Travel to Japan with CriminalRecord

Hello everyone..This concern is not mine, i'm only helping someone i know who wanted to visit Japan as a tourist. He is from the USA, he was convicted with drug related crime, he only served 120 days but his sentence was 6 years. The crime was so long ago, and he already straightened his path. He is living his life with proper outlook in life now. He wanted to visit Japan, and found out that it has a very strict rule when it comes to accepting tourists with crime history. Some of the responses of the threads that he had read was, "NOT TO DISCLOSE IT'' during filling up of the arrival card. For when u disclose it, 99% chances of being deported back or denied entry to Japan. My questions are, if he choose not to disclose it, will his record show when he has to scan his fingerprints upon arrival? or Does the Japan Immigration have the personal record of each of the offenders in America, regardless if it is minor or major? i hope anyone can read this can help my friend answer some of his questions..Thank you and Godbless

Bad luck but your friend will be denied entry.

even if he will not disclose it on the arrival card?

Lying about the criminal record on top of having one....I don't think that's the way to go. If he lies and they know he has a record, then he's definitely on the next plane home. Honesty is the best approach, even if that bars you from visiting Japan in the foreseeable future.

Hi dude,

That sucks if your friend made a mistake and has got their life together now and be potentially being denied access to a beautiful country like Japan. Lets not roll that dice.

The best advice I can give you is to contact the Japanese embassy in the US and ask them directly. I would recommend your friend to give them a call and explain the circumstances such as conviction, it could be they are able to help you find your answer quicker and more 'official'. There might even be a form you have to submit and they Japanese government will take it into consideration the crime is greater than so many years (threshold) and if there hasnt been repeat conviction the risk might be seen as low of your friend causing trouble in Japan.

I rang the UK Japanese embassy about medication since their website was so vague and the guy on the phone was super helpful.

I recommend getting an answer from an official source and not here as that will help you understand if you .

Good luck.

Thank you so much for ur reply... my friend's first option is to get sa visa so that he can get an advise from the Japanese embassy in the US...although getting a visa is not a guarantee that he will be permitted to get into Japan, but he wants to get it first to assess the chances..

No worries as long as you know if you can get in or not, instead of wasting money and time to get denied at the border :(

If he's from the USA, I don't know which visa he'd be trying to get...tourists on a 90 day temporary visitor status (not a visa) don't need a visa per se....