About Japan Toolbox

What this site is

Japan Toolbox is a set of small, free tools for the tedious parts of travelling and living in Japan: tax-free refunds, visa fees and dates, Japanese era years, addresses and the pension lump-sum refund.

It is an independent site run by Ovelis. It is not a government service and is not connected to the Immigration Services Agency, the Japan Pension Service, the Japan Tourism Agency or Japan Post.

How the figures are checked

Every fee, rate and deadline comes from an official source, which is linked at the bottom of each tool together with the date it was last checked.

The rules are kept as data and tested against the worked examples published by the government. When a rule changes, the tool is updated and the date is changed.

The tools give estimates. For anything that matters — an application, a refund, a deadline — confirm with the official source or the office that handles it.

Translations

English and Japanese are written by us. Other languages use the official terms from government leaflets where they exist, and are checked by native speakers before they are listed in search engines. If something reads wrong, please tell us.

Your data

The tools run in your browser. What you type is not sent to us. See the privacy page for details.