The application for a Japan Tourist Visa is not as difficult as let’s say, applying for a US Visa.  Everything is coursed through an agency, and there’s no need for personal appearance (with the Embassy).  Japan has relaxed the requirements for Filipinos to encourage tourists to visit their country. Traveling to Japan is at its most affordable today, with the rise of cheap airfares from low-budget airlines all year long. If you are worrying about the visa application – don’t!

I tried to put all the requirements and necessary links here – so that you don’t need to check out different sources anymore.

1. Of course, you need your Philippine Passport. Make sure you have more than 6 months from date of expiry, otherwise, it’s best to renew your passport before applying for a visa. Also, make sure the laminated photo on your passport is not broken or folded.
2. Download the application form and fill it up.  You can leave the fields for guarantor/inviter blank if you are going as a tourist. But, you need to indicate where you are staying (hotel/hostel or Airbnb accommodation). If you are staying in several places throughout your visit, you can just indicate the first place on the form.
3. Photo – 4.5cm x 4.5cm with white background, pasted on the application form. You can visit a nearby ID studio (e.g., Kodak) and tell them you need a photo for Japan visa application.
4. Birth certificate of applicant from NSO. This needs to be issued within the past 6 months. If you don’t have one – you can have it delivered to your doorstep by ordering it online (via ecensus.com.ph)! No need to go through the long lines at NSO for this. It normally takes 3 days to get this so make this your first priority before completing the rest of the other requirements. Note: if you already have a used Japanese visa on your passport, you don’t need to submit this anymore.
5. If married, you also need to submit your marriage certificate. You can also get it from ecensus.com.ph. As with the birth certificate, this is not required if you already have a used Japanese visa.
6. You need to submit your daily schedule/itinerary for the duration of your trip in Japan. Suffice to say, you need to plan your trip ahead, including accommodations, etc. If you need a reference, here are my past Tokyo and Osaka/Kyoto itineraries.
7. Bank certificate – to show you have sufficient money to fund your travel. To be safe, I suggest having an ending balance of more or less 100,000 pesos. There’s no exact rule as to how much money you need to have but it wouldn’t hurt to have more (borrow from your parents/friends for a while).
8. Latest income tax return (Form 2316) original and photocopy. Again, this is to prove your financial capacity to travel (as well as prove that you are generating enough income in the Philippines, and you’re really just visiting for travel and not for work).

If you’ve completed your requirements, you only need to submit these to an accredited agency (see full list here). It normally takes around 3-5 business days to process your visa. The agency will also connect with you in case there are additional clarifications/requirements needed. Fees vary depending on the agency.  I used Discovery Tour for both of my applications and they charge 800 pesos for tourist visa.

Some applicants are granted multiple entry on the first try – but most (including myself) start out with a single-entry visa. On the second application, that’s when they usually grant you a multiple-entry visa. This is not within the control of the agency, rather, a decision of the embassy, so don’t stress your agency contacts on this.

That’s it – I hope you’ll find this post useful. If you have any questions, let me know via the comments below.  Please also feel free to share to your friends who are planning to visit Japan for the first time!