Changing residences

Required procedures when moving to another location in Japan

1． Procedures at your local city hall (or ward office)
2． Relocation/Forwarding Service by post office
3． Procedures for changing utility services (electricity, gas, and water)
4． Providing notification to the university

1. Procedures at your local city hall (or ward office)

(1) Change of address notification (tenkyo-todoke), moving-out notification (tenshutsu-todoke), and moving-in notification (tennyu-todoke)
＜Relocating within the same city＞
Within 14 days of moving, submit a “change of address notification” (tenkyo-todoke) to your local city hall (or ward office).
＜Moving to another city＞
Before moving： Submit a “moving-out notification” (tenshutsu-todoke) to the city hall
(or ward office) of the place of residence you are moving out of.
After moving： Within 14 days of relocation, submit a “moving-in notification” (tennyu-todoke) to the city hall
(or ward office) in the area of your new residence.

(2) National Health Insurance (kokumin-kenko-hoken)
If you move within the same city, you only need to submit a notification of change of address.
If you move to another city, you will need to complete the required procedures at the respective city halls (or ward offices) when submitting a moving-out notification (tenshutsu-todoke) and a moving-in notification (tennyu-todoke).

(3) National Pension (kokumin nenkin)
Submit a notification for change of address to the city hall (or ward office) in the area of your new residence.

2. Relocation/Forwarding Service by post office

When you submit a change of address notification to the post office in your area, mail delivered to your previous address will be forwarded to your new address for one year from the date of notification.
Be sure to submit a change of address notification to your post office before moving.
You can submit your application through various means, such as submitting it to the counter of your local post office or online or dropping it off in a postbox. Check the website of the post office for details.

3. Procedures for changing utility services (electricity, gas, and water)

If you have signed up for public services by yourself, you must complete the required procedures, such as changing your address.
For water services, you must notify the waterworks bureau in the area of your residence. If you move within the same city, you only need to go through the change-of-address procedure. If you move to another city, you must complete the procedures for discontinuing your water service in your previous city and receiving the service in your new city.
Do not forget to complete the process for changing your address for your electricity and gas services.

4. Notifying our university

In addition, be sure to notify your bank, as well as other providers of the services you use, of the change of address if you have a bank account.