SUB RULES

I’m 18M and I spent most of my childhood in US. I don’t really connect with Japanese girls cuz idk my personality might be different??

I feel like foreign or mixed girls likes to date foreign men instead of Japanese so I’m trying to figure it out if it’s true.

We recently bought a used Toyota, and the dealer reached out with a winter tire package for 350,000 yen. That seems pretty steep, so I’m hoping for some advice.

Where’s the best place in Tokyo to buy winter tires? Also, any recommendations for a good shop to handle the tire change? We have space to store the summer tires, so that’s covered.

I know winter tires aren’t necessary for Tokyo itself, but we’ll be driving a lot in the mountains this winter, so they’re definitely needed. Thanks in advance!

It's that time of the week again. Please boast and share about the good things that have happened to you this past week!

Now daily! Feel free to ask any silly stupid questions or not-so-silly stupid questions that you haven't had a chance to ask here. Be kind to those that do and try to answer without downvoting. Please keep criticism and snide remarks out of the thread.

I’m currently on the lookout for English teaching positions in Japan and would love some guidance on companies or Eikaiwas to apply to. I’m already aware of some of the bigger names like Borderlink, Interac, Gaba, NOVA, and Kids Duo, so I’m interested in hearing about other companies that might be hiring.

A bit about me:

•	I have permanent residency in Japan, so there’s no need to worry about visa sponsorship.

Any recommendations or insights on companies I might not have considered would be really appreciated! Thanks so much for any help or suggestions!

Hello! Currently working at presentation about Japan Occupational health in contruction and I want to have some introduction words about Japan Occu health, sick leave, etc. I am wondering (because online result are incoherent), how is sick leave regulated? is it paid or you have to use your "vacation days"? And second question, how many vacation days do you usually get in a year? Thanks in advance

Hello. I look to replace my old shikibuton (mattress, 10 YO cheap one). I have a tatami room and whenever I go to a ryokan I think their shikibuton are much better than mine. I would like to get this feeling at home but not sure what to look for. Looking at biccamera site i can't really see the difference (outside size and other obvious thing) between various model. I like firm but not hard. Single size. I prefer traditional materials over modern synthetic ones. I buy in shop and live in Tokyo.

Is there a big difference between middle / top rank one ? What would be the budget for a good quality. Are tatami shop affordable and better than biccamera like store ? Any futon lover to share experience ?

I’m a semi-new student at a Japanese university, and am getting worried regarding one of my midterms.

My midterm for one of my classes is tomorrow. The professor provided a guide a few days ago regarding the procedures of the test, and one section stated “there is no makeup. If you miss the test, you will get zero points.”

One student asked the professor “what do we do if we get sick?” And the response was “well… please do not get sick.”

Lo and behold, I’m up late unable to sleep because I have a fever. I am sick.

I’m really worried this professor will follow through and give me a zero for this reason, but I’m wondering if there’s any protections against this? In my home country, professors must provide reasonable accommodation for documented illness. If I go to the doctor, would this professor be required to provide me with a makeup exam? Or is my best bet to just go into the exam with a fever and pray I don’t get anyone else sick?

Thank you

Hey everyone. I was scrolling through insta reels and this girl showed a Japanese brand for curly hair! I'm so happy to see this so I thought I would share it with the rest of you curly haired people living in Japan like me. So, they are called Curly Me and the link to their website is this:

https://www.curlyme.jp/

They have styling products and you can buy recharges! They also have scarves so you can protect your hair when you sleep too. I'm still kinda figuring the best routine for my curly hair so, this is really exciting for me. As anyone tried this brand before? What are your thoughts about it? Will you give it a try?

I am currently here in FUKUI, Japan working as a caregiver and I don’t see myself working as caregiver, the physical, emotional and mental stress is too much and it’s not really aligned to me and now I am thinking of changing jobs in hotel industry aiming for easier jobs like house keeping and I get really overwhelmed.

My visa is SSW (my contract will expire on July)

And this is my plan so far

DEC

.take prometric skill test .Once I pass the test, search for jobs until APRIL

• HOUSEKEEPING or any hotel entry jobs
• As much as possible I don’t want to talk I just want to work on my own pace
• N4 Passer but can speak daily nihongo

Prefer in city atleast near OSAKA,KYOTO, TOKYO)

• gaikokujin friendly work environment
• If possible free accommodation (apartment)

I join a lot groups taking my chances and also use apps such as HELLO WORK JAPAN, KUROFUNE.. try interviews as much as possible.

