has expired is a criminal offence no matter how short the overstay is. Article 70 of the Immigration Control Act sets the penalty at a custodial sentence of not more than 3 years, a fine of not more than 3,000,000 yen, or both, and that statutory range does not change whether the overstay lasted one month or ten years. The same act also makes overstaying a ground for deportation, and deportation proceedings continue even if the criminal case ends in non-prosecution, a fine, or a suspended sentence. A departure order is available only if all five requirements in Article 24-3 are met, including a prompt departure, and the inspector then sets a deadline within 15 days without the detention that deportation proceedings presuppose. Landing is refused for 1 year after a departure order, for 5 years after a first deportation, and for 10 years after deportation when there was already a deportation or departure-order record.

Japan does not require a minimum remaining period of passport validity, but the passport must stay valid for the entire duration of the stay. One blank passport page is required for an entry stamp or a visa insert. Citizens of the United States and of other visa-exemption countries do not need a visa for a short-term, non-revenue visit of less than 90 days, and a visa that is required is not issued at the airport and must be obtained before travel. Every foreign visitor must make a declaration for immigration clearance, which can be done in advance on the government system Visit Japan Web, and that system can also be used for customs clearance. The decision to allow or refuse landing is made during immigration clearance on arrival, and the Immigration Services Agency of Japan handles that decision.

Even when a visa is not required, travelers must arrange to leave Japan within the permitted period of stay, and immigration authorities may ask to see a return ticket or proof of the next travel out of Japan on arrival. Citizens of the United States and other visa-exemption countries may make a short-term, non-revenue visit of less than 90 days without a visa. A visa, if one is needed, is not issued at an airport and must be applied for before travel, and a visa may also be required for transit between different airports or different terminals at the same airport. The passport must be valid for the whole stay, with one blank page for an entry stamp or a visa insert, and there is no separate minimum of remaining validity. All foreign visitors must file an immigration declaration, which can be prepared in advance on Visit Japan Web, and the Immigration Services Agency decides whether to allow landing when the traveler arrives.

Everyone entering or returning to Japan must submit a Declaration of Accompanied Articles and Unaccompanied Articles to customs. Customs recommends doing this electronically through Visit Japan Web, where the entered information is shown as a QR code. At the airport, the customs code and the chip passport are read at an electronic declaration terminal so the traveler can use the electronic gate. From 25 January 2024, Visit Japan Web uses one QR code for both immigration inspection and the customs declaration, and a code made in the old customs declaration app can no longer be used. Paper declaration forms are still available at customs offices in airports and ports, and an A4 copy of the form may be printed and brought instead.

For personal-use goods that an overseas traveler brings in, whether carried or sent separately, the duty-free allowance for an adult is three bottles of alcoholic beverages, with a bottle counted as 760 ml. Tobacco is limited to 200 cigarettes, 50 cigars, 10 individual packages of heat-not-burn tobacco, or 250 grams of other tobacco products, and if more than one kind is brought the combined allowance is 250 grams. Perfume is limited to 2 ounces, about 56 ml. Other articles must have a total overseas market value under 200,000 yen, items under 10,000 yen each are duty-free and are not counted in that total, and a single article worth more than 200,000 yen has no duty-free allowance. People under 20 years old receive no allowance for alcoholic beverages or tobacco products, and if goods are both carried and sent separately the same limits apply to the combined quantity and value.

When you enter or leave Japan with means of payment exceeding 1,000,000 yen, or the equivalent, you must submit a declaration to customs before entry or departure. The total covers cash in Japanese or foreign currency, checks including traveler's checks, promissory notes, and securities such as stock certificates and government bonds. The threshold is 100,000 yen instead if you are bound for North Korea, and gold of more than 90 percent purity must also be declared when the total weight exceeds 1 kg. For stock certificates, declare the current price, book value, or trade value, whichever is higher, using the customs conversion rate for foreign currency. Fill in the address, name, and the type and amount on a Declaration of Carrying of Means of Payment, which is available at airport and seaport customs, or declare online through NACCS after user registration.

Importing medicines is controlled under the Pharmaceutical Affairs Law and the Customs Law, so personal-use medicines still need the right procedure when you enter Japan. You do not need Import Confirmation for a poison, deadly poison, or prescription drug up to a 1 month supply, for an external-use drug up to 24 per item when it is not one of those categories, or for an injectable drug and its syringe up to a 1 month supply if it is a pre-filled syringe or a self-injection kit. Other drugs and quasi-drugs are allowed up to a 2 month supply without that confirmation. Above those amounts you must apply for Import Confirmation, receive it before leaving home, and show it to the customs officer, and cosmetics are limited to 24 per item, such as up to 24 lipsticks of any brand or color. Narcotics such as morphine and fentanyl, and stimulants' raw materials such as lisdexamfetamine, cannot be brought in unless they were prescribed for a specific patient and permission was received from the Japanese government before travel, and prohibited or controlled drugs cannot be brought in at all.

