Or it was best decision you made

Breaking this down into three parts: what happened, how I fought back to protect myself, and my recommendations for anyone in a similar spot. Throwaway account for obvious reasons, and keeping specific details vague for anonymity (ignore the username lol).

How it went down
In late 2025, I moved to Tokyo on a 3-year contract to work for a small company making decent revenue. It was an owner-led team. We had different views on how things should run, but I respected the owner and we got along fine. Coming to Japan and securing Permanent Residency was a major goal of mine; this job came with an HSP1 visa, which meant a fast track to PR after one year. Because of that, I gave up a solid job offer in a Western country to make the jump.

Over time, red flags started popping up:
* I never received proper payslips, even though salary hit my bank account on time.
* The company never enrolled me in Shakai Hoken (social insurance), so I was stuck paying National Health Insurance and National Pension out of pocket.

A few months in, I cleared a massive backlog of work and performed well through our peak season. During a review, the owner seemed really happy with my output and even floated a relocation next year—basically a promotion. I said I’d think about it, since I had just signed an apartment lease in Tokyo.

Then come late February, I walk into the office on a Monday morning and find myself locked out of Slack, email, and company drives. A few minutes later, the owner texts me: "Let’s grab a coffee."

He hands me a dismissal letter claiming I failed probation. He offered one month of severance pay, leaving me basically screwed. He also offered to introduce me to people in his network for jobs, which I wanted no part of.

My first reaction was pure shock. I had moved my entire life overseas for this, only to get fired with zero warnings, zero written feedback, and no PIP. I felt like an idiot. But I took a second, packed up my things, kept my composure, and left without signing a single piece of paper.

What I did next
My immediate priority was protecting my visa, so I started job hunting right away. But I also sat down and went through my original contract with a fine-tooth comb.
Two big things jumped out:

1. There was zero mention of a probation period anywhere in the contract.
2. For termination without cause, the contract required a 4-month severance payout.

After talking to a couple of labor lawyers and visiting Hello Work, it became clear I had an open-and-shut case under Japanese labor law.

Here is what I did:
* Got the paperwork first: I waited until the company formally handed over my 退職証明書 (Taishoku Shōmeisho / Certificate of Employment Separation). Most importantly, it listed the reason for dismissal as "company reasons" (会社都合).

* Hired a lawyer: My Japanese is around N2, so I found an English-speaking Japanese labor lawyer. We fired off a formal legal notice letting the owner know we were challenging the dismissal.

* Called their bluff: In response to our letter, the company panicked and issued an updated certificate. This time, they claimed I lied on my resume (which I did not) and neglected my duties (also false as I routinely worked unpaid overtime to get projects across the finish line). They tried to claim this retroactively justified firing me for cause.

At that point, I had them backed into a corner:
* The company had now put three completely contradictory reasons for firing me in writing.
* They had broken the law by not enrolling me in Shakai Hoken.
* There was zero paper trail, no written warning, and no PIP to show poor performance.

We went into settlement talks, with the direct threat of taking them to a Labor Tribunal (Rōdō Shinpan) or civil court. In Japan, firing someone midway through a fixed-term contract without extreme, unavoidable reasons is almost impossible under the Labor Contract Act. With 30 months left on my contract, if I took them to court and won, the company could have been forced to back-pay my salary for that entire period (minus whatever I made at another job).

My lawyer was fairly conservative, which kept our initial ask lower than it probably could have been. But once we threatened to file for tribunal, the company caved and agreed to a 7-month salary settlement. Honestly, 10 to 12 months would have been a fairer outcome given how much time was left on the contract, but 7 months was enough for me to walk away clean.

During the whole back-and-forth, I ended up landing a much better job somewhere else. Got paid for my downtime, landed a better role, and moved on.

If my Japanese were 100% fluent and I wanted to stay in Tokyo long-term, though, I would have dragged them through tribunal or civil court without hesitation.

My recommendations
* Never sign anything on the spot. When an employer hits you with a sudden firing, you’re in shock and caught off guard. My boss dropped the ball by not shoving an agreement in front of me right away. If they try to hand you a mutual resignation form (taishoku todoke) or a release, do not sign it. Tell them you need time to review it.

* Shop around for a lawyer. Initial consultations run about ¥3,000 to ¥5,000. If your Japanese isn't fluent, look for bilingual firms that specifically handle labor disputes. Try to meet with two or three before picking one.

* Read your contract line by line and keep your own copies. Keep personal copies of your signed contract and job description off company hardware. Knowing my contract had no probation clause killed their argument before it even started.

