Embassies in Japan — what they can and cannot do

When you need oneWhat an embassy can and cannot do

Most travellers never need their embassy. If you do, it is usually for one of four reasons, and it helps to know in advance which of them an embassy actually handles.

They can help with

A lost passport: The main reason people go. Report it at a police box (koban) first and keep the report, then contact the embassy for an emergency document
Being arrested or detained: Ask to contact your embassy. This is a right, and it is the first thing to say
A serious accident, or a death: They will contact family and advise on the formalities
Finding an English-speaking doctor: Most embassies keep a list
Advice for your country: Registration schemes, travel notices, voting

What to arrange yourself

Pay for you: Not hotels, flights, fines or hospital bills. This is what travel insurance is for
Get you out of a court case: Japanese law applies to you here
Act as a travel agent: Bookings, translations and telephone calls — your hotel front desk is faster
Open at 3am for a lost phone: Consular sections keep office hours. For anything urgent and physical: 119 or 110

Ask someone to call for you

Five minutes, worth doing tonight

Photograph your passport and save it to your phone and to your email. Note your embassy’s address and emergency number in Tokyo, and screenshot both. If the passport goes, that screenshot is the difference between a bad afternoon and a bad week.

Finding yoursWhere the embassies are

Almost all embassies in Japan are in Tokyo, with consulates in Osaka, Fukuoka, Sapporo, Nagoya and Naha depending on the country. Save your own embassy's number before you need it.

How to find yours today, in one minute

1: Search “[your country] embassy Tokyo” — use the official government domain, not a directory site
2: Or ask your hotel front desk, who will find and telephone it for you
3: Or ask at a police box — they deal with lost passports regularly
4: Save the number before you need it

Ask someone to call for you

If your passport is goneThe order to do things in

1 — Retrace, calmly Lost property in Japan is handled seriously. Ask at the last station, shop or restaurant you were in, and at the station office. Report it and leave your contact details
2 — Police box Report the loss and ask for the report. You will need it for the embassy and for insurance. Say Otoshimono o shimashita — I have lost something
3 — Your embassy Telephone during consular hours for an emergency travel document. Take the police report, the photograph of your old passport, and a passport photograph if they ask for one
4 — Your airline and insurer Tell them before your flight date, not on the day
5 — Immigration If your entry stamp was in the lost passport, the embassy will tell you what is needed. Ask your hotel front desk today

Your hotel front desk will make every one of these calls with you. That is not an imposition here; it is part of what they do.

Embassies in Japan大使館