Only dogs and cats that have been quarantined may be imported into or exported from Japan, under the Rabies Prevention Act and the Act on Domestic Animal Infectious Diseases Control. The importer must notify the arrival plan to the Animal Quarantine Service by the due date and apply for import inspection on arrival, and an officer checks the health certificate, examines the animal, and issues the import quarantine certificate. If the animals meet the import requirements on arrival, quarantine is within 12 hours, but animals that do not meet the requirements can be held at a detention facility for up to 180 days, and some may not be allowed to enter. Failing to have a dog inspected can bring a custodial sentence of up to three years or a fine of up to three million yen, and failing to have a cat inspected can bring a fine of up to 300 thousand yen. The person importing or exporting the animal is responsible for the quarantine and must complete the procedures at their own expense, and assistance dogs must meet the same import requirements.

The Animal Quarantine Service gives current guidance on bringing animal products into Japan from overseas and answers questions about those products. Outbreaks of domestic animal diseases in other countries mean that most meat and other animal products cannot be brought into Japan, and bringing such items in illegally is subject to penalties. Plant Protection Stations give current guidance on bringing plants and plant products into Japan and answer related questions. Every plant and plant product imported into Japan must clear plant quarantine procedures, and illegal imports are likewise subject to penalties. Cooperation is requested so that agriculture and natural resources stay protected.

A residence card is issued to a mid- to long-term resident when immigration grants landing permission, a change of status, or an extension of stay, and short-term visitors such as tourists do not receive one. The card has an IC chip and shows the name in Latin letters, the address once it is registered, the status of residence, the period of stay, whether work is allowed, and any permission for activities outside that status, such as part-time work. At 10 major airports the card is handed over on arrival, and elsewhere it is issued later. From the age of 16 the holder must carry it at all times and show it to an immigration officer or a police officer, while residents under 16 are exempt from carrying it. Failing to carry it can bring a fine of up to 200,000 yen, and refusing to show it can bring imprisonment of up to one year or a fine of up to 200,000 yen. A permanent resident or a Highly Skilled Professional (ii) aged 16 or over has a card valid for 7 years from the issue date, other residents aged 16 or over keep it until the period of stay ends, and a move, a change of name, nationality, date of birth, or sex, or a lost card, must be reported within 14 days at no charge.

The Financial Services Agency is an external organ of the Cabinet Office under Article 64 of the Act for Establishment of the Cabinet Office, and a Minister of State for Financial Services is appointed in that Office under Article 11 of the same Act. Article 3 of the Act for Establishment of the Financial Services Agency states its mission as securing the stability of financial functions in Japan, protecting depositors, policyholders, securities investors, and equivalent persons, and facilitating financing. It does that work by planning the financial system, inspecting and supervising private-sector financial institutions, and monitoring securities transactions. The institutions it supervises include banks, insurance companies, and financial instruments business operators, together with market participants such as exchanges, and it also sets market trading rules, business accounting standards, and oversight of certified public accountants and audit firms. Its three policy aims are stability of the financial system, protection and convenience for users, and fair and transparent markets. The agency was formed in July 2000 by reorganizing the Financial Supervisory Agency and taking on financial-system planning from the Ministry of Finance, and in January 2001 it became the Cabinet Office organ that also handles failed financial institutions.

The Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency, called PMDA, is the Japanese regulatory agency that works with the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. Its obligation is to protect public health by assuring the safety, efficacy, and quality of pharmaceuticals and medical devices. It scientifically reviews marketing authorization applications for pharmaceuticals and medical devices and monitors their safety after they reach the market. It also provides relief compensation to people who suffer adverse drug reactions or infections from pharmaceuticals or biological products. PMDA was established on 1 April 2004 as an incorporated administrative agency with non-civil service status. Its services include clinical-trial consultations, review of regenerative medical products, re-examinations and re-evaluations, compliance checks and manufacturing inspections, standards such as the Japanese Pharmacopoeia, analysis of safety reports, and consultations for consumers.

