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@@Wrendition Glad to hear it helped! Make sure to always get up to date information as my experience is getting somewhat dated.

@@RikerLovesWorf Hi! Luckily in my case, no I did not have to pay for the seat next to me. It could have been a huge coincidence, but I booked my ticket quite early and called them very quickly (at least 60 days before the flight) so they knew about Moki. I can assume they tried to sell all other seats around me first to keep other passengers from being bothered (allergies, etc). Maybe I’m wrong and I just got lucky, but call ahead as early as you can. As for toilet I did have a portable littler box, some litter, and a ziplock bag along with a plastic bag just in case. Moki went #2 either the morning of the flight or the night before. I did not feed her breakfast the morning of the flight. In the end she did not need to use the bathroom and gave no indication she needed to use it. Once we got her off and to the hotel littler box was immediately set up. Also we had removed her normal litter box and started her on the portable little box about two weeks before the flight so it smelled of her. She was so good on the flight! If your cat has a toilet issues I’d talk with your vet early about it.

@@isaomasato135 Congrats on getting into your program. It is definitely possible to bring a pet just make sure you follow the most up to date steps. Don’t let anybody tell you different! 😄

Broo did uh get through mext scholarship?

@@CsTruth hi, and happy the video was helpful. Unfortunately I don’t think there are my exceptions based on the amount of time you will stay in Japan. If you plan to bring a pet it would have to go through all the steps outlined.

@Z-life-online I see, thank you for the prompt response.

@@MikeSewell-dy3zv You are very welcome! Thank you for checking it out.

@@LilianRodrigues-ym5yk we have two cats in 60 meters square and now we have a small outside yard with a cat pen. I think there is plenty of space in many apartments but you mention you will be a student and working part time which means I really can’t say what size apartment you will be living in. Also location will change the size of your living space. I recommend googling for a real estate agent who may be able to help you find a place (you should be able to find English speaking agents as well if you require it).

@@LilianRodrigues-ym5yk Hi! I can’t say exactly how much it will cost, but I’d budget $1500 per cat at least. Most of this is for blood test and airline tickets. It could be more/less depending on your vet and where you are flying from. In my experience flying from Seattle this was about the cost.

I am happy the information helped! Unfortunately no advice on pet insurance. We didn't even look into it as I assumed the deductible for the vaccinations wouldn't be worth it, and I doubt they would cover the blood draw and test as it isn't health related (from their perspective). If you find anything out let us know!

@@VampireAnimeAngel23 wow! Yes that is going to be an investment in time and money! Best of luck and I am happy you found good information in my video. I hope the information isn’t getting too out of date and I appreciate your comments. Please let us know how it goes and if you experience similarities or differences.

Hello @yurifrancis4181, It is a bit hard to remember but yes I believe they did scan Moki at Haneda Airport and confirm the microchip number matched the paperwork.

Wow! That is so great to hear it was useful to you and happy your cat made it safe! As far as future travel I think your pet has a short window (3 months maybe?) to leave Japan and re-enter without needing to get all of the tests done again, but please double check that. As for "re-importing" them to the US, for myself Washington State, doesn't require much to bring her back in from what I remember.

Thank you and I absolutely agree! I don't think it's as draconian as I might have made it sound. I'm very confident they would ask you to take your pet back home, pay for quarantine in Japan, or some other course of action. But if for some reason the owner abandons their pet it seems within their right to destroy the animal. All the more reason to heed the steps laid out.

Hello! If I remember correctly, my vet filled out everything but the bottom portion of form AC and it was sent to APHIS. APHIS completed the bottom portion and sent it back to me. Regarding 2, yes I believe that is how the process should work (vet uploads all docs, APHIS checks, if all good they will physically mail you certificate). There was a comment stating the pet owner can now create the account and upload too. Check with your vet to be sure.

@@Z-life-online Thank you so much, I feel much less anxious about this whole process now 🙏

@@ieatnoapples that’s good! As long as you follow what has been set out you should be okay. Best of luck and please comment on your experience if you can.

I think I get what you mean. I'm only going off memory but I think the test results are good for two years from the date the second shot is administered. However the rabies vaccination has an expiration as well. If that is also two years or more than, I believe you could start the process, wait the 180 day quarantine and then enter from day 181 or up 18 months from then. Double check this as I haven't looked at the documentation for quite some time and changes could have been made.

Update: United should let me fly with cats in the cabin internationally, but I just have to call after booking the and it has to be in economy

Thank you and this is a real concern! Japan of course does offer “cat hotels,” but depending on the hotel and who you ask they don’t seem desirable. I’ve never used one personally. The other options are use a service that will come to your house each day and take care of your pets (feed, play, not sure about medicine). Obviously with this is great for the pets and less stress. However you will be handing your keys over to a stranger and you need to trust they will actually do it (good to require photos or video maybe). Finally friends. We are luck that we have a friend we can bring our pets to and he takes care of them for us for 7-10 days (we try to not be gone longer). This is a trade off as we have to travel to their place with the cats (on the train) with all of their gear. But we know he will look after them and they have all of their toys (he also doesn’t charge us). The friend angle seems the best to me but I realize that’s easier said than done.

If you are in the Seattle Area Sacajawea Vet Hospital in Federal Way is who we used. In other areas I can’t say.

Ohhhh, that is a really good question. My guess is yes, you would still send the documents to Haneda as they will be the one who is processing and clearing your pet for entry into Japan. From there they will give you a form stating your cat is clear to be and live in Japan. To be 100% sure however, I would notify Haneda that you will be taking another domestic flight from Haneda and confirm if there is any additional documentation you will need.

