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[_Nihongo no mori_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhP_VZtAuro) states that
before 際 you can use either a "dictionary form" verb or a "-ta form" verb. How
does this influence the meaning of the phrase?

_Nihongo no mori_ gives the following sentence as an example:

  1. 東京へ **来た** 際は、ぜひ私に連絡してください。 

But, can I also say next sentence?

  2. 東京へ **来る** 際は、ぜひ私に連絡してください。

If so, what is the difference between those two?
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2016-11-17T11:29:19.103
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2016-11-17T15:44:41.633
2016-11-17T11:46:54.667
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grammar tense
The verb form used before 際
As far as i can tell, when you use the た form, the action before 際 clearly
happens before the second part of the sentence. But when the dictionary form
is used, the two actions are closer in time, almost simultaneous.

My grammar book has two examples that i think help to understand it better:

> カードを紛失した際はカード会社にすぐ知らせなければならない。
>
> パスポートを申請する際に必要なものを教えてください。
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2016-11-17T15:06:04.953
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I agree that there's a much more clear temporal distinction of with ~した際.

> 東京へ来た際は、ぜひ私に連絡してください。

Please contact me when **you have come** to Tokyo.

> 東京へ来る際は、ぜひ私に連絡してください。

Please contact me when **you're coming** to Tokyo.

The latter could be when the person decides to go to Tokyo, or when they're
about to hop on a plane, or any number of other points in time, whereas in the
former it's fairly clear that they'd like to be contacted after the person has
arrived.
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