Japan grab-bag and China travel 🇯🇵🇨🇳

Travel hacks, Japan procedures, and practical tips from China

Author

Michael Wu
September 26, 2026

Sorry this issue took a while—life and travel have been hectic lately. I’ve been collecting useful tips along the way, though: updates on Japan’s property registration and permanent residency rules, new ways to get value from airline miles and hotel status, and what I learned about border entry, internet access, and trains on recent trips to China 🇨🇳.

Table of Contents

🇯🇵 Japan Property Owners: Don’t Forget to Update Your Registered Address

If you own real estate in Japan—even if you now live overseas—there’s a rule change worth knowing about.

As of April 1, 2026, Japan now requires property owners to update the address (or name) recorded on their real estate registration within two years of any change. Previously this was largely optional; it’s now a legal obligation. Owners who fail to update their registration without a valid reason can face a civil fine of up to ¥50,000.  

One important detail: this also applies retroactively. If you moved before April 1, 2026—such as relocating overseas—you generally have until March 31, 2028 to bring your registration up to date.  

This caught my attention because I bought property while living in Japan, but now primarily reside in Taiwan. If your property’s registry still lists an old Japanese address, it’s probably worth checking whether you need to file an address change.

For the official details, the Japanese Ministry of Justice has a dedicated page explaining the new requirement:

I have not had the chance to go update my address yet but will report back when I get the time to do so.

Japan PR Update: Pension Calculator

Japan is tightening its permanent residency (PR) system, but the changes are at different stages. A higher PR application fee is already set to take effect on October 1, 2026. The income and pension benchmarks discussed here come from the Immigration Services Agency’s August 4 draft guidelines. As of September, those benchmarks were not yet in force.

The draft would consider whether a household earns above the average for a Japanese household of the same size and whether the applicant’s projected pension reaches the amount from 30 years in Employees’ Pension at that income level. A pension shortfall could be offset by financial assets. Sam Yip’s model uses ¥5.752 million as an illustrative income benchmark; the draft itself does not set a fixed yen amount.

To see what this might mean for you, try Sam Yip’s unofficial PR calculator in Japanese or English. Enter your age, income, pension history, and expected retirement age. It is especially useful if you arrived in Japan later in your career, but its result is an illustration, not an eligibility decision. For broader context, see the Japanese report on Yahoo and Nikkei Asia’s coverage.

Citi ThankYou Points Now Transfer to JAL Mileage Bank

Japan Airlines Mileage Bank Added As Citi ThankYou Transfer Partner, Plus A 30% Bonus

Citi ThankYou points can now transfer to Japan Airlines Mileage Bank at a 1:1 ratio, plus a 30% bonus through October 24, 2026 — here's what to know.

One Mile at a Time • Ben Schlappig

Citi has added JAL Mileage Bank as a ThankYou transfer partner for US based cardholders. JAL has been adding a number transfer partners recently: Bilt, Rove, and Capital One. Annual fee cards can transfer 1:1, whereas no annual fee cards transfer at a 1:0.7 ratio. With more ways to earn JAL miles, availability and the lowest award prices seem to be getting tighter. I still see great value when booking as the schedule opens, and with partner awards such as Emirates and Air France.

Through October 24, 2026, transfers to JAL get a 30% bonus. That means 1,000 points become 1,300 JAL miles with an annual-fee card, or 910 miles with a no-annual-fee card.

Amex Gold and Platinum Cards: One Harmony Hotel Status Match

One Harmony covers Okura Hotels & Resorts, Nikko Hotels International, and JAL City, including hotels outside Japan. The match is to Loyal status to Gold cardholders, and Exclusive status to Platinum cardholders. Despite the offering being advertised to the Japanese market, the match seems to work for cardholders worldwide.

I tested the match with my U.S.-issued Amex Platinum: after logging in through the offer page, my One Harmony status upgraded to Exclusive instantly. This confirms the match can work with a card issued outside Japan.

Exclusive includes member rates, late checkout, unlimited one-category room upgrades when available, 50% bonus points, and an anniversary room discount.

Loyal offers up to five upgrade nights a year and 25% bonus points.