The Immigration Services Agency runs a general information center for foreign residents that answers questions on entry and residence procedures in Japanese and in 10 foreign languages, including English, Korean, Chinese, and Spanish. The center number inside Japan is 0570-013904, and calls from an IP phone or from overseas use 03-5796-7112, on weekdays from 8:30 to 17:15. It is closed on Saturdays, Sundays, national holidays, and over the year-end and New Year holiday. One-stop consultation centers work with local government counters to explain the administrative procedures foreign residents need in order to live in Japan and to offer daily-life advice and information. The Foreign Residents Support Center, called FRESC, gathers government counters in one place to advise foreign residents, support employers of foreign staff, and help local governments, and it answers at 0570-011000, or at 03-5363-3013 from an IP phone or from overseas, on weekdays from 9:00 to 17:00, with the same closures. Regional immigration bureaus also take questions on entry and residence procedures.

In an emergency, call 110 for the police and 119 for a fire or an ambulance, both free and available 24 hours from any phone. On 119, say kaji desu for a fire and kyukyu desu for an ambulance. The Japan Visitor Hotline (JNTO) answers travellers 24 hours every day in English, Chinese, and Korean at 050-3816-2787. For residence status and life in Japan, the Foreign Residents Support Center answers on weekdays from 9:00 to 17:00 at 0570-011000, then 2 for English, or at 03-5363-3013 from an IP phone or from overseas. In Tokyo, the Tokyo Multilingual Consultation Navi covers 15 languages on weekdays from 10:00 to 16:00 at 0120-142-142, and Himawari gives medical information for finding a clinic that speaks your language every day from 9:00 to 20:00 at 03-5285-8181 in English, Chinese, Korean, Thai, and Spanish.

The center hospital of the Japan Institute for Health Security, at 1-21-1 Toyama in Shinjuku, accepts a request for an English medical certificate written by a doctor on the hospital form at the document desk on the first floor of the central building, beside the outpatient cashier, or by mail. The application needs the patient card, the certificate form, and identification such as a passport, a residence card, or a My Number card, and anyone other than the patient must also bring a power of attorney or consent except in the limited family cases the hospital lists. Telephone and email requests are not accepted, an insurer's agent may apply only at the counter, and a person under 18 cannot file the request. The hospital says preparation usually takes about 3 to 4 weeks, counted from the day mailed papers arrive, and the finished paper is normally sent by recorded letter pack or collected at the window with the exchange slip and the patient card. A certificate can cover only care already given, not a future date, and the published fee schedule changed on 1 April 2026, with the English doctor-written form listed separately from the Japanese one. Changes after filing count as a new application, and a cancellation is not refunded.

In Japan, yellow fever vaccination is given only at designated facilities, and the international certificate of vaccination, commonly called the yellow card, is handed to you after the shot. The certificate becomes valid on the 10th day after vaccination and then remains valid for life. Countries that ask to see it include yellow fever risk countries that require it of every traveler, risk countries that require it only of people arriving from a risk country, and some non-risk countries that require it of arrivals from a risk country, while some risk countries do not require it at all. The World Health Organization's risk list covers parts of Africa and Latin America and includes places where no cases are occurring now but an outbreak is still possible. If health reasons rule out the vaccine, a contraindication certificate can be issued from a doctor's diagnosis, but it does not replace the yellow card, so you should ask the destination's embassy whether entry is still possible. Reissue or a name change is handled by the facility that gave the vaccination, and Tokyo Quarantine Station cannot reissue one after a set period unless you still have the original.

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare says emergency contraception can be obtained through an online consultation followed by dispensing, by buying the guidance-required medicine, or through an in-person visit with a prescription filled at the clinic or a pharmacy. Retail sales of that guidance-required medicine began on 2 February 2026. The ministry publishes one list of pharmacies and pharmacists who can dispense it after an online consultation, and another list of outlets allowed to sell the guidance-required product. It asks buyers, especially just after the retail launch, to telephone the outlet first and confirm both the stock and that a pharmacist allowed to sell it is on duty. A review report linked from the same page concerns a guidance-required emergency contraceptive whose active ingredient is levonorgestrel.