Goal: receive 2-3 job offers

MAY

. Inform my agency and pass my resignation letter

• While processing my resignation, my job transfer is ongoing too: complying with documents etc…

JULY - onwards .transfer to new city .start a new job

And if I fail, it might be a sign for me that this Japanese dream wasn’t meant for me.

Here are my worries: ? Any good recommendations to find a LEGIT JOB and tips to be careful for

? Which is better direct hiring or agency

? Who can I ask for help if I get troubled? - I am thinking of asking the immigration regarding this situation, for sure my agency and my employer won’t just let me go, I heard a lot of guilt-tripping and might threaten me that I have no rights to do this, the ‘utang na loob’ (debt of gratitude) mentality

? How will I defend myself without giving in, I won’t get intimidated and freeze talking to my superiors

? IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS TO ASK BEFORE LEAVING MY JOB

If someone had experienced the same situation please tell me the flow (step by step process)

So, I tried googling and researching, but couldn't find much. Although I didn't go into official regulations in Japanese language yet. So maybe someone here knows and has actual experience.

Question is specifically about legality in terms of engineering visa.

An engineer is working in Japanese company, being resident of Japan, on engineer visa sponsored by Japanese company. Would owning a foreign company and being in position of director/CEO (which is business manager type of work) lead to problems with Japanese immigration services and visa status?
I know that engineering visa restricts this kind of activity in Japan, and you would need to apply for business manager visa etc etc. But question is specifically about those activities in other countries while maintaining job and engineer visa in Japan.

Internal regulations and rules of main workplace that is sponsoring visa in Japan are out of scope in this case, consider this part of question handled and there is an OK from main employer sponsoring the visa. (I know a lot of companies are limiting possibility of side jobs, although legality of that is questionable)

I've been here 2+ year, did several road trips mainly in Kyushu, around Nagano and Hokkaido, but never saw livestock. In my country France it's pretty common to see cows, sheep or horse. Never saw any of those here... where are they ??

Hello, I'm looking for an English-speaking psychiatrist in the Kanto area.

Situation is as follows: I have been dealing with anxiety issues for nearly 3 years, and only recently have I begun to make any meaningful progress towards recovery.

Nevertheless, I am still on a rather heavy dosage of medications. I have seen a number of Japanese doctors, and they all seem to get uncomfortable whenever I raise the question of adjusting/reducing my medications.

I would like to consult with a doctor who is prepared to discuss a long-term treatment plan.

The following are clinics and doctors who I have explored, and written off for one reason or another:

Dr Berge, Meguro Counselling Center - a fraudster who practices psychiatry in Japan without a proper license.

Tokyo Mental Clinic, Dr Kissane - not only charges full fees for sessions, but also requires patients to buy meds from a clinic that doesn't accept Japanese insurance. There is no point in paying the full price for medications in Japan. Also, the first point of contact for patients is the business manager, which shows where their priorities lay.

Yotsuya Yui Clinic - was kept waiting for nearly an hour for my first appointment. No sincere apologies, just a 'sorry, it happens' response. Doctor admitted he can only offer a ten-minute consultation, and hence there were limits on what we can discuss.

Frankly, I'm fed up with doctors who either, a) demand a premium for a more effective treatment plan, b) take my money and treat my condition as a burden, or c) hide behind the Japanese medical laws and provide only the minimum service of prescribing the same meds at each appointment.

My recovery is a serious matter to me, I cannot afford to waste my time and money.

Any recommendations will be most welcome.

I was able to get tax certificate called 課税証明書 from convini. But I didn't see the tax payment certificate called 納税証明書 there. Though I tried it from outside of my ward. Can I get it form my ward's convini?

Hello folks! I registered for a concert lottery in Ticket Pia and the results come out tomorrow. However, my card got charged today for the exact amount as the ticket (and the charge is from Ticket Pia). I'm also not registered to any other lottery. I'm just wondering if this is a thing that Ticket Pia does? Will it affect how I can pay tomorrow if I win the lottery? If anyone has info, please let me know. Thank you so much!

