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Japan visitor prep checklist

Here is what to sort out for your visiting family, in order. You plan, they follow.

Hosting your parents or family in Japan? Answer a few questions and get a dated to-do list, from eight weeks out to departure day, with the reasoning under each item. You plan, they follow. Print it and tick things off.

How to use it

Work top to bottom. The eight and four week items are the ones people forget: insurance from home (Japanese health insurance does not cover visitors), deciding on rail passes, and sorting an IC card for the phones they actually own. The during and departure items include the new tax-free rules and luggage forwarding. Every item says why it matters so you can skip what does not apply.