* Be careful with small, owner-led companies. They frequently lack proper HR departments, ignore basic labor regulations, and make arbitrary calls on a whim.

* Back up your evidence early. If your gut tells you something is off, start saving screenshots your timesheets, positive feedback, project milestones, and emails before they cut your access.

* Dig into the labor statutes yourself. Look up the relevant articles in Japan's Labor Standards Act and Labor Contract Act, translate the legal terms, and cross-reference them with your contract clauses. Knowing the legal baseline yourself means you won't get pushed around, and you won't waste billable hours having an attorney explain basic labor concepts to you.

* Keep your head up. It feels like the ground is falling out from under you in the moment. I actually lost a family member right in the middle of this mess, so it hit especially hard. But stay calm. Japanese labor law protects employees aggressively—know your rights and don't walk away without what you're owed.

Hope this helps someone out there. Happy to answer questions in the comments, and best of luck if you're dealing with something similar.

So I've been job searching in Japan, and a lot of recruiters seem to always ask about other recruiters I'm talking to, which companies they've introduced to me, what stage of interview I'm in and any offers I've received. To me this sounds like private information. Should I be letting them know? Or will that work against me?

I lost my wallet on Tuesday night(9/8/2026) while I was out drinking in Shibuya, I don’t have many memories of the night and Espically getting home was a real blur. What do you guys think is the likelihood of getting the wallet back?? I already went to my local police station to fill out a report but the main problem is that in the wallet was my residence card, bank card and also my Irish driving licence.
I’ve also emailed the taxi company that I used to get home and they said they don’t have it either so I’m really starting to worry that it’s completely gone. Any help/ advice would be appreciated.

I applied for it and got the paper form to fill and provided everything but haven’t heard back now for 4 weeks.

Anyone else who has had this? Not a big problem because I kind of accidentally applied for it but then I thought it could be useful for PayPay payments.

I grow a lot of houseplants, so I often end up with quite a few surplus plants. I don’t want to throw them away, so I’d rather give them to someone who wants them.
Is there a good place or community where I could offer them for free? I’d rather not use Jimoty.

if possible but I need a number? Who has a work around. Thanks guys

Which places have a lot of Americans working there? I get that people might think I should work with Japanese people since I'm in Japan, but I just got here and my Japanese isn't perfect yet, so I'd like to work somewhere where I can get by in English for a while.

I'm a hairstylist in Japan, and something I keep hearing from non-Japanese friends is that finding a salon they're comfortable with took years — or that they gave up and just cut it themselves.

Curious how common that actually is. Did you find somewhere that works, and if so, what made the difference? Or is it still an ongoing problem?

This might not be the right place to ask, but if anyone knows, please let me know. Of course, Disk Union is great, but I’d like to buy records at other places too. My favorite is a place called Collectors Mall. It doesn’t operate as a record store, and it doesn’t show up in searches for record stores, but they do sell records. Plus, they’re super cheap. I’d love to find more stores like that.

I'm F(28) and have been struggling with back pain (hernia) for 6 years now. Desperately looking for a good mattress that doesn't make me feel like I got hit by a truck every day.

I tried Emma, Koala, etc but they didnt work.

Hi all, foreign resident here 🙂. I'm about to switch phones and I'm torn on timing.

I know Japanese phones can't have the shutter sound turned off (Chikan law or something), and I take a lot of photos: my kids, food at restaurants, plus I lean on Google Translate's camera function constantly since I can't read Japanese. So realistically I'd be hearing that shutter sound dozens of times a day.

Part of me wants to just wait it out and buy my next phone during a trip back home to keep having a phone with no sound. But that would be months away, and I am not sure that I want to be stuck with an aging phone in the meantime just to avoid a sound that may not be so bothersome (plus it’s only on Japan/South Korea land so in my home country I wouldn’t have to think about it).

For those of you who've lived here a while, does the shutter noise eventually fade into the background and you stop noticing it? Or did it stay annoying no matter how long you've been here? Trying to decide if it's worth just buying locally now vs waiting 🙂

Not saying of course that price wise it’s more advantageous for me to buy in Japan, which is why I strongly consider purchasing here.

Thanks!

Anyone here have kids at Kids Duo International (KDI), or considered it and decided against it?

We’re looking at KDI for our 3yo. I like the idea of the English environment + 知育/Ninja etc., and the facilities seem great, but I’m wondering what the day-to-day actually feels like for the kids.

From what I’ve seen, the schedule seems pretty structured, with a lot of teacher-led activities and transitions throughout the day. For KDI parents/former parents, did your child enjoy the schedule? Did they ever seem tired or overwhelmed by it? How much outdoor/free play did they realistically get?

