The 30-day Japanese checklist for moving to Japan

Updated July 27, 2026 · designed to print — use your browser's Print for a paper copy that survives a moving box.

This is a month of preparation organized by task, not by textbook chapter. Each week ends with something you can actually do. It works on its own with any study method; the moving-to-Japan guide explains the reasoning behind the order, and Yokoso practices all of it if you want the spaced repetition handled for you.

Week 1 — read the environment

• Learn hiragana. Aim for slow-but-certain on all 46 by day 4; speed comes free later.
• Learn katakana. It pays off first: コーヒー is "coffee," and menus are full of words you already own.
• Learn the door pair 押 (push) and 引 (pull), and the entrance pair 入口 / 出口. Four kanji that end a daily embarrassment.
• Learn shop-status signs: 営業中 (open), 準備中 (preparing — closed for now), 定休日 (regular closing day), 営業時間 (business hours).
• Read one price tag and one store-hours sign out loud each day, in Japanese, even at home: ８８０円 is はっぴゃくはちじゅうえん, and 9:00〜18:00 has readings too.
• Self-check: you can read a shop door and a price tag without romaji.

Reference for this week: the signs guide.

Week 2 — buy everyday things

• Learn the irregular price readings: 300 さんびゃく, 600 ろっぴゃく, 800 はっぴゃく, 3,000 さんぜん, 8,000 はっせん. That is the whole set for money.
• Learn the clock exceptions: 4:00 よじ, 7:00 しちじ, 9:00 くじ.
• Learn the register questions before they surprise you: 袋はご利用ですか (do you need a bag?), ポイントカードはお持ちですか (point card?) — and the all-purpose answers はい and 大丈夫です.
• Learn これをください ("this one, please") and お願いします. Pointing plus politeness runs any counter in Japan.
• Learn the daily counters: 二つ (two things), 二人 (two people), 二枚 (two flat things — tickets), 一杯 (one glass).
• Practice one full checkout end to end, out loud: greeting, bag question, total, change (おつり).
• Self-check: someone says a three-digit total and you catch it without seeing the register display.

Reference: numbers and prices as Japan says them.

Week 3 — move around

• Learn the direction set: 右 (right), 左 (left), まっすぐ (straight), and the question that uses them: 駅はどこですか (where is the station?).
• Learn train words with consequences: 乗り換え (transfer), 各駅停車 (local), 急行 (express), 終電 (last train), 改札 (ticket gates).
• Learn the status-board pair: 遅延 (delay) and 運転見合わせ (service suspended — find the bus).
• Learn 精算 — the fare-adjustment machine that forgives an underpaid ticket at every station, no conversation required.
• Learn floors and places: 三階 (third floor, さんがい), 交番 (police box — they have maps and exist to be asked).
• Plan one realistic errand route on paper: home → station → transfer → shop → home, naming each step's Japanese.
• Self-check: you can follow spoken directions with 右 / 左 / まっすぐ without translating in your head.

Week 4 — handle normal life

• Learn the paperwork verbs: 書類に記入してください (please fill in the documents) and the desk it happens at: 受付 (reception).
• Learn the delivery loop: 荷物 (package), 再配達 (redelivery — the slip in your mailbox has a QR code for it).
• Learn restaurant survival beyond pointing: おすすめは何ですか (what do you recommend?), 持ち帰り (takeout) vs 店内 (for here).
• Learn the clinic reception layer only: 具合が悪いです (I feel unwell), your insurance card, and 受付 again. For anything beyond reception, bring a translation app or a bilingual friend — do not improvise medical Japanese.
• Learn the repair phrases that keep you in conversations: もう一度お願いします (once more, please), ゆっくりお願いします (slowly, please).
• Start the habit that replaces this checklist: study what your day hands you — receipts, packaging, the notice in the elevator, the signs on your street.
• Self-check: you can complete one real errand — post office, konbini, or ticket machine — start to finish in Japanese.

The final self-check

Not a vocabulary count — five tasks. If you can do these, your first month in Japan will feel like a place you live rather than a test you are failing:

• Read any shop door: open, closed, preparing, or closed today.
• Catch a spoken total at a register on the first try.
• Buy the right train ticket and fix the wrong one at the 精算機.
• Ask where something is, and survive the answer.
• Repair a conversation you did not understand instead of leaving it.