Background: I'm trying to change to a student visa. The school already accepted me and I have an April start. The school said that I should hear back about my visa in February, maybe early March.

My working visa expires mid-March, which means the timing is perfect.

Questions:

1. If my student visa is denied, do I keep my working visa until expiry?
2. Because immigration must know that I'm planning to quit my full-time job and join the school, if my student visa is denied, could I get a grace period to find a new job since I couldn't be expected to have been looking for one while waiting for the student visa decision?

I have been living in Kyoto for 5 years, but barely find foreigner friends. Does anyone know if there is community or groups for people who make art here?

I went to the immigration office to inform them, and was made to cancel my PR application (ask if this sounds fishy and you want the full story). One person was helpful enough to put a note on the application saying to try to resume it once I find a new job and resubmit the Application For Change of Residence with the new job details. So now I have three months from the date my employment ended until I need a new job, a month of which has passed.

My current visa is:
HSP i b
Exp: Oct 2026
Issue date: Oct 2021

My questions are:

1. If I get a job, say, teaching English, does that mean I have to switch to a different visa type, or can I keep the HSP until it expires? 1b. If I have to switch visa types from HSP, I assume I can't just keep the same PR application? I would still have enough points as long as my salary is over ~4m/yr
2. If I get a job in a different HSP area, like being a researcher, do I have to switch, and does that make a difference to resuming the PR?
3. Any advice on quickly getting an HSP job? I'm qualified for senior positions in Data Science, ML engineering, software development (python)
4. If I can't find a job of any kind within the allotted time, do I have to give up the lease on my apt? I assume they don't care as long as I keep paying the rent, but I'm just wondering about the legal implications
5. Any other advice, or information that might be helpful?

Given the above, please critique my plans:
Plan A: Find an HSP job, then resume PR application
Plan B: Find a non-HSP job that allows me to keep residence, then upgrade to an HSP job (if necessary), then resume PR application
Plan C: If I don't find a job, do a visa run, then keep looking for a job

I’m living in Japan currently with my boyfriend who is a Japanese national. We’ve been together for 3 years and are wanting to get married soon.

I’ve searched the process of getting married as an American in Japan to a national. From my understanding there’s a document that I need print, translate, and then have it notarized at the US Embassy.

I logged onto the site today and looked at the appointments for the US Embassy in Tokyo and it doesn’t even show a calendar, it just says no slots. Other embassy shows two months of appointments, but it would be very difficult to go to Osaka. Is this a bug with the calendar for the Tokyo embassy or are they just fully booked? Is there any other options I have to get the documents I need or do I need to wait indefinitely?

So, I've posted before about this boss... but recently it feels like he is deliberately trying to antagonize me. I've done a lot of Googling in Japanese, and I feel like SOME of the things he does BORDER on "power harassment," but that I don't necessarily have a cut and dry case.

To be clear, I don't want to take LEGAL action but am considering going to HR with a request for a transfer to another department.

Most recent example: He is LOOKING for things to reject my "decision making" applications for. He will reject them for typos (to be clear, these are for things like internal team-building events. I'm not a programmer or engineer, nor is this external-facing PR... all fields in which a typo could be damaging. These are purely internal documents, and are not the final versions. The executive above HIM will re-write them anyway, so the only purpose is to convey the overall plan.) So last time, I spent three hours proofreading the thing, used Chat GPT, proofread it again. There was not a typo in the damn thing... so he rejected it because I had attached a quote from a vendor that included an "options" section. He came back with "we're not using these options," so I explained that both the proposal document and the contract clearly stated that we had declined the options and listed the same amount as the "without options" line in the quote. He rejected it, told me to get a new quote from the vendor, and set approval back a week because the other person who has to sign off on it is on leave next week. It seems like he is just determined not to pass anything without rejecting it at least once.

He will repeatedly correct something based on his personal preference, say, "This way is better, right?" And will persist until I say "Yes, I think so too."

He told me to remove my name and my junior colleague's name from a proposal for an event we also planned last year (with our names on it) and to instead list the author as (HIS NAME)以下

He constantly tells me to "Be more like (another colleague at the same level as me" and tells me that my "personality is the problem".

