Leaving Japan: the moving-out checklist, in the right order

Two months before

• Give notice on your apartment. Most leases need one month, some two (解約予告, kaiyaku yokoku). Check yours, and do it in writing or through the agent's form. How to read a Japanese lease.
• Tell your employer or school your last day, and ask what they'll handle: final salary, the company's health insurance and pension, and the tax certificate you'll need (源泉徴収票, gensen chōshūhyō).
• Start selling or giving away furniture. Oversized garbage collections book out weeks ahead in spring. How garbage works in Japan.
• Decide who'll handle things after you leave, if anything will be left: resident tax, a final pension refund, post. This person is your tax representative (納税管理人, nōzei kanrinin). It can be a friend in Japan, or a tax accountant.

Two weeks before

• Book the move-out inspection with your agent (退去立会い, taikyo tachiai) for your last days.
• Stop electricity, gas, water and internet from your move-out date. Most can be done online. Internet providers may want their router back, and some charge an early cancellation fee.
• Ship things home. Japan Post's international parcels and surface mail (船便, funabin) are cheap for books and clothes if you can wait a couple of months.
• Sort out your bank account. Most banks require you to close it, or change it to a non-resident account, once you leave. Keep it open until your last salary and your deposit refund have arrived, and agree the timing with the bank.

At the ward office (up to 14 days before)

File your moving-out notice (転出届, tenshutsu todoke). You can do it up to about two weeks before you leave. This removes you from the resident register, which also ends your National Health Insurance and National Pension from the day you leave.

• Pay what you owe at the same visit: health insurance up to your leaving month, and ask about resident tax (below).
• Hand in or ask about your health insurance certificate at the insurance counter.
• Ask what happens to your My Number card. Since 2024 people moving abroad can, in many cases, keep using it. The counter will tell you what to do with yours.
• Ask for a copy of your resident record (住民票) showing your departure, if you'll need proof later. Pension refunds and some foreign banks ask for one.

Tax: the bill that follows you

Resident tax (住民税) is charged for the whole year to whoever lived in the city on 1 January, based on the previous year's income. So if you leave in, say, August, you still owe that year's resident tax. Either pay all of it before you go (ask at the tax counter for a lump-sum slip) or name a tax representative to pay it for you.

Income tax: if you're employed, your company usually settles this in your final payslip. If you're freelance or had other income, you may need to file a tax return before you leave, or have your representative file it.

Getting part of your pension back

If you're not Japanese and paid into the Japanese pension for six months or more, you can usually claim a lump-sum withdrawal payment (脱退一時金, dattai ichijikin) after you leave. You apply within two years of leaving, from abroad, by post or online. The amount depends on how long you paid in, up to a cap.

• Check whether your home country has a social security agreement with Japan first. If it does, staying in the Japanese system and adding your years together may be worth more than the refund. Once you take the refund, those years no longer count.
• Refunds of the company pension (厚生年金) have tax taken off. Your tax representative can usually claim that tax back for you.
• Take your pension number (基礎年金番号) and a bank account in your name that can receive the money abroad.

The last few days

• Move-out inspection. Be there. Don't sign a damage list you disagree with on the spot.
• Cancel your phone last, after you've received the last bank and other SMS codes you need. Some apps need a Japanese number to log in even from abroad, so think about which ones.
• Mail. Japan Post's forwarding service (転居届) only forwards within Japan. Ask a friend or your representative to collect anything important, or update addresses before you leave.

At the airport: your residence card

Leaving for good: hand your residence card to immigration at departure. They punch it or keep it. Coming back within a year while your status is still valid: tick the special re-entry box on the departure card (みなし再入国, minashi sainyūkoku) and keep your card. Tick it wrongly and your residence status ends when you leave.