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The Digital Agency's official Visit Japan Web offline instruction manual, showing how to add the service to your phone's home screen for use without internet.
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Does Visit Japan Web Work Offline? Your Arrival QR, Solved

Your Visit Japan Web QR code can work with no signal — but only if you install it before you fly. Here is the five-minute fix.

By Japan Travel Dobbo Editorial7 min read

Screenshot: Instruction Manual (offline) | Visit Japan Web — Digital Agency (Government of Japan) (accessed 2026-08-26)

On this page
  1. 📱 What Visit Japan Web actually asks of you
  2. 📶 A web page needs internet. Unless you install it first.
  3. 🎟 What about a screenshot?
  4. 🧳 Five minutes before you board
  5. 💸 If you land and something has gone wrong
  6. 🚄 One more reason to sort it on the sofa
  7. 📶 Questions people actually ask
  8. Sources

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You land at 21:40, the plane empties, and 400 people all reach for their phones at once. You open Visit Japan Web to show your QR code at immigration — and the page spins.

Yes, Visit Japan Web can work with no internet at all. But only if you install it to your phone's home screen before you fly, while you still have a working connection.

That one step takes about a minute and it is the whole answer. Here is what it actually does, and what to do if you forget.

📱 What Visit Japan Web actually asks of you

Visit Japan Web is Japan's free government service for filling in your arrival paperwork in advance. It's run by the Digital Agency and covers immigration clearance and your customs declaration, plus a separate code for tax-free shopping.

You fill in your passport details and your flight before you travel. The service then produces a QR code — the official pages call it a "2D code" — that officers scan when you land.

The Digital Agency is direct about how you show it: you present the code on your smartphone or tablet. There is no paper version of the entry QR.

There is also no official app. If you search the App Store or Google Play for "Visit Japan Web" you will find third-party guide apps made by other companies — none of them are the government service. Japan Customs also retired its old standalone Customs Declaration App back in January 2024, folding it into this single code.

So the real thing lives on a web page. Which raises the obvious question.

📶 A web page needs internet. Unless you install it first.

This is the part that almost no English guide separates properly, so read this bit twice.

Visit Japan Web can be added to your home screen as a small installed version of itself. The Digital Agency publishes a separate offline manual just for this, and it is explicit: once installed, you can use the service while not connected to the internet, including displaying the QR code you need for the procedures.

Adding it to your home screen means saving the website as an icon, so it opens like an app instead of like a browser tab. On an iPhone you tap the share button in Safari, then "Add to Home Screen". On Android, Chrome shows a pop-up offering to add it, or you use the "︙" menu. On a laptop, Chrome shows an install icon in the address bar.

One condition matters more than any other. The offline manual states that you need to log in online in advance in order to operate offline. Install it, log in, finish your registration — all while you have signal. Then the code is there when you land.

What still needs a connection: creating an account, logging in, registering your passport details for the first time, and linking a visa. None of that will happen in an immigration queue.

And one caution from the same manual: information you enter while offline is stored only on that one device and does not sync. If it gets deleted, it cannot be recovered. So go back online after you land and open your registration once more.

🎟 What about a screenshot?

Here is where the official guidance is genuinely split, and it's worth knowing exactly where the line falls.

For the tax-free shopping code, the Digital Agency's own how-to page says plainly: screenshots cannot be used. That one is settled.

For the immigration and customs QR code, the same official pages simply do not say. They tell you to display the code from your procedure page and show it at the immigration counter and at the electronic declaration terminal. They neither bless nor ban a photo of it.

So treat a screenshot as a spare tyre, not a plan. Take one anyway — it costs nothing and it might save you — but the installed offline version is the thing that is officially documented to work without signal.

🧳 Five minutes before you board

Do all of this at home, or at your departure airport while you're on WiFi. Not on the plane.

  1. Open Visit Japan Web in your phone's browser and create your account.
  2. Register your passport details and your trip, then complete the entry and customs questions for everyone travelling with you.
  3. Add the site to your home screen when your phone offers to, and stay logged in.
  4. Open the QR code once, from the new home screen icon, so you know where the button is.
  5. Take a screenshot of the code as a backup, and turn on aeroplane-mode-proof habits: charge your phone, and pack a small power bank in your cabin bag.

That last one matters more than people expect. A phone at 3% is a bigger arrival problem than a phone with no signal.

💸 If you land and something has gone wrong

Nothing here ends your holiday. Every one of these gets you through the door.

Your situation What to do Worth knowing
You installed it before flying Open the home screen icon, show the code Officially documented to display the QR code with no internet
You only have a screenshot Show it and see Officially ruled out for the tax-free code; not addressed for the entry code
You have nothing prepared Use the airport's free WiFi and register on the spot Narita runs FreeWiFi‑NARITA across all terminals; Haneda runs HANEDA‑FREE‑WIFI in Terminals 1–3. Both are free and need no password — but Narita notes speed depends on congestion, and Haneda notes some areas are hard to connect in
WiFi is jammed Fill in the paper forms JNTO says you may submit paper documents instead; Japan Customs confirms its paper declaration form is still valid
You want to skip the gamble entirely Buy an eSIM and install it before you fly An eSIM is a SIM card you download instead of posting; set it up at home, switch it on when you land

The paper route is the honest safety net, and it is not a disaster — it's a short form and a slightly longer wait. JNTO does note that checking documents on the spot can take extra time.

Visit Japan Web is optional, by the way. Japan Customs describes electronic submission as recommended, not required. You are choosing speed, not obeying a rule.

🚄 One more reason to sort it on the sofa

Visit Japan Web works at Japan's seven main international arrival points: Narita, Haneda, Kansai, Chubu, Fukuoka, New Chitose and Naha. That covers almost every first flight into Japan.

Five minutes now buys you a walk straight past the paperwork queue while everyone else hunts for a pen. Then you're on the train, watching the suburbs go by, and Japan starts properly.

📶 Questions people actually ask

Do I need mobile data at immigration?
Not if you installed Visit Japan Web to your home screen and logged in beforehand — the offline manual says the QR code can be displayed without a connection. Without that step, you'll need WiFi or data to load the page.

Is there an official Visit Japan Web app to download?
No. The Digital Agency runs it as a web service you access at vjw.digital.go.jp, and the "offline" version is that same site added to your home screen. Apps with similar names in the stores are third-party guides.

Can my family share one QR code?
You can register family members under your account and switch between people on the QR code screen. Everyone still needs their own passport details entered.

What if I edit my details after installing it?
Update the registration and open the QR code screen again so the current version is loaded on your phone. Do that while you still have internet — and if you edited anything offline, go back online afterwards and reopen your registration.

Is Visit Japan Web compulsory?
No. Japan Customs recommends electronic declaration but keeps the paper form valid, and JNTO says you may submit paper documents at the airport instead. It's about saving time, not permission to enter.

Sources

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