To keep civil-protection plans effective, Japan runs practical drills that assume a range of situations, with the aim of improving the ability to carry out civil-protection measures and of strengthening cooperation among the agencies involved. The Fire and Disaster Management Agency promotes joint drills by the national government and local governments, together with the Cabinet Secretariat and other bodies, and uses them to check that responses under the Civil Protection Act actually work. Its Reiwa 7 white paper says that year's joint drills were planned as 36 live or tabletop exercises in 30 prefectures as of 25 April 2025, including scenarios such as terrorism. Resident evacuation drills that assume a ballistic missile, restarted in September 2022 after frequent launches from North Korea, were planned as 27 exercises in 23 prefectures as of 26 August 2025. Local governments are responsible for passing on warnings, ordering evacuation, guiding residents, and rescue, and prefectural governors and mayors are expected to keep a staff organization that can respond at night and on holidays. The Fire College teaches a crisis-management and civil-protection course, and the agency also runs civil-protection and J-Alert workshops for local staff who handle J-Alert.

Foreign embassies in Japan cluster in central Tokyo, and a guide current as of May 2026 says about 160 countries keep an embassy or consulate in the country. It says most missions run a 24-hour emergency line and that the daytime switchboard is routed to an on-call duty officer after hours, with routine counters typically open Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 17:00 and closed on weekends and holidays. For a lost passport, an accident, a hospitalization, or an arrest, the consular section is the contact, but a lost passport should be reported at a police box first so you have the lost-property certificate before the embassy visit. The same guide says an embassy can issue a replacement passport or an emergency travel document, tell your family, and suggest lawyers or doctors, and that it does not lend money, pay medical bills, or buy a ticket home. Switchboard numbers it lists for Tokyo include 03-3224-5000 for the United States at 1-10-5 Akasaka in Minato, 03-5211-1100 for the United Kingdom at 1 Ichibancho in Chiyoda, and 03-3452-7611 for South Korea at 1-2-5 Minami-Azabu in Minato, and it says these should be confirmed on each embassy's own site. The guide says the United States, China, and South Korea are among the countries that also keep consulates in regional cities such as Osaka, Fukuoka, Sapporo, and Naha.

A guide updated on 30 October 2026 says Japan's fixed speeding penalties for a car run from 9,000 yen to 18,000 yen and stop once the excess reaches 30 kilometres an hour on an ordinary road, while on an expressway they continue up to 35,000 yen and stop at 40 kilometres an hour over the limit. It sets the bands at 9,000 yen under 15 kilometres an hour over, 12,000 yen from 15 to 20, 15,000 yen from 20 to 25, and 18,000 yen from 25 to 30, on every road, then 25,000 yen from 30 to 35 and 35,000 yen from 35 to 40 on expressways only. It says those ceilings come from Appended Table 6 of the Road Traffic Act Enforcement Order, and that crossing 30 kilometres an hour over on an ordinary road or 40 on an expressway means there is no blue-ticket fixed penalty. Above that line the case goes to a prosecutor, with six demerit points and an immediate licence suspension. The same guide says a foreign licence needs an international driving permit issued under the 1949 Geneva Convention, and that a permit under the 1968 convention alone is not accepted.

On an expressway or a motorway reserved for motor vehicles, a motorcycle of 125cc or less cannot pass, so a moped and a bike that a small-limited ordinary motorcycle licence can ride are both excluded. The Japan Automobile Federation says you need a motorcycle over 125cc, and it gives the legal speed for a motorcycle there as a maximum of 100 kilometres an hour and a minimum of 50, unless a sign sets another limit, in which case driving below the posted minimum is also forbidden. Two people may ride if the rider is at least 20 and has held a large motorcycle licence or an ordinary motorcycle licence for a combined total of at least 3 years. Some sections, including the inner circular route of the Metropolitan Expressway, still ban two-up riding, and the ban is shown by a sign at the toll gate. A large motorcycle licence, including the automatic-only version, can be taken only from age 18, while the other motorcycle licences can be taken from age 16, and a bike over 250cc must be inspected after the first 3 years and then every 2 years.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government passport desk, in guidance updated on 24 March 2025, says the photograph is transferred onto the passport and must match the official sample. It accepts colour or black and white, it must show only the applicant, and it must have been taken within 6 months of filing, with a retake if the face has changed markedly. The print is borderless, the face from the crown to the chin is 32 to 36 millimetres, the person faces forward with no hat, and there is no background and no shadow. A digital print with visible dots, jagged edges, ink bleed, or image processing is rejected, and photo paper with a sharp image is required. Turned or tilted faces, sunglasses or a mask, a wide hairband, strong light on the face, scratches, objects in the background, glasses frames or glare over the eyes, and an extreme smile are listed as unsuitable, and the counter staff paste the photo, so you bring it loose unless it is already attached. For a round-faced infant, if the whole face including the ears will not fit even at the 32 millimetre minimum, the vertical face length may be shorter than 32 millimetres so that the whole face is in the frame.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issues both an authentication of an official seal and an apostille for official documents issued by government or public agencies and by local governments, when a foreign authority asks for that certification. An apostille is the ministry's certification in the form of an allonge under the Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, the Hague Convention of 5 October 1961, and it is accepted only in countries that are parties to that convention. In a destination country it stands in place of legalisation by that country's embassy or consulate in Japan. The ministry says that even a party to the convention may still require legalisation in some cases, and then an authentication is needed instead, while every certification for a country that is not a party must be an authentication. Applications are accepted by mail and at the counter. A recipient can check an apostille on the ministry's verification website if it was issued on or after 1 June 2026.

