If you are hosting family visiting Japan, one small task can save everyone time at the airport: helping your guests set up Visit Japan Web before they fly. It is easy to do from your side of the trip, and a little preparation now spares your relatives from filling in forms while jet-lagged in an arrivals hall.
What Visit Japan Web actually is
Visit Japan Web is the government's online service for pre-registering the immigration and customs procedures that every arriving traveller has to complete anyway. Instead of writing out paper cards on the plane, your guests enter their details ahead of time and receive QR codes. At the airport they scan those codes at the immigration and customs gates, which usually moves things along faster than the paper route.
It is run by the Digital Agency, and it is genuinely just a convenience layer over the normal entry process. It does not grant any permission your guests would not otherwise have, and it is not a visa.
It is optional, and paper still works
This is worth saying clearly to nervous travellers: Visit Japan Web is optional. The old paper disembarkation and customs declaration cards are still available on the plane and at the airport, and anyone can use them instead. If a QR code will not load, or a phone dies, or the whole thing feels like too much, your guests can still walk up to the counter and hand over paper. Nobody is turned away for not using the app. Framing it as "a shortcut, not a requirement" takes the pressure off.
How to help set it up before the trip
Because the service is web-based, your guests can register from home days or weeks before departure. As the host, you can sit with them over a video call and walk through it together. The basic steps are:
- Create an account with an email address and password on the official site.
- Register each traveller, including children, under the account.
- Enter passport details and the planned arrival date and flight.
- Fill in the entry and customs questions and generate the QR codes.
One account can hold a whole family, so a parent or grandparent can manage everyone in one place. Encourage them to take a screenshot of each QR code once it is generated, so it is available even without a signal at the airport.
What information it needs
Have these ready before you start so there is no scrambling: each traveller's passport, the flight and arrival date, and the address where they will be staying. If your relatives are staying with you, that is your home address, so send it to them in advance in a form they can copy and paste. A contact phone number in Japan, usually yours as the host, is also useful. Nothing here is unusual, but gathering it first makes the whole thing a five-minute job rather than a stop-start one.
Common snags for older travellers
Most difficulties are practical rather than technical. Small text and fiddly date pickers are the usual complaints, so a larger screen, such as a tablet, often helps. Passport names must be entered exactly as printed, including middle names and spacing. Some travellers get confused between the account login and the QR codes themselves, so it helps to explain that they log in once, then simply show the codes at the airport. If a relative finds the phone screen stressful, remind them again that the paper form is always a fallback. Getting them through it calmly once, with you guiding, builds the confidence to do it again.
Registration can be done close to the trip, so there is no rush to complete it months ahead. Use the official Visit Japan Web site; verified 2026-09-07.
Once the airport side is sorted, keep planning with our visitor checklist, confirm your guests understand the visa waiver rules, and think through getting from the airport to your place.