From Italy to Hokkaido #6
The long march toward Hokkaido begins. A dream amid countless challenges and uncertainties. A post-retirement project? Yes… or maybe not!
OK, the countdown to moving to Japan has officially begun.
As planned, my wife and our youngest daughter had already moved to Date, on the island of Hokkaidō, to live with my mother-in-law in the house that is now officially ours.
There was an 18-month gap between my wife’s move and mine – not months of waiting around, but a period full of activity and preparations for this major transition.
Whenever you move—whether within Italy or abroad—there’s always a bit of bureaucracy to deal with.
If you’re moving within the European Union, the process is fairly simple. But moving to Japan? That’s a whole different story, especially on the bureaucratic front.
There were various hurdles to overcome. Nothing impossible, but it did take time to get everything sorted.
When my wife, who is Japanese, came to live with me in Italy over twenty years ago, the process was relatively straightforward. She arrived in November 2001, we got married in a civil ceremony in January 2002, and she applied for her residency permit. In April, we also had a religious wedding in Venice, which was a bit more complicated—but not because of our different nationalities. The challenge came from our different religions: she’s a Japanese Protestant, and I’m Catholic.
But that’s another story.
Let’s start with something simple: the change of residence.
Moving from Italy to Japan was a lot more complicated.
For my wife and daughters, who all have Japanese passports, things were much easier. The only requirement was to submit a change-of-address form.
Only my wife had to fill out a standard local residency form, but since our daughters hold dual citizenship, we had to contact the Italian Embassy in Tokyo to register them with AIRE (the Registry of Italians Residing Abroad). AIRE is responsible for removing individuals from the Italian civil registry and adding them to the registry of Italians living abroad.
Michiko and Kana, our two daughters, now live in Japan and hold dual nationality. However, under current Japanese law, they will need to choose one nationality before they turn 22: either Japanese or Italian.
Unlike Italy, Japan does not allow dual citizenship after that age.
So, with my wife and daughters officially settled, it was my turn.
My case was more complex. In addition to changing my Italian residency through AIRE, I now had to prove to the Japanese authorities that I met all the requirements to live in Japan.
Japan—fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it—has very strict criteria when it comes to granting residency.
As a tourist, you can stay for up to 90 days. But to stay longer…
How to get the Residence Card?
To obtain a Residence Card, which allows you to stay in Japan for more than three months, you must fall into one of three main categories: family-related reasons, work, or study.
In any case, it’s a complex topic, and if you’re planning to move to Japan and don’t clearly fit into one of those categories, you should do some thorough research.
Here’s the list (as of July 2025) of long-term visa types:
👉 https://www.mofa.go.jp/j_info/visit/visa/long/index.html
So how do you get a Residence Card?
You need to apply for a Certificate of Eligibility (CoE) —basically a document issued by the Japanese Immigration Office that confirms you meet the criteria to live in Japan.
This certificate must be requested in Japan, in person, at an immigration office. Since I was still in Italy, my wife went on my behalf and submitted all the necessary documents.
Ah yes, the documents!
Of course, just submitting a marriage certificate would have been far too easy! Among the (sometimes odd) requirements was a request for a couple of photos of my wife and me together. Just to be safe, my wife brought our entire photo album.
They even asked for letters that we had exchanged before we got married! Unfortunately, those were long lost—but in any case, that part wasn’t strictly mandatory.
Then came the financial documentation. Japan wants to ensure that anyone moving there has the means to support themselves.
So I had to provide:
Bank documents related to my account in Italy
pension fund balance
The amount of salary for the past two months
There were also many other required documents: completed forms, a letter of invitation, passport-sized photos, and more.
Most of the documents were in Italian, but thankfully a simple translation by my wife was sufficient.
With this bulky folder of paperwork, my wife went to the Immigration Office in Tomakomai to submit the application.
A few months later, the long-awaited Certificate of Eligibility arrived at our home in Date.
All done? Not quite.
Now it was my turn again. I had to apply for a visa as the spouse of a Japanese national at the Japanese Consulate in Milan.
To do that, I needed the Certificate of Eligibility, which my wife had sent me from Japan.
Even a digital copy (a photo or PDF) would have been enough, but I had the original.
I had to go to the consulate twice: once to submit the documents, and a second time to pick up the visa.
Fortunately, everything went smoothly.
Once I had the visa, I could finally book a one-way flight to Japan.
The Residence Card was issued directly at the immigration checkpoint at Narita Airport (Tokyo), upon presenting my visa.
That card granted me the right to stay in Japan for three years.
I’ll have to renew it in 2026—but I’ll deal with that when the time comes.
Finally in Japan!
But before wrapping up this series From Italy to Hokkaidō, there’s still a bit more to tell—some unexpected twists and turns in the final days before departure…
Note:
Everything I’ve described here reflects the procedures in place at the time of my move from Italy (first half of 2023).
Please refer to official sources for the most up-to-date information.
To be continued…
Author: Cristiano Suriani