The Japan Pension Service says a corporation with at least one worker, and a business run by an individual with five or more regular workers, must be covered by Employees' Pension Insurance and Employees' Health Insurance, except certain individual businesses in services, agriculture, forestry, fishing, and livestock, and except a private-school corporation, which uses the Private School Mutual Aid system instead of employees' health insurance. At a mandatorily covered workplace every employee who meets the rules is insured, including regular employees, officers, and representatives, and part-timers whose scheduled hours and days are at least three-fourths of those of regular employees in the same job. Workers below that three-fourths line may still be insured at a company with more than 50 workers if they work 20 hours or more a week. Coverage does not depend on nationality, it applies during probation even without the worker's consent, and Employees' Pension Insurance covers workers up to age 70 in principle. The employer files the workplace registration and the enrollment, and a person under 70 who already receives an old-age employees' pension is still insured if the same rules are met, though that pension may be reduced or stopped while the person works.

The Osaka Labour Bureau says the Labour Standards Act requires every workplace, whatever its size, to give annual paid leave to a worker who has served continuously for 6 months or more and has attended at least 80 percent of working days. For a regular worker the minimum is 10 days at 6 months, then 11 days, 12 days, 14 days, 16 days, 18 days, and 20 days once continuous service reaches 6 years and 6 months. A worker with 4 fixed days or fewer a week and under 30 hours a week receives fewer days, starting at 7 days after 6 months for someone working 4 days a week and 169 to 216 days a year, and at 1 day for someone working 1 day a week and 48 to 72 days a year. The worker chooses the dates, but the employer may move them if the requested days would prevent normal operations, and a contract clause that bars the worker from asking for the leave is void. Pay for the leave is the wage for the fixed hours, or the average wage, or the daily standard remuneration under the Health Insurance Act if a written labour-management agreement says so. Unused days can be added to the next year and are cancelled once 2 years have passed, and the employer must not cut wages because the leave was taken.

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare says industrial accident compensation insurance pays benefits such as medical expenses when a worker is injured, becomes ill, or dies because of work or commuting, and a non-Japanese person who works in Japan is eligible. Health insurance does not apply to these industrial accidents. The benefits include medical treatment, wage compensation while the worker cannot work in order to be treated, a pension if the injury or disease has not healed after 1 year and 6 months and the disability meets a set grade, disability benefits if a disability remains, benefits for the surviving family if the worker dies, funeral expenses, and nursing-care expenses for people who receive the disability or injury pension. An employment injury is injury, disease, disability, or death with an employment-related cause, and trainees and employers who are not workers cannot receive the compensation in principle. An accident while on duty in the workplace building during regular or overtime hours is treated as an employment injury unless the circumstances are exceptional, but a private activity during working hours, an accident the worker causes on purpose, or violence by a third party that comes from a personal grudge is not.

A bilingual chart of Japan's main life-event leave, citing the Labor Standards Act, says maternity leave is for the mother only. Prenatal leave is 6 weeks before the due date, or 14 weeks for a multiple pregnancy, and it is granted when she requests it. Postnatal leave is 8 weeks after childbirth and is mandatory, though she may return after 6 weeks if she requests it and a doctor approves. The same chart treats childcare leave as a separate system, available in principle until the child turns 1 and at most until 24 months, in up to two blocks, with work during that leave not permitted in principle.

An English guide to Hello Work says it is the public office where you claim unemployment benefits if you have been paying Japan's employment insurance. An involuntary end of the job, such as layoff, non-renewal, or closure, needs at least 6 insured months in the past year, while a voluntary resignation needs at least 12 insured months in the past 2 years. There is always a 7-day period with no payment, and a voluntary resignation then adds about 1 further month from April 2025, or 3 months after repeated unjustified resignations or misconduct, unless approved training removes the extra wait. Your employer must issue the separation notices, which the guide says usually arrive about 2 weeks after the last day, and you apply in person at the Hello Work office that covers where you live. The guide puts the basic allowance at roughly 50 to 80 percent of the average daily wage over the previous 6 months, calculated as total wages divided by 180 days.

