How to Make Your Coronavirus Vaccine Appointment in Japan

    Many of us foreign folk living in Japan have been waiting for the vaccine roll out to finally pick up steam. After slowly coasting through the elderly, vaccinations are now happening for people ages 12 to 65 all over the country. Last week, one of my friends in Sendai received her vaccination ticket / notification and I begin to get my hopes up. Sure enough, just a few days later, mine and my husband's followed.

    I was so excited to see the envelope that I managed to completely misconstrue the contents, thinking that the date listed on one sheet was the date to show up at the vax site. This is not the case. Aside from the sheets of instructions, the envelope included a sheet of small tickets, which were actually more like stickers, and which are not meant to be peeled, ripped or placed anywhere until the vaccination time.

The log in page where you need that long code and your birthdate.

    These stickers are important because the long number with several 0 digits that sits around the middle of the card is actually your unique individual login and identification for the city's vaccination website. Other than that, there were two medical questionnaires to fill out and bring on vax day as well as a couple of documents trying to explain the procedure and who's getting vaccinated when. The basic rule seems to be that people aged 12 to 64 are currently being vaccinated, but only those with pre-existing conditions or between the ages of 60 and 65 are allowed to sign up on the date on the notice. It turns out one of the pre-existing conditions is having a body mass index above 30, which I do.

This is what my browser translated the page from the QR code to.

    One of the forms should have a QR code that will take you to the overall city vax website. From there, find a link to the reservation making website on they day and time listed on the sheet if you have pre-existing conditions as listed on the instructions provided.

    If you do not have pre-existing conditions, you will have to check the city website to know when you can get a reservation and the spots go quickly so sign in as early as you can. You can make your profile on the website at any time after you receive the information in the envelope.

    To make your profile, login with that long number on the card-stickers as the user name and your birth date written in a month day format as the password. Once logged in, the site will direct you to provide your email address and once your email is confirmed, you'll be directed to change your password. Then your account is ready.

The example calendar from the manual on the site. Circles mean available.

    After logging in on your appointment-reserving day, you will have to search for the name of your closest vaccination site in kanji. A Google search for this will help along with copy and paste if necessary. Then you can choose from a calendar as to which states are open and work with your schedule. Once you click on that day, it will open to show you available times, which you will also click on. After you fix your first appointment by clicking through all of that, a box will come up asking if you want to go ahead and schedule your second, which is under your discretion but recommended.


When this pop up comes up, click okay to schedule your second appointment while you're at it.

    The calendar part of the process will repeat and then you will be set up for your vaccination appointments. According to the documents, if you need to cancel, please cancel from the first appointment and you can do so easily on the "my page" part of the website. You can also print your appointment data from the same place if you so choose.

    When are you getting your shots?