@@Z-life-online dude thanks so much for the reply , for the microchip, do you know if he needs a certificate for that? I have his medical record of when he got chipped but they don’t give certificates like that

@@YongCyrus If I remember correctly we received some kind of documentation when Moki was chipped that listed the number and kind of chip that it was. I don't think the vet signed that or that it was any more official than that. At Haneda they scanned and checked the chip after I gathered my bags but before going through customs.

I didn't think it was too difficult. Of course not all places will accept animals, but if you specify from the start you have a pet any real estate agent or online search portal should be able to narrow down those places that do accept pets. I will say, in Tokyo, I think cats and small dogs will have no problem. Big dogs, or if you have a number of cats that might be more difficult.

I'm really happy the video helped! As for your questions, we didn't find it too difficult to find a place to rent that accepted cats. Just be up front about it and make it one of the first criteria you have. Of course you will have to pay an extra cat deposit. I can only speak for Tokyo but our agent didn't seem this would be an barrier to getting an apartment. For cat food we order online at www.e-tomcat.com/index.html for our dry food and generally get 10-20kg worth (same for the litter pellets). You can look at the prices but i didn't find them to be all the expensive especially with the weak yen (our first few months we were spending USD on our cc). As for what we brought with, I had the cage and portable litter box, etc. mentioned in the videos. We did also bring toys, a box she would sleep in, a cat scratcher toy, and some extra treats and what not that she was familiar with. Your idea to make a video is a great one and I think I'll try to get that done in the next few weeks.

@@Z-life-online this is fantastic! Thank you so much for your reply. It is a big help. I'll look forward to the video!

You go in for the final check with your vet and they submit the documents to APHIS (hopefully online, but I had to do snail mail). APHIS receives those documents, confirms them, and physically sends you back a certificate that you MUST HAVE to board the plan and to deplane in Japan. This all needs to happen within 10 days of boarding the plane. Glad to see you are trying to be extra clear! It will help!

@@Z-life-online thank you dude, just found out that if I create a aphis account as long as my vet signs it, I can also upload it myself (I believe)

@@YongCyrus Oh! That is very cool and something I didn't know! If you end up doing this please come back and update. I will pin your comment.

Replied to your comment on the other video. But in short you need to receive the APHIS certificate before you board the plane.

@@Z-life-online any idea on the complications on leaving with the cat to America? Whenever I do decide to move back?

@@YongCyrus I've only done a very shallow dive, but from what I can tell it varies slightly depending on the state. For my state, Washington, I basically just need to show vaccination records and I can bring Moki and Minaju in. A bonus tidbit, I believe I can bring them back to Japan within 4 months as well without need for much more paperwork. But obviously I'd do more research if I were to actually make this trip.

Wow!

Wow! sounds like me LOL, We have 4 cats and 2 dogs

I agree! Most of the information I found didn't always fill in the cracks for me, or focused on the flight or how the cats adjusted to Japan. My aim was to give some concrete details about the process and what one could expect. Thank you for your comment!

If I remember this may be a problem with the firewall settings. Double check that you have all ports open in Microsoft Defender (or whatever it is called now) and also make sure the Windows firewall on the VM is also completely turned off.

That's great! Happy the algo worked.

That's awesome! So happy this helped out.

So happy to hear it helps! I agree, the process seems terrifying and somewhat arbitrary especially when considering we are dealing with the life of our loved ones. But if Japan is in your future it pays to start early, read the documents, and read them again. :) All the best!

You're very welcome!

Hi! Thank you for watching my video! It is the same in the US. Usually just one vaccination after 90 days of age. I'm not sure what the regulations are for a pet that is born and bred in Japan, but for bringing a pet into Japan from outside the country the two vaccinations are required (at least 30 days apart).

Thank you so much! It turns out it was the HDMI/TV connection! Something about it the PC just didn't like. Once I hooked it up to a different display video output was successful.

@@Z-life-online if the pc wasn't power cycling correctly, I struggle to believe its solely a display detection issue it wouldn't hurt to replace the cmos battery for like 5$ at the worst. Just in case depending on the time since the battery was last replaced it may help with system stability. after all a pc is a machine that runs on a clock to function and if the clock is out of sync from a weak battery it can cause issues not immediately apparent.

@@sizzam960 You make a good point. As I wasn't able to see what was being output when the power was shutting off it's difficult to tell if the PC was simply restarting, just powering down, or doing something else entirely. In the end I uninstalled Windows 11 and installed Windows 10. Now it seems to be working well. Will probably replace the CMOS battery momentarily. Thank you!

Hi @krazy4K3vin So happy it was helpful!

No problem! I hope it was helpful.

@@Z-life-online yeah otherwise it would have taken me ages to translate japanese to english

Completely understandable!

Yes, I believe that meets the 30 day limit.

Not that I know of. The only exception to this rule that I have heard is if you have already brought your pet to Japan and take them back home, then can be brought back within 4 months. But this is just hearsay, please verify.

It certainly can be stressful and sorry to hear you will be separated for that long. In the end it is doable but just need to stay organized and planned out.

APHIS I believe.

Thank you!

No problem! I hope it helps.

That’s certainly an option. If you have someone who you can take care of them and you trust that can work. Benefit of course is it’s one last thing to worry about, but you’ll also be away from them!

For sure! Happy the information was useful.