Book through an official channel or directly with a participating hotel to receive the stay benefits. More details on the match: https://loyaltylobby.com/2026/09/22/one-harmony-okura-nikko-jal-city-instant-status-for-american-express-gold-platinum-cardholders/

China Travel Notes: Border Checks, Internet, and Trains

After a few recent trips to mainland China, I’ve collected some practical notes on crossing the border, staying connected, and booking trains. Traveling as a Taiwanese citizen raised a few extra questions about documents and consular access, which I’ll cover as well.

Using eGates with a Taibaozheng (台胞證)

I wrote previously about applying for the Taibaozheng (台胞證), the mainland travel and residence permit for Taiwanese citizens. The Taibaozheng is eligible to use eGates (快捷通道, kuàijié tōngdào) for entering and exiting China, however you aren’t able to use it on first entry because your fingerprints and photo are not registered yet. To register, I first went through the normal staffed immigration lane for Chinese citizens, then registered my biometrics at a booth after immigration. That set me up to use the eGates on future entries and exits. On departure from China I was able to use the eGates no problem.

Exit rules and consular access

China began enforcing new exit-entry rules on September 15, 2026. The change made international news because the rules add grounds for stopping people from leaving in certain national-security and technology-related cases. They do not impose a blanket exit ban on ordinary travelers.

A separate concern, which predates the new rules, is how China treats people entering on a Taibaozheng (台胞證). The U.S. State Department warns that Chinese authorities may treat a U.S. citizen using this document as Chinese only and decline to recognize their U.S. citizenship. In an emergency, detention, or exit ban, China may restrict or deny U.S. consular assistance. I would remain a U.S. citizen, but the embassy’s ability to help me could be limited. That specific warning is for U.S. citizens; travelers with other citizenships should check their own governments’ guidance, while travelers who are solely Taiwanese face a different question about what outside help would be available.

I entered and left on my Taibaozheng without a problem. That was reassuring, but one uneventful trip cannot predict what would happen next time—or to someone else. My mom was blunter: she thought using it was dumb and told me not to do it again. Before my next visit, I’ll weigh the convenience of the Taibaozheng against the possibility of an exit restriction and the help I could realistically get if something went wrong.

Internet!

Getting online was the most unpredictable part of this trip. China cracked down on many popular VPNs earlier this year, and several tools I had used before were hit or miss. I was glad to have backups ready before arrival. Here is how each option fared.

  • Shadowsocks worked well for me. I bought the Just My Socks LA 500 plan for $5.88 per month, with 500 GB of monthly traffic.

  • Tailscale also worked. I had configured my servers as exit nodes before the trip, so I had another connection ready.

  • I did not try Astrill myself. I saw other travelers report that it worked, but it was expensive.

  • LetsVPN used to be my go-to, but it was unreliable and sometimes slow this time.

  • NordVPN and Proton VPN did not connect for me, even with their obfuscated and Stealth modes.

  • Another friend reported that Outline worked for him, but hosted not on generic cloud providers.

SSH connections to my own servers worked fine, but I did not try a tunnel on this trip. On previous visits, tunnels worked for a while and then stopped. Ubuntu’s dynamic forwarding instructions show how to set one up.

Shadowsocks clients:

Here are some recommended clients to use ShadowSocks proxies:

International roaming has always bypassed the Great Firewall, making it a reliable fallback. My US Mobile plan includes 20 GB, though speeds were not always great and I had to watch my data allowance. Use my referral code BA667D63 to save $30 off plans.

Available and blocked websites

Not every western website is blocked. You can often setup VPN and proxy services to directly connect to non-restricted websites.

GitHub, Slack, Cloudflare, and surprisingly Tailscale loaded fine.

Google, Facebook, Discord, Telegram, Reddit, YouTube, and Instagram are unavailable.

Railway tickets

12306 is China Railway’s official website and app for booking train tickets. I got stuck while registering: the verification text never reached my Taiwanese number. Other travelers describe the same issue here: 12306 verification guide

I switched my phone’s system language to Simplified Chinese and turned off Taiwan Mobile’s marketing SMS block. The code then arrived, and I completed registration. I am not sure which change made the difference.

Ctrip (携程), a major travel booking platform in China, gave me a different problem: its real-name verification rejected my Taibaozheng. I have not tried a foreign passport, so I do not know whether that would work.

Conclusions

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