A calm place to begin the practical side of planning ahead
Willow Harbor Stone is a small end-of-life planning (終活) information service for adults in Japan. We help you gather your thoughts, your records and your family conversations in one place. We are not a law firm, tax office, medical practice or funeral company; where a step needs a licensed professional, we say so and help you prepare for that meeting.
Planning Notes
Family Conversation
Records Overview
Questions for Professionals
A typical path has five stages. It is a guide, not a fixed programme: some people stop after the first conversation, others come back over a year or two.
About thirty minutes by phone, video or, by arrangement, in person. You tell us what is on your mind; we explain what we can and cannot do.
Together we list who is in your family circle, what you own and owe, and which wishes you already hold about care and the farewell.
We help you turn that list into plain-language planning notes that you keep. We explain the general rules; we do not draft legal documents.
For wills, registration, tax and medical decisions we show which kind of professional handles what and help you write the questions to bring.
When you are ready, a session can include relatives. Later, a review conversation updates the notes after a move, a new grandchild or a change in the rules.
Planning for the end of life is mostly a matter of knowing where things are, saying what you want, and talking to the right people early. Our sessions concentrate on those three things. Everything below is information and organising support; the legal, tax and medical decisions themselves remain with you and the licensed professionals you choose.
A plain-language inventory of bank accounts, insurance, pension papers, property, debts and the places where the originals are kept, so that your family and any professional you appoint can find things without a search. We do not value assets, structure tax or advise on inheritance shares.
We explain, in general terms, how handwritten and notarised wills (自筆証書遺言・公正証書遺言) differ, and help you write down your wishes and the questions to take to a notary or lawyer. We do not draft or check wills.
A list of the online accounts, subscriptions and devices you use, and what you would like to happen to each. We never ask for your passwords and we do not hold them.
Written notes on the care you would and would not want, and who you would like consulted. They are wishes to discuss with your family and doctor, not a medical or legal directive.
A structured, unhurried conversation, with or without relatives present, so that your wishes are heard while you can still explain them.
Illustrative image. The people shown are not clients or staff.
Also available: a notes template for funeral and burial preferences. We do not arrange funerals, and we do not keep wills or other documents for safekeeping.
Few subjects are as personal as this one. These are the rules we hold ourselves to, written down so that you can hold us to them.
We explain how things generally work in Japan and help you organise your own thinking. We do not give legal, tax or medical advice, and we tell you whenever a question crosses that line.
When a step needs a lawyer, notary, scrivener, tax accountant or doctor, we explain which of them deals with it. No firm is listed on this site as a partner.
There are no deadlines and no limited offers. Sessions are arranged by email or phone at a time that suits you, and you can stop whenever you like.
We do not store your wills, passbooks or passwords. The notes we help you write are handed to you; keep the originals where your family can find them.
If you wish, a spouse, children or other relatives can join a session, so that a first talk about wishes does not have to happen alone at the kitchen table.
We ask only for what a conversation needs and we ask you not to send sensitive details through the web form. The Privacy Policy explains how enquiries are handled.
An illustrative layout of the headings we work through together. It is a sample structure, not a record of any client.
Who should be told first, who holds a spare key, which relatives live nearby, and whether anyone depends on you for daily care and would need someone to speak up for them.
One page naming where the bankbooks, insurance policies, pension papers, the personal seal (印鑑) and household documents are kept, so that nobody has to search.
Your thoughts on medical care near the end of life, on who should be consulted, and, if you wish, on the kind of farewell you would like. They are written to be talked through with your family and doctor.
The accounts and subscriptions you hold, without passwords, and what should happen to each: closed, kept as a memorial, or passed on to someone you name.
The questions people ask us first, answered as plainly as we can.
There is no fixed age. Many people begin after a parent's death, a retirement, a house move or a health scare, but starting while nothing is wrong tends to make the conversations easier. A first conversation is free, so you can find out whether the timing feels right.
The first conversation is free. For anything further, we give you a written quote in yen, tax-inclusive (税込), before you agree to anything. We do not publish a price list because the scope differs from person to person. Fees of notaries, lawyers, scriveners, tax accountants, doctors or funeral companies are separate and are set by them.
We treat what you tell us with care and handle it under Japan's Act on the Protection of Personal Information. Please be aware that the web form passes your message through a third-party relay (formsubmit.co) on its way to our mailbox, and that email is not a private channel. Keep sensitive details for the conversation itself. The Privacy Policy sets out the details.
Not necessarily. A handwritten will can be made without one, and a notarised will is made with a notary (公証人). The formal rules are strict, though, so many people have a professional look at the result. A handwritten will can also be deposited with a Legal Affairs Bureau (法務局). We do not draft or check wills; we help you prepare what to say and whom to ask.
Yes. The notes belong to you and can be edited whenever you like. If you would like help revisiting them after a change in your family, health or address, a review conversation can be arranged and is quoted separately before you agree.
A list of the email, social media, cloud storage, shopping and subscription accounts you use and what you would like done with each one. We never ask for passwords. Many services have their own rules about what happens to an account, so the notes also record where to look.
We do not publish fixed prices, because what people need differs widely. What we do promise is that you will see the fee, in yen and tax-inclusive (税込), in writing before you agree to anything.
About thirty minutes by phone, video or in person by arrangement. We listen, explain how we work and tell you honestly whether we can help.
Nothing is sold during this conversation.
Ask for a ConversationOne or more sessions in which we work through your records, wishes and questions and turn them into notes you keep.
Scope and fee depend on how much you want to cover.
Request a QuoteA later session to bring your notes up to date after a move, a change in family or health, or a change in the rules.
Only if you ask for it.
Request a QuoteFees of lawyers, notaries, scriveners, tax accountants, doctors and funeral companies are separate and are set by them. See also the Specified Commercial Transactions Notice.
Willow Harbor Stone is a small, independent information service. It grew out of a simple observation: most families can say where the family grave is, but not where the bankbooks are, which online accounts Mother used, or what Father would have wanted if he could no longer decide. Those gaps cause the stress that people try to avoid by not talking about the subject at all.
We work from Fukui and talk with people across Japan by phone, by video call and, by arrangement, in person. The service is organising and explaining. It is not a law firm, a tax office, a medical practice or a funeral company, and nobody here presents themselves as a lawyer, scrivener, tax accountant, doctor or social worker.
The details of the operator are set out in the Specified Commercial Transactions Notice. The people shown in photographs on this site are illustrations, not clients or staff.
Willow Harbor Stone is run by a single operator based at the address in the footer. The operator's name and the person responsible for enquiries are given on request, as set out in the Specified Commercial Transactions Notice. Please write to us if you would like to know who you will be speaking with before you book a conversation.
Illustrative image of a family conversation. The people shown are not clients or staff.
Tell us briefly what is on your mind. We read every message and reply by email to the address you give. If you have heard nothing after a few business days, please write again or call; a form relay can fail without either of us knowing.
Calls and visits are by appointment. Please write first and we will agree a time. The first conversation is free of charge.
Please keep identity numbers, account numbers and medical details out of the form. In an emergency or after a death, contact the emergency services (119), your doctor or the local municipal office; this is not an emergency service.
There is no right moment and no deadline. If it helps, start by reading the Planning Guide, which sets out who handles what. When you want to talk, we are here.
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