Life event guide
Leaving Japan: How to Clear Out Your Home Before You Go
A 4-week plan for disposing of furniture, appliances and everything else before you leave Japan. Municipal bulky-waste lead times, Home Appliance Recycling Law, selling, and junk removal — with the exact rules for your city.
Based on official municipal information Updated Jul 2026日本語
Leaving Japan — where do you start?
- Check your city's lead time Application to pickup is often 1–3 weeks. Everything depends on this.
- Book bulky waste first Cancelling is easy — book more slots than you need.
- Arrange appliances and selling TVs, fridges, washers and ACs cannot go out as bulky waste.
Leaving Japan is not like moving within your own country. You cannot simply leave furniture at the curb or hand your keys over with things still inside. Bulky waste has to be booked in advance, four kinds of appliance are covered by a separate law, and the whole thing takes longer than most people expect.
This guide covers one thing only: getting rid of your belongings. It is built on the same municipal source data as the rest of this site, so every step links to the actual rules for the city you live in — not general advice.
Not covered here
Visa cancellation, resident registration (転出届), pension lump-sum withdrawal, resident tax, closing your bank account and phone contract are all real tasks — but they are outside what this site verifies. Use your municipal office and the Immigration Services Agency for those. Everything below is about your stuff.
The 4-week plan
4 weeks out — inventory and check your city’s lead time
- Walk through every room and list anything larger than about 30 cm. That is the rough threshold for "bulky waste" (粗大ごみ / sodai gomi) in most municipalities, though the exact rule varies.
- Look up your city's bulky-waste rules now — application method, fee per item, and how far ahead you must book. This is the number that sets your whole schedule.
- Sort everything into four piles: take with you / sell / give away / dispose.
- Check your lease for what must be returned to its original state.
Find the exact rules, fees and application page for where you live:
- Browse by prefecture and city — official municipal sources, item by item
- Browse by item — what category a specific thing falls into
3 weeks out — book bulky waste, start selling
- Apply for bulky-waste collection. Typically: apply online or by phone → buy a disposal ticket/sticker at a convenience store → write your name or reservation number on it → put the item out on the assigned morning. Fees are commonly a few hundred to a couple of thousand yen per item.
- Book more slots than you think you need. Cancelling is easy; getting a second date at the last minute is not.
- Start selling. Furniture, working appliances, bicycles and brand-name goods are the items most likely to be worth something. Anything that does not sell needs to fall back into the disposal pile with time to spare.
2 weeks out — the four appliances, and your PC
Four categories of appliance cannot be put out as bulky waste at all. They are covered by the Home Appliance Recycling Law (家電リサイクル法):
CRT, LCD and plasma sets are all covered.
Empty and defrost it several days before handover.
Drain the hoses before it is collected.
Removal from the wall is separate work — arrange it early.
Your routes are: ask the retailer you bought it from to take it back, ask the shop you are buying a replacement from, or take it to a designated collection site yourself. All three involve a recycling fee plus a collection or transport fee. Your municipality can tell you which designated site serves your address — it will not collect these items itself.
Computers are handled separately again, under the PC recycling scheme: manufacturer take-back, or a certified mail-in recycler.
1 week out — clear the remainder
- Handle anything that missed a collection date. This is where a junk removal company earns its fee: same-day or next-day pickup, and they carry things out for you.
- Get more than one quote. Prices for identical jobs vary widely between companies.
- Check the company is licensed. Household waste collection requires a municipal permit (一般廃棄物収集運搬業許可). Ask for the permit number.
- Run down your regular garbage. Check the collection days for burnables, non-burnables and recyclables in your area and make sure the last one falls before you hand back the keys.
Departure week — leave nothing behind
- Put out your final regular garbage on the correct day, in your municipality's designated bags if it uses them.
- Do not leave anything in the apartment "for the next tenant" unless your landlord has agreed to it in writing. Disposal costs are normally deducted from your deposit, at rates well above what you would have paid yourself.
- Do not leave anything beside the bins. Items placed out without a booking and a paid ticket are treated as illegal dumping.
What each thing actually costs you
| Route | Typical cost | Speed | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Municipal bulky-waste collection | Lowest | Slowest (1–3 weeks) | Anything you can plan ahead |
| Self drop-off at a clean centre | Lower still, sometimes free | Same day | If you have a car |
| Selling | Negative — you get paid | Depends on the buyer | Working appliances, furniture, bikes, brand goods |
| Junk removal company | Highest | Same or next day | Whatever is left in the final week |
| Leaving it in the apartment | Highest of all | — | Never |
Get the rules for your city
Every municipality in Japan sets its own categories, fees and collection days. This site holds the official rules for over 1,400 of them.
- Find your city — then look up any item
- Browse all items — see which category something falls into
Related guides
- Home Appliance Recycling Guide — TVs, refrigerators, washers, air conditioners
- Bulky Trash Disposal Complete Guide — how the application and sticker system works
- Moving — Garbage Disposal Guide — if you are moving within Japan instead