Rather than giving the people under him MORE responsibility with time, he now allows us (this one isn't just me) to do FEWER tasks than the company's rules permit and that we were allowed to do a year ago. He consistently calls us 担当者 in the way one might disparagingly say "children" or "unskilled workers," even though only one person is actually a 担当者 and the rest of us including me are 主任 or above.

It just seems like he is constantly, consciously, trying to beat me down and break me...for the past few weeks I've spent every Saturday crying in bed. It takes a full day to get over being told I'm worthless, that one typo is a bigger crime than setting the entire project back, etc etc etc (again, this is not programming or engineering... it's a draft document that IS going to get completely rewritten by the executives for an internal communications project). I feel like he's probably JUST on this side of "HR isn't going to do shit" but... I don't know. Any thoughts? I really don't want to job hunt AGAIN but I'm considering it.

A few months ago I had an odd encounter with an old man at the park, I told my husband about it because some of the things he said/behaviour rubbed me the wrong way. After that, I've met him several times at different hours and different areas of the park(the park is huge). Taking a shortcut through some trees, I've caught the old man a couple times in the bushes/trees facing the direction of where I often play with my dog and other dog owners. I stopped going to this park for months during the summer but last week I caught him again in the bushes, he acted like he was accidentally there. Another day last week I was walking at a different time in the day and different area and he came running after me. I discussed this with my husband again and also with a friend and they both told me it will not be useful to tell the park police because he hasn't done anything. My friend said it will be more effective to bring my husband, but I have my doubts because my stalker only comes out when others I know are not around. I'm starting to get really annoyed, especially since I know I'm being watched. I love the park it's beautiful but also it's the biggest green area in the city center and my dog can socialize and relieve some stress. What should I do, should I give the park police a map of where to find him and asked them if they can patrol more? Anyone else has had a similar situation?

I dont usually buy liquor, actually never. My cousins wife wants a bottle of "the chita" suntory whiskey for when i visit for the holidays. Looking online its like 6k yen. Im just wondering if there are cheaper options....where do you guys shop for liquor? is there a place that sells liquor at cheaper prices? if its pretty much the same everywhere then i will just go to any place that sells liquor and buy it.

I’m on a student visa currently in the countryside. I opted out of my school apartments and found my own place. It’s an apartment and next to it is a snack bar that my landlord owns as well. It has “snack” in it’s name, but it is just a regular bar with karaoke, the lady working there does not sit next to the customers, and it closes at 12am. My landlord asked if I was interested in working there, just 2 days a week. I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to do this work as a student, and I’m going to get some guidance about it from school on monday, but I’m not sure if they will be of much help so I wanted to ask here.

So my question is, if it’s complicated to get hired and work would I be able to just help out my landlord and not get paid for it? It would just be once or twice a week, for 3 hours. It would be a great experience because I would get to talk with native speakers so I want to do it for that reason rather than getting paid, and my landlord is nice so I genuinely do want to help out there if I can.

Imagine the inequality and inefficiency of the current system.

There's even a environment tax to take care of the forest, why don't the government do the same for TV?

I put the wrong number and sent it to different person and the wrong person whom i sent the money doesn’t reply to me but he collected the money what will i do did this happen to you? Did your money came back please help me guys

I’m getting into fermenting and want to standardize and clean everything. I’m struggling to find a no-rinse sanitizer. Surely there must be a commercial one available for all the breweries and miso, natto, and kimchi makers.

I’m taking JLPT N3 tomorrow.

So a few years ago I posted on Reddit and was in a very bad mental space. Glad to say I’m recovered now. Sometimes I still think that if only I could just push through, if only I didn’t waste my time, I would’ve had N2/1 by now. But can’t change the past, it is what it is and I’m just trying to move forward.

A little nervous but hope I pass. Wish me luck

Looking for kiddo (3yo) a Sat class to learn English and make new friends. We’re happy with her Japanese kindergarten and we don’t speak much English at home (I’m French, wife is Japanese)

Ideally around Shinjuku / Yoyogi / Hatsudai

Any recommendations ? Thanks !

