Leaving Japan: what to close out, in order

A handful of institutions need to know you're leaving Japan, and they don't compare notes with each other: your landlord, a shipping company or the post office, your health insurer, the pension office, and the tax office. Each one runs on its own schedule, and a couple of those schedules only start once you've already left.

The guides below are ordered by how soon each one tends to matter. Clearing out furniture and shipping what you're keeping usually happens in your final weeks in the country. Insurance and pension paperwork can be filed shortly before or after departure, depending on the process. Residence tax often catches people off guard, because the bill can still arrive after you've gone, based on income from the year before.

If you're pausing your time in Japan rather than leaving for good, some of this, the pension withdrawal especially, may not apply the same way. Check the eligibility notes inside each guide before assuming a step is required.

1. 1 Getting Rid of Furniture and Appliances Before You Move Out of Japan How sodai gomi (bulky waste) disposal works when you move out of a Japanese apartment, why your fridge, washer, aircon, and TV can't go out with it, and what happens to your deposit if you run out of time.
2. 2 Shipping Your Belongings Home When You Leave Japan: Japan Post vs Yamato vs a Full-Service Mover Japan Post's international parcel post, Yamato's TA-Q-BIN and international moving plans, and door-to-door international movers compared for leaving Japan — plus how the unaccompanied-baggage duty exemption generally works and why it depends on where you're headed.
3. 3 Getting Your Security Deposit Back in Japan Shikikin and restoration rules when you move out of a Japanese apartment — what landlords can and cannot charge you for, based on the MLIT guideline and Civil Code.
4. 4 Health Insurance After You Quit Your Job in Japan What happens to your health insurance after you leave a Japanese company: voluntary continuation, National Health Insurance, and joining a family member's plan — deadlines and mechanics.
5. 5 The Lump-Sum Withdrawal Payment: Getting Some of Your Japanese Pension Back How Japan's lump-sum withdrawal payment works for foreign workers leaving the pension system: eligibility, the payment cap, the 20.42% withholding tax, and the 2025 reform.
6. 6 Japan's Residence Tax: Why the Bill Arrives in Year Two Why residence tax doesn't show up in your first year in Japan but does in your second, how the roughly 10% rate is worked out, and what happens if you leave Japan before it's settled.