Relocating to Japan for Work: The Personal Setup Your Company Won't Do for You

Quick answer

Your company transfer covers the big things: the visa, the flat, maybe a work laptop and a work phone. It does not cover your personal life. Nobody at HR is going to walk you through your residence card, your ward office registration, your own bank account, or a personal phone number.

This is the short, no-nonsense list of what only you can do. Do it in order in your first two weeks and the rest of your life in Japan stops fighting you.

Your residence card is the master key

You receive your residence card (在留カード) at the airport on arrival, or by mail shortly after. Carry it. It is the single document every other step asks for, and you are legally required to have it on you.

Check that your name and status are spelled exactly as on your passport. If your employer's relocation agent filled in a form for you, verify it yourself. A typo here becomes a typo on your bank account and your phone contract later.

Keep a photo of both sides on your phone, but the physical card is what counters actually accept.

Register at the ward office within 14 days

Go to your local ward or city office (区役所 / 市役所) within 14 days of moving into your address. Bring your residence card and the lease or address paperwork your company gave you. They print your new address on the back of the card.

While you are there, sign up for National Health Insurance if your company has not enrolled you in employee insurance, and ask about your My Number notification, which arrives by mail. My Number is needed for your bank and for tax.

Get a residence certificate (住民票) printed while you are at the counter. Several later steps ask for one, and a second trip is a wasted afternoon.

Open a personal bank account

Your salary may land in an account your company helped set up, but you still want a personal account you fully control. Bring your residence card, your residence certificate, and a personal phone number, because the bank will send confirmation to it.

Many counters want proof you have lived here for six months, but online-first banks and Japan Post Bank are usually more flexible for new arrivals. Ask your relocation contact which branch is used to foreign residents.

Register a hanko (personal seal) if the branch asks for one, though signatures are increasingly accepted.

Why the work phone is not enough

A company handset is tied to your employer. If you change jobs, leave the country, or simply want to sign up for anything personal, that number disappears with the contract, and support calls go through your company, not you.

Almost every personal step above wants a phone number: the bank verification, the ward office contact field, deliveries, utilities, and the two-factor codes for every app you will actually use.

So treat a personal Japanese number as core setup, not a nice-to-have. It is the piece that makes the account, the deliveries and the everyday apps yours.

Getting your own number and data

You do not need to have lived here for months to get a personal line. With just your residence card you can sign up online, and Rakuten Mobile lets you complete the whole thing from the web without a shop visit.

Choose an eSIM and a compatible phone and you can usually be active the same day, often in around 15 minutes, so your first weekend already has data and a real Japanese number for verifications.

Terms and current plan details change, so confirm what applies to you on the official Rakuten Mobile page before you sign up. Once your number is live, go back and finish the bank and app steps.