Hi everyone, in August I broke my foot at work, and I had 2 months of recovery at home after the surgery, now I came back but because my work is mostly physical, (and im part time), I’m working almost 10-11 hrs a week only as desk duty but that’s almost nothing compared to before. I’m still waiting for the insurance to pay me back and they will pay me also like a 60% of the normal payment for those two months I couldn’t work, but my question is:

Can I ask the labor office for monetary help until I can work the hours I used to before? (40 hrs a week almost)

This is my first time using Reddit. I’m so desperate and out of options I don’t know what to do with myself. Basically, I attend a program apart of a 10 month exchange student experience and my initial return date back to America was January 12, actually the 18th since my real family was planning on traveling around Japan with me before we returned home so I could show them around and experience new things. I was so excited to show them my language skills. In the past during my stay, I had received a couple “warning letters” and ”guidance letters” regarding certain mistakes I made like sleeping in and accidentally being late for school at the start of when I first came. When I first came, there was a lot of struggle and difficulty I had when adjusting. However, since then I improved drastically.

Ever since I moved in with my second host family (predetermined from the start, I didn’t choose to move), the new host mom has been very judgemental and sort of cold. All the times I received guidance warning letters had been under her roof, and not the first host family. When I first came, things were so nice with them but they slowly started to fall apart. The main problem I had was that anytime there was a slight issue, my host mom would report it to my exchange student program instead of telling the issue directly to me. This resulted in a warning letter issued by the program, combined with my oversleeping issue. The reason I am being sent home early after a streak of being good, is because I foolishly cut and hemmed my rental skirt provided by the school. the reason I did so was because when I was first receiving my uniform at the beginning of the year, I was told my the senpais and a English speaking teacher that maybe I could get my skirt tailored when I mentioned that I was unhappy about the length of the long skirt. I thought that this meant it would be okay to have it tailored since I was also having issues with the proper waist fitting.

Unfortunately, I was feeling risque on my birthday day and rolled up my already hemmed skirt by a little bit which my teacher noticed and reported to my host mom whose always out to get me and snitch. My host mom then talked to the school who talked to my organization. Then a meeting was organized on 11/25 where they discussed the issue with me and I tried to explain my side of the story since no one had mentioned it to them before. I thought this was just another one of those times I was getting in trouble again and once the meeting was over I thought that problem was over and done with. On Wednesday during class my parents messaged me and told me that the american program was informed by the Japanese program they were thinking of exterminating my program early. My stomach dropped and I felt so sick and couldn’t believe it. yesterday, it was official when they handed me the paper and I tried everything to stay and pleaded my case and apologized the best I could. However, their decision was final even though my official location coordinator couldn’t even attend the meeting since she had matters elsewhere.

I offered to pay for the skirt so many times yet they said this was considered a terrible rule broken because we’re not allowed to have short skirts and I should’ve known better than to cut it even though I was TOLD I could. Even though, my summer skirt PROVIDED by the school was even shorter than the length I cut my winter skirt to. I don’t know what to do and the fact they’re sending me home early when I only have a month left of my program and almost that entire month is break from school. I’m so unbelievably sad and in disbelief. I had finally made friends after struggling and being alone for almost more than half of my stay here. I don’t want to return to my family and let down everyone after telling all my friends and family I would be back januapry 18.

I feel like I didn’t do enough with my time and I would do literally anything to stay. Dude, I even thought about breaking my leg or arm or some so I could “heal” here or something. is there anyway I can find a way to stay even though they already gave the final decision? I feel like there’s so much more to my story yet my program judged way too quickly without even considering my point of view. I’m so ashamed and just want to disappear.

Hi,

I've jimbo-brand electrical outlets installed with flaps for the grounding wire.

However, instead of the usual screw underneath the flap with which to clamp the grounding wire, my socket doesn't seem to have any way to insert the grounding wire. (See photo.)

Does anyone know how to install a grounding wire in here? Thank you.