The National Consumer Affairs Center says the nationwide consumer hotline, 188, is the number that leads you to a local consumer-affairs desk. When the call is answered, the desk asks for your name, address, telephone number, sex, age, and occupation so it can handle the case. If the prefectural or designated-city line is busy, the recording gives the center's backup number, 03-3446-0999, which answers on weekdays from 10:00 to 16:00 and is closed on weekends, holidays, and over the year-end and New Year period. The page says that backup number changed on 3 December 2025 and the desk's name changed on 1 April 2026. On Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays from 10:00 to 16:00, if the local center is closed, the national center itself answers 188, except in some areas, over the New Year, and on days when its building is being inspected, and it does not take visits in person.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications accepts telephone consultations about trouble with telecommunications services, such as mobile phones and internet access, at its Telecommunications Consumer Consultation Center and at regional bureaus of telecommunications. An example it gives is finding that you have an internet line contract you do not remember making. For a dispute between a user and a carrier, the ministry will hear the case, pass what you reported to that carrier, and give advice, but it does not mediate, broker, or conciliate. It also takes information about telecom-service trouble through a web form, and it says it will not tell you how that information was handled or answer the submission. A separate commissioned center advises people about illegal or harmful information on the internet.

The National Consumer Affairs Center says full retail choice in electricity began on 1 April 2016 and in city gas on 1 April 2017, and that switching contracts has brought complaints to the center, to local consumer desks, and to the Electricity and Gas Market Surveillance Commission. It tells people to treat the name on the bill, the address, the customer number, and the supply-point number carefully and not to give them out as soon as someone asks. It also says some solicitors pretend to be a major power or gas company, so you should confirm the name and the contact of the company you would newly contract with. For telephone or doorstep contract trouble, or if something about the contract is unclear, it lists the commission's desk at 03-3501-5725. The same page lists the consumer hotline 188, with no area code, as the number that connects you to the nearest municipal or prefectural consumer center.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government says applications and questions about the water supply go to the Waterworks Bureau customer center, which covers all of Tokyo except Musashino, Akishima, Hamura, Hinohara, and the islands. In that area a move can also be filed in the bureau's own app. The center number is 0570-091-100, and it answers from 8:30 to 20:00 except on Sundays and holidays. Leaks and other emergencies are guided 24 hours a day, every day. A separate recorded line, 0570-200-987, gives information on large accidents and is updated as news comes in, and it says there is no information when there is none. Broader questions about the water service go to the Service Promotion Division at 03-5320-6327.

East Japan Railway Company takes questions about train times, fares, charges, and seat availability at 050-2016-1600 from 8:00 to 21:00. Opinions and requests by email go through its form, and the company says it cannot meet a requested deadline or an urgent demand. The same opinions can be given by telephone at 050-2016-1651 from 9:00 to 17:00, closed on weekends, holidays, and from 29 December through 3 January, and the company warns that a busy line can keep you waiting. Operators there use a business name so that their privacy is protected. English, Chinese, and Korean are handled by JR East InfoLine at 050-2016-1603 from 10:00 to 18:00, closed from 29 December through 3 January.

Japan Post's customer service center puts you through to an operator. From a fixed phone the toll-free number is 0120-23-28-86, and that number cannot be used from a mobile phone, which instead calls 0570-046-666 at the caller's expense. English is answered at 0570-046-111, also at the caller's expense, after you follow the voice prompts. Questions about letters, Yu-Pack, postcodes, delivery, and a moving notice filed at a counter or by mail are taken every day from 8:00 to 21:00. After you choose that line, the prompts include redelivery and a check on the status of registered mail or Yu-Pack. Other services are taken on weekdays from 9:00 to 19:00 and on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays from 9:00 to 17:00.

The Consumer Hotline for Tourists is a telephone desk for overseas visitors who run into a consumer problem while they are in Japan, including trouble with a shop, a restaurant, a bar, transport, or a hotel. The number is 03-5449-0906, and ordinary call charges to the center apply. It answers on weekdays from 10:00 to 12:00 and from 13:00 to 16:00, and it is closed on weekends, national holidays, and from 29 December through 3 January. The languages are English, Chinese, Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, French, and Japanese. It does not take tourist information or questions about lost property, accidents, illness, or injury. The desk gives advice by telephone so that you can negotiate with the business yourself, and it has no legal power to force or supervise that business.