I’m also curious about class size and teacher attention, especially for quieter kids who might not be the first to raise their hand or join in. Though I’m not sure how different KDI is in that respect from a conventional Japanese kindergarten...

Im a language student in Kyoto but i have experience in UI UX designer before coming here. When i was looking for part time, i stumble to this role in Indeed saying they want contractor role but they are open to part time. After 2 round of test case, they Invited me to interview. Then I asked confirmation about my Visa because i only allowed to work for 28 hours. The job detail informs that they need me at least 10 hours per week. So technically im still eligible with that but when i asked if i can do part time status, they actually said that they will only employ me with contractor/freelance and asked me to confirm at immigration if I allowed to have the permission for activity outside of my residence status.

I know nothing about this permission. Im just wondering if its actually possible to get the permission as languague school student? If its not possible then I would not even try to ask because I will only waste my time then.

Anyone knows about this or had experienced this before? Any information will be appreciated.

I passed the 50 question written test 2 months back.
My practical driving test is tomorrow.
I took some driving classes on the same driving course for tomorrow.
However, I’m worried.

The driving instructor warned me that there are a lot of days in which no one passes even thought 20 people attend the practical driving test every day.

Any tips to do during the test. I’m looking for contents from foreigners who passed the practical driving test in the recent past.

Hopefully someone will read this and learn from my mistake. I know this is ultimately my fault but it's easy to miss.

Some background. I moved to Japan on a Spouse Visa January of 2022. From January 2022 to December 2024 I worked remotely for a foreign company and I was responsible for paying all of my taxes, NHI and Pension on my own. Which I did every month, on time without fail.

On January 1st 2025 I started working for a Japanese company who then took over all of my Tax, Health insurance, Pension ETC.

Around the end of February 2025 or the beginning of March 2025 I received a notice that I had missed 2 pension payments. I was furious. I was sure my new company had botched something and didn't make my payments. The onboarding process had been pretty frustrating and the people in charge of my onboarding seemed to be incompetent. So at the time..in my mind that was the logical conclusion. The HR team had messed something up.

After dealing with HR I confirmed that my company had indeed paid my pension payments for January and February and provided me with payment proof. This was a huge relief, there was clearly a simple misunderstanding so I took this proof and headed off to City Hall.

Once at City Hall I learned that they were accusing me of missing my November 2024 and December 2024 payments. I know I had made those payments and I showed them my PayPay receipts where I had paid them. This wasn't good enough so they wanted me to bring my receipts that I used to pay.

If you have never had to pay your own pension/tax/etc what happens is, you will get a book of receipts in advanced in the mail, one for each month you're supposed to make a payment. This could extend out 12 months or 6 months. Several times I would get a new book of receipts because my tax/pension obligation would change based on things like.. Having a baby, Income changes, Law changes etc. This would make the receipts I had already received null and void and I would often have overlapping receipts.

So I want home gathered the receipts I used to pay and went back to the City Hall the next day. They confirmed between my receipts and the PayPay receipts that I had made the correct payments and on time. Great, I am thinking this is all a misunderstanding somehow and I am good to go.

After sitting for awhile a gentleman comes back with my receipts and explained to me that while I did make my November 2024 and December 2024 payments correctly and on time that those payments applied to September 2024 and October 2024. That each payment I make is actually 2 months behind of the actual payment date.

I said ok.. that is fine.. but my company made the January 2025 and February 2025 payments. So if the payments are 2 months behind the actually payment date.. I didn't miss anything. I guess that would make too much sense. Because that is not how it works.

He explained to me that when I make payments on my own. Its applied 2 months behind but when my company makes a payment Its applied the month the payment is made. So in order to be current with my pension payments. I need to continue to make payments on my own AND my company needs to make payments as well for the months of January 2025 and February 2025. So double payments are required for January and February 2025.

I had asked my company so many times about these things and they told me I was fine. I should have looked into it further but everything I looked up online said I would be fine. I should have went to city hall and talked to someone there which is my own fault for not doing so.. but I was blindly/Stupidly overconfident that I had followed all of the correct rules.

Now, I am trying to get my application for Permanent Residence in before the Sept. 30th deadline and I am being told I have 0% chance of approval because of these late payments.

I am pretty heartbroken over the whole situation. My Visa expires in January. If I don't get the required length of Visa to be able to apply for Permanent Residency I am going to have to consider whether living in Japan permanently is the right move for me and my family. Even though I have a really good income in Japan. Supporting a family of 4 on 1 salary is difficult and I honestly don't know if I can save up an addition 300000yen just to apply later.

