abizon

Guide

The Japan tourist visa

Among the more straightforward applications an Indian passport holder can make — with one requirement almost nobody expects, and which sinks most first attempts.

At a glance

The essentials

Government fee
Free

Waived for Indian nationals

Processing
Not published yet

Working days

Maximum stay
90 days

Single or multiple entry

Our approval rate
Not published yet

Trailing quarter

Process

Six steps, in order

  1. 1

    Check whether you qualify for the eVisa

    Indian nationals applying for short-term tourism can often use the eVisa rather than filing at a consulate. It is faster and requires no passport submission.

  2. 2

    Prepare the daily schedule

    Japan requires a day-by-day itinerary on its own prescribed form. This is unusual, mandatory, and the most common reason applications are returned.

  3. 3

    Assemble financial documents

    Bank statements for six months and ITR for the last two years. Japan is less demanding than Schengen here, but the documents must still be consistent.

  4. 4

    Book flights and accommodation

    Reservations covering every night of the schedule. These must match the daily itinerary exactly — mismatches are treated as an incomplete application.

  5. 5

    Submit

    Through the eVisa portal, or at the consulate covering your state. Japan divides India between several missions and applying to the wrong one means starting again.

  6. 6

    Collect

    Typically 5–7 working days. The eVisa arrives by email; consulate applications require passport collection in person.

The unusual requirement

The daily schedule

Japan asks for something no other major destination does: a day-by-day account of your entire trip, submitted on its own prescribed form. Not a rough outline — every day, with dates.

What each day must show

  • The date
  • Where you will be — city, and the specific areas or attractions
  • Where you are staying that night, with the hotel name and contact number
  • How you are travelling between cities, if you are moving that day

Why it exists

It is a coherence test. A schedule that has you in Tokyo on Tuesday and Kyoto on Wednesday morning with no train booked, or a hotel reserved for four nights against a seven-night itinerary, reveals a trip that has not actually been planned. Japan reads that as an application whose stated purpose may not be the real one.

It does not bind you

You are not held to the schedule once you arrive. Nobody checks whether you visited the temple you listed. It has to be internally consistent and match your bookings — that is all.

The most common mistakes

  • Leaving days blank or writing “free day” — fill every day
  • Hotel dates that do not cover the full stay
  • Intercity travel with no corresponding train or flight reservation
  • Arrival and departure dates that disagree with the flight bookings

The fee is genuinely zero

Japan waives the visa fee for Indian nationals entirely. Any service quoting a government fee for a Japanese tourist visa is charging you their own fee and describing it as the government's. Our fee change audit exists partly because this is more common than it should be.

eVisa

Whether you can skip the consulate

Japan's eVisa covers short-term tourism for Indian nationals and is substantially easier than a consulate filing — no passport submission, no travel to a mission, and the visa arrives by email.

Suitable for

  • Single-entry tourism of up to 90 days
  • Applicants holding an ordinary Indian passport
  • Travellers arriving through an airport that accepts eVisa entry

You still need the consulate for

  • Multiple-entry visas
  • Business travel and visits to relatives
  • Any stay beyond 90 days
  • Applicants with a previous Japanese visa refusal

The daily schedule is required either way. It is the one part of a Japanese application there is no route around.

Apply for a Japan visa

We prepare the daily schedule for you and check it against your bookings before filing.

Start an application