Hi all,

I bought a lot of antique stuff from the flea markets here, and want to send it to my family in Europe. I have only once before imported an antique sword from the 1600s, for which the seller did all the export licensing. What I got now isn't a sword/weapon for which other rules apply, but pottery, Jomon Jidai Stone Tools and metalwork, as well as pre ww2 militaria. So obviously there has to be a limit on what needs an export license, but I am not sure, and the Ministry of Education which grants these licenses only writes about how to apply and that it is prohibited to export national treasures, but they don't specify how old something needs to be for an export license.

So if anyone knows if there are certain items, apart from national treasures (which I can't afford anyways haha) for which I will not get an export license, or what needs an export license in the first place, I'd be very grateful.

I’ve just bought a house—a condo in a building rather—and it’s pretty much perfect, but there’s one thing that bugs me: the last family to live here clearly had kids, and they decorated the front door (so, communal area technically) with stickers. The stickers were removed when they left, but they were on there long enough to leave marks on the paint from fading.

I’ve now got a pretty obvious “HAPPY HALLOWEEN” year round on my front door 🫠

It’s a communal outdoor area so technically I’m not allowed to touch it.

Has anyone living in a condo building been able to talk to the manager about obvious defects to the outward appearance of your place? I haven’t moved in yet, so I haven’t had a chance to talk to the building manager yet in person, though I intend to. Thought I’d see if anyone else had had a similar experience and if they were able to get it resolved!

Tl;dr - new condo’s outside door has marks on it that I’d really like to get removed. Will the building manager be likely to let me get it resolved? (Haven’t moved in yet so haven’t had a chance to ask)

With country not allowing kefir or ayran and sugar everywhere including vegetable salads in supermarkets, anyone know where to buy drinking yoghurt without sugar and low fat?

I'm in a central Tokyo home and I can swear one of my rooms has mold in the walls, but I can't see it. I've done all the obvious culprits:

• clean the AC
• clean the air filter
• wiped all the dust

I even replaced the floor. It's a small room, ~20 square meters roughly, but we do sleep in the room and typically do close the door and windows, and when we do, it becomes unbearable: we sneeze, cough, eyes water, etc. My TVOC monitor doesn't really help.

Has anyone had to deal with something similar? Short of ripping off the wallpaper, what can we do?

Hi !

My girlfriend and I just moved into a brand new apartment on October 1st. She plans to quit her job on November 14th, and since the new place is quite far, we initially asked if we could start the contract on November 1st. However, the real estate agent refused, saying it was impossible, the property is quite popular so if we didn't sign the contract right away, we probably wouldn’t have a chance to secure it later.

We paid about 32万円 for key money ( 2 months rent ) + some other stupid fees like anywhere in Japan.

Just ten days after moving-in, as the three others appartement were still vacantn we discovered that they removed the 2 months key money requirement.

We contacted the company who own this complex (Sekisui house) saying it was unfair and asked for a refund but as you doubt, they refused.

My girlfriend and I believe they will likely lower the rent for the other appartement soon since there's absolutely no one interested. I'm also working remotely almost every day and no one has came to visit it.

Is there anything we can do ?
Unfortunately, my japanese reading skills aren't good enough to fully understand the contract we signed...
Should we consider contacting a lawyer for help ?

Thanks for any advice !

Does anyone here tried ordering an apple product on paidy and cancelled the order? My cancellation of my order still doesnt reflect on my paidy account. What should i do? Im kinda nervous cuz i aint paying for no reason.

Hi everyone,

We recently had a newborn in September, and my wife’s mother came to help us during this time. Her visa is set to expire in November, and we want to apply for an extension under the "Visiting Relatives" category.

Some details about our situation:

• Both my wife and I have Permanent Residency (PR).
• My wife sponsored her mother's visa originally.
• Currently, my wife is on maternity leave.

What documents do we need to submit for this visa extension application? Any advice or experiences would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

So I'm currently starting a job as a design engineer at what I feel like is a top-level company in Japan. It has great pay, great hourly rates, and a hefty bonus for a new graduate. But, it is a yearly contract-basis with a max renewal of 4 times, before I assume you either don't get renewed or can ask to be a seishain.

The thing is, this is a really good gig for me and I'd like to really stay for a longer time in this company. So my question is - I know this is a YMMV situation - but how often does the contract gets renewed, particularly up to its max limit? How often have yall seen contract workers get cut off for these kind of positions, or conversely how often have you seen them promote to become a seishain?