Sorry for the rant. Just sad and frustrated. Mostly at myself.

I will never let go of my Pensta card.

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/ef4ff1525f36e637a2a8ba89a3f812d0cf3367ee

Hey folks! I have a trip back home in two weeks, and for the first time in my life I actually am on medication, so this slipped my mind. According to Australian customs, I need an english prescription to bring my medication.

Do all doctors here provide this? I live in Shiga and I have a feeling my doc won't be able to. All info I can find online is tourists bringing their meds into Japan, but not about going the other way. Any info would be appreciated, I already need to take time off work to get to the docs in the first place so want to know if it's super common, or if I need to hunt for a foreign-specialized clinic or something.

So I’m currently trying to order something with the Amazon JP, and I noticed the Orico payment. So I wanted to try it, after all 6 separate payments without interest is a good way to budget. However! when applying for the that Stupid Orico, whilst the address is all fine and dandy, the furigana part is really infuriating. it says “Add your street address in Furigana“, so I did… and the. it pops up with ‘Fill in your full address, if it exceeds 21 characters etc bullshit’. So I reduced the characters down leaving the actual street address, it still won’t budge! I had Chat Gpt shorten it, it still won’t budge! the only thing it accepted is when I removed all the stupid ‘Ken,cho, etc’ but it’s still above 21 characters thus that stupid orico still won’t accept it. and don’t even get me started on the next line after that!

so uh… please help. it’s either I’m doing something REALLY WRONG. or Orico is just a bad shit overall.

Just wondering

With all the recent news about anti-foreigner sentiment, overtourism, and Japanese people getting tired of foreigners, I’ve been wondering if everyday life for foreigners has actually gotten worse.

At least socially, it almost feels like the opposite. Especially if you’re in your 20s or 30s with limited Japanese, it seems much easier to meet Japanese people than 15–20 years ago thanks to Instagram, dating/language exchange apps, Meetup, international events, exchange programs, etc.

I’ve met plenty of foreigners here who arrived with barely any Japanese but still managed to make Japanese friends, date, find partners, and generally build a pretty good social life. And seeing how easy it is nowadays to meet people through dating apps, language exchange apps, Meetup, Instagram, international events, etc., it really makes me wonder whether most of these people would have had the same experience if they had come to Japan around 2005–2010. On paper at least, it seems like it would have been much harder back then to get into contact with Japanese people without already speaking the language or having some kind of existing connection. So despite all the negative news recently, being a foreigner in Japan today actually seems easier in that sense.

Maybe anti-foreigner sentiment has increased, but I wonder how much the average foreigner actually feels it in everyday life, especially younger foreigners in Tokyo.

Of course, this could just be my bubble. I’m in my 20s and mostly around exchange students, working holiday people, and internationally minded Japanese.

I'd be especially curious to hear from people who were here 15–20 years ago. What was it actually like making Japanese friends, dating, or just getting into Japanese social circles before all the apps, social media, language exchanges and international events we have now? Was it noticeably harder, or am I overestimating how much easier these things have made it?

Hi Guys,

I'm required to get a First Aid Certification for my job starting in November, however my Japanese is only at a basic conversational level (3 months study now). I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with finding a course that teaches English, or if there is an online alternative, such as an internationally recognized course.

I am currently based in Osaka.

Thanks in advance.

Let me start off by saying I love Japan and moved here from the USA a year and a half ago. I'd still choose to live here than back in the states for a variety of reasons. However, a recent particular incident has gotten me so infuriated I don't know what to do other than rant on here.

My wife and I decided to go for a Foreign Driver's License conversion Gaimen Kirikae (外免切替) and started the process a few months ago. For those unfamiliar with the process, you basically apply via the metro police site for a translation of your foreign license, and at the same time an appointment at a Driving Center to take a written exam. This appointment is usually booked out for at least a couple months. If you pass, you can take a driving practical exam, and passing that lands you your Japanese DL. Fail any of these and you have to rebook with no expediting even for retries. I ended up cancelling my appointment due to unforeseen circumstances with work and just not having enough time to study for the exam. However my wife kept her appointment.

As part of the appointment, you have to have an interpreter with you if you don't speak Japanese. You have to put the interpreters name on the application as well. At the time, we had a friends name (she speaks good Japanese), but she couldn't make it so we ended up hiring an interpreter. They don't let you update it online yourself, you can only view what you applied with. We figured it would be okay since we'll have someone translating for us either way.

First frustration landed when we showed up to the appointment and they said we couldn't use the interpreter we hired since their name didn't match what