Hello guys, got a job recently with a decent pay and am thinking a bit of buying a supet cheap Kei car like an early Daihatsu Move so I can get about without the need to rent a car every time I want to go and see the countryside or just sightseeing in general (Ebisu Circuit trip in Spring that I'm planning for example).

I know that if a car is de-registered there is no Shaken, I might need to pay tax and third party insurance for financial safety (I know Shaken gives a basic insurance). How cheap can I possibly get a working car? User Shaken I assume is about 30k Yen and tax about 34k yen due to being over 13 years old, but correct me if I'm wrong, then insurance dependant on the person. Am I right to assume I have to have about ¥200.000? Or would it cost more than that? (If more then the idea would be scrapped).

I still have to learn if a parking right next to my sharehouse could be used to register the car, but let's say it would be OK, is my rough price assumption somewhat correct? Can I even buy a car on international driving license? My Japanese is also limited, I assume I would need someone with Native level of Japanese to help with documentation.

Sorry if it's a simple post but I find it a bit confusing and want to make sure I understand this stuff right.

I am a University student right now, and I am planning on moving closer to school around end of March. I was planning on cancelling my contract Beginning of Feb, as I am going to be going home to America for Spring break Feb and March, and I was planning on moving out end of Jan, and then moving into the new place directly when I come back in March. Thankfully, the place I am staying at right now came fully furnished, with a desk, bed, closet, etc; so I won't have to worry about doing something about those, but I do have 3 shelves I bought on my own, a monitor, a couple boxes, and some other things that I cannot take to America and bring back March, but I can't exactly just get rid of rq. I know in America, there are places where you can pay a monthly fee to store belongings if you have a small apartment and things you don't use often, like holiday decorations, and I was wondering if theres anything like that here?

Before I get criticism for the terrible plan, yes I am aware its a terrible plan, the moving is something unexpected, and I would rather not pay 2 months of rent to keep a place I am not living in just for a few shelves, and if possible, I want to keep costs down as much as possible.

Ideas other than external storage is welcome, and yes I asked friends if I can selfishly use a corner of their room to store stuff for 2 months, but they live in small apartments too, so it's not possible.

Hello, I'm new to the city and is getting used to it. It's not as bad as people say.

Hello!

I’m a Japanese national (recently moved back here in August). It’s taken a while for me to set myself up (Mynumber card, phone number etcetc). Now I am wanting to open a bank account. However, I am moving next week to start a job in a different prefecture. As you’d expect I need to sort my bank situation asap!

I did some research and narrowed my preferred banks to Sony Bank (because of their english support), and SMBC Olive. 

I managed to apply for a bank account with Sony Bank but when I requested that they redirect my card to my new address, they said it’s not possible as ‘sending it to the same address as what’s on my MyNumber card it’s a part of their verification process.’ Unsurprisingly,  I need to pick it up in person from a Japan Post shop when it arrives. This isn’t really possible as I won’t be back here until next year. 

Is this standard practice for banks to send cards to only the address on your MyNumber card? and if so, 

Can I open a bank account in person from outside the prefecture of my MyNumber card address? 

Am I missing something here? I’m open to other banks/suggestions too! TIA!

I need to travel to the United States on short notice, I have been trying to find an answer or even a phone number to call for a few days.

What I need to know is if the Amazon Japan credit card, branded with Mastercard, can be used in the U.S.

Also, if it can be used abroad, I m have been trying to find out if there is a way to notify them that I will be abroad so as not to trigger any kind of freeze on the card. I actually haven’t found any method of reaching human support regarding the card. 😆 just the AI bot.

If any of you have advice or information to share I would be incredibly grateful for your help.

I just spilled hot water on my hand and it feels kinda painful now. I applied some hand cream and a bandage as first aid. If I need to go to a hospital or something, what happens if I haven't received any kind of NHI certificate, card etc. even though I have registered as a resident already? Do I need to pay 100% of the costs? And how do I even find out in which hospital or health center I am supposed to go?

We recently fell victim to scammers who used our corporate JCB Rakuten Bank card to withdraw small amounts at first (e.g., 3,000 yen), which then escalated to much larger amounts (up to 40,000 yen). They initiated the transactions on a Friday evening, likely knowing that customer support at JCB would be unavailable over the weekend.