I'm interested in purchasing the privacy-focused BraX3 phone. However, even the Brax team is not sure it will work in Japan. This is what I need to confirm:

1. Not being able to import the device because it doesn't have required certifications or approval by the authority;

2. The device is missing frequency bands that are used by your telco;

3. Using a local telecommunication that blocks any service to devices not approved by them.

And this is what I need to do according to the team:

Point 1. can be checked with your local government.

Point 2 and Point 3 can easily be checked with your telco if you provide them with the frequency bands of the BraX3 device.

frequency networks supported according to their site:

2G: B2/3/5/8

3G: B1/2/4/5/8

4G: B1/2/3/4/5/7/8/12/13/17/25/26/28/38/40/41/42/66/71

5G: n1/2/3/5/7/25/26/28/38/40/41/66/71/77/78

My questions:

1. How can I check about point 1? What "local government" do I need to contact exactly?

2. What frequency networks are available in Japan?

3. Even if these networks are available, is it possible that NTT can block access to them?

Hello everyone! I’m considering getting blepharoplasty in Tokyo. After a recent trip to Seoul, I decided against having it done there, as the surgeons I met tended to promote a more generic aesthetic. I’m drawn to the natural approach of Japanese surgeons instead.

If cost isn’t an issue, which surgeon would you recommend?

I'm a lurker here, but have made an anonymous account out of complete paranoia

A while ago I moved out of Tokyo after living there for nearly 7 years and went out to a very rural part of Saitama. If you are wondering why, I no longer needed to be in an office so I bought a home in this area for a change. Where my home is without being too descriptive is on a long single width road with a long driveway. Several months ago, late in the night a vehicle came up the driveway part way and stopped which got my attention. When I went to the window to look, it sounded like someone had tried to open the side door of my home and when I got downstairs and to the door, I watched the vehicle back down the driveway and drove away. I assumed this was not anything serious and never did report it. (this was a mistake)

Some time later, during the day while I was doing some work on the outside of my home, I noticed this same car driving by my property slowly and could then hear it accelerating away after it passed my driveway.

Worried, I ended up purchasing a camera for my property which I've positioned to point towards the driveway, and have learned that there is a male who drives by rather regularly, and on some nights will exit his car and come up my driveway and lurk around my home. I cannot identify what he is doing other than stand far away, taking photos of my home then promptly leave. The camera appears to have worked, as this person no longer drives by or walks blatantly around my property. However now I'm noticing things behind my home being moved, foot steps in mud from shoes that aren't mine, planters moved, tools stolen etc. I believe he is now accessing my property from somewhere other than the road. There is no access to my home from behind, there is nearly 1km of dense forest to the next road and I cannot find any paths immediately around my home. I have enough evidence to make a strong assumption that it is the same person responsible, as the vehicle is the only one that is seen on camera between the hours of 01:00 and 05:00 that can be seen driving past my driveway.

I have NOT been able to get a license plate for this vehicle, the vehicle drives by in such a way where camera cannot catch it. The car has never been up the driveway since the first incident.

I've taken my concern to the police, and the massive language barrier is a bit of an issue. After an hour long discussion with a police provided translator I've been told there is nothing that they can do, and that although he shouldn't be on my property, no real crime has been committed. Friends of mine told me they might not really be taking it seriously as I'm still "外人". I've spent too much time reading things online and making myself extremely paranoid and I'm not sure what to do. I have confirmed that out of very few residences on the street, this vehicle does not belong to anyone here. Do I need to catch this guy inside my home before its taken seriously?

Hello fellow gaijin,

Quick question on possible outcomes of PR applications.

Is it right that regardless of your outcome a notification will come in the form of a Hagaki?

Is the result listed on this postcard or does one need to go into immigration to find out the result?

What happens if the application is denied?

I applied for PR without a lawyer based on marriage though I’m on a work visa currently. I’m interested to know what the rest of the process looks like.

Thank you

It's the weekly complaint thread! Time to get anything off your chest that's been bugging you or pissing you off.

Remain civil and be nice to other commenters (even try to help).

• No politics
• No complaints about users of JapanLife

Now daily! Feel free to ask any silly stupid questions or not-so-silly stupid questions that you haven't had a chance to ask here. Be kind to those that do and try to answer without downvoting. Please keep criticism and snide remarks out of the thread.

Hello, Ive been wanting to buy AGALP EX-アガルプ EX- and Shenmin dht blocker for hair loss. I wanted to know if they are vegan, thanks!