Return flight for entry..

I'm looking to travel through japan for three to four weeks from the end of march and so far we have one way tickets to Tokyo.. It has come to our attenoion that it's rumoured that if you don't have a return flight they may make you purchase one on arrival or be sent back home..

Really I'm just wondering if this is true as I would preffer not to have a return date as we were planning to stay longer or travel elsewere depending on how funds hold up...

It is one of those "required" items, that I have never been asked to produce.

I have been, but not when I arrived in Japan. When I checked in in my home country (NZ), the check-in staff wanted to know if I had a visa that would allow me to go to Japan on a one-way flight. When they saw my working visa they were quite happy, but they told me that if I was planning to go as a tourist I might not have been allowed on the flight. Apparently Japan Immigration has been known to penalise airlines for flying people to Japan on one-way tickets who are then not allowed in.

This question is often asked on this site and other Japan forums I look at. I have read about some experiences where people were actually turned away, but most people have been allowed in. It helps if you look neat and tidy and can show proof of funds or an onward ticket to leave Japan. You may not be asked at all, but it seems the check-in staff in some countries at least will ask you about it.

The Japanese rail service, JR has tourist passes that have to be bought prior to arrival, or with proof of return ticket. See the link below for more info. http://www.japanrailpass.net/

Your airline check in agent at the departing airport might hassle you rather than the immigration officer in Japan.

You might want to contact your airline first to make sure their check in policy as to a one way ticket to Japan.

The following thread is relevant to your situation.
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=1...

Like John I have many times entered into Japan and never been asked to produce a return ticket, go for it, worsed case is you just go buy a return ticket.

I guess one of the reasons why I have never been askes is I assume they have it in their computer systems (the airline) that I have a round trip ticket, if not show them a (non Tourism) visa to be in Japan. Otherwise I guess they would ask if you didn't have a round trip ticket, but on the airline side as mentioned (I haven't used one way tickets before to really one).

On the JR Pass side, again on that I've never been asked to produce on, the only thing the JR people care is if you have a "Temporary Visitors" status in Japan.

I have been to Japan quite a few times so far and neither the airline nor the JTB bureau in my home town have asked about a return plane ticket. The airline knows all about one's booking, as one poster has noted. The JTB staff doesn't ask because (I am guessing ) the pass voucher is good for 3 months and they know that some people, like me as a matter of fact, get their tickets close to departure. I should add that I haven't used a paper ticket for years..the airlines are using e-tickets more and more so all one has is an e-file number .. The airline also knows that, as a tourist,I will be given the temporary visitor visa upon arrival.

What airline check-in agents refer to when they check their customers in.
http://www.nwa.com/services/timatic.html

The weird thing is that return tickets are probably cheaper in most cases than one-way tickets. Since you will "only" spend 3 or 4 weeks in Japan, a ticket that allows you to change the return date would probably have been your best choice. The ANA tickets I bought allowed me to change the return date for free once.

I would phone the Japanese embassy in your country to find out the details. I did that when I wanted to go to Japan on a passport that expired within 6 weeks of my departure. They pinted me to the right information (a passport needs only to be valid on entry of Japan) and I could show that to the airline when they assumed that it had to be valid for 3 months. ^_^;;