By the time we managed to reach JCB on Saturday afternoon, over 1 million yen had already been withdrawn. We immediately filed a report with the Tokyo Azabu Police Department, but it has been over a month now, and there’s been no follow-up or progress from their side.

We’re at a loss about what to do next. Would it be worth hiring a lawyer to escalate this issue, or are there better avenues to pursue? Has anyone faced a similar situation with JCB or in Japan in general? Any advice on how to recover the stolen funds or get more traction with the police would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance!

I just got to Japan a few weeks ago and today I suddenly received a job offer from my previous employer. It's kinda like one of the best jobs ever I can ever get with my education and it's a good place with a good salary. However this means that I would waste my one and done working holiday if I accepted the offer and returned home. I am pretty puzzled what to do now, has anyone else had similar kind of experiences? Any advice what to do?

I am just wondering if anyone else has had this experience.

When I lived at home, I had a group of friends, 2 of which seemed like they were on a quest to prove that they have been into Japan for the longest amount of time, knew everything about Japanese culture, and were the top of the group when it came to knowledge.

There was a time where one friend had gotten angry because someone had asked them "are you learning Japanese too?" and they said "I'm not like that guy who's learning, I'm an original that's been in it since the beginning"

Anyways, one time, we decided, let's all move to Japan!

I came here solo first, and have been living here for 3 years, in those 3 years, they have not flown over once, and if I video call them, it's like they have bad things to say about Japan.

"are you hated for being a foreigner?", "its a country of propaganda" etc.

If we get into a discussion about the UK, they try to make it out as if its some super country, and they would never leave.

It's like as soon as I set foot in Japan, they took a sharp U-turn and have completely changed their opinions.

Seeing as they wouldn't come to me, I went to them on a trip to see family and friends. They seemed to just limit talk about Japan and were not very open to talking about my life out here.

While I'm in Japan, they barely reply to any of my messages.

I don't know if this post is gonna be a waste of peoples time, but I was just wondering if somebody else has experienced this with their friends from home. I'd love to have somebody to relate to about this, because I feel my friends have kinda abandoned me through some ego-related problem.

Thanks for reading!

Hi everyone,

I recently found two stray cats at a local park, and I’ve noticed that a kind lady feeds them every day. However, with the colder weather, I’m worried they don’t have any proper shelter to stay warm.

I found some outdoor cat houses on Amazon jp and was thinking of buying one to leave in the park to help them stay warm. However, I’m unsure if this is okay or if it might cause any issues (especially since I can’t speak Japanese to ask anyone directly).

Does anyone have experience with this or advice on how to go about it? I just want to make sure they’re safe and comfortable. Thanks in advance!

Hello,

(Please let me post this here, I got banned from Japan life because I'm not a current resident anymore but this is a residence related question. It doesn't fit another subreddit)

Before I get scrutinized about this... I know I messed up ... badly. It's not an excuse but I have ADHD and I'm horrible with admin stuff, even in my home country I've been fined for forgetting to file my personal tax etc.

I lived in JP as an exchange student at Tokyo University in 2022-2023 on a one year visa but only stayed for 4-5 months in total. It was very easy to set up a bank account through the Todai student services (a bit unfair I know). But it was mandatory, as well as the health insurance. I got registered in Nakano-ku, but my wallet got stolen and I've lost my residence card since.

To be honest, I remember them telling me I had to pay a handful of cash at the Nakano municipality I got registered to, in-person and in cash. Quite frankly I completely forgot. When I left the country, I also forgot to close my bank account ( I don't ever remember the bank name.. I know it's the green one, I'm a mess I know)

I am really unsure what to do and I'm afraid I piled a big amount of debt in the meantime for my health insurance. Maybe they closed my bank account in the meantime but maybe I'm also blacklisted from ever opening a bank account again in Japan.

Do I go back to fix these affairs in person, or is there something I can do online, and how do I even begin to fix this mess?

I'm so sorry to ask you advice but you're the only ones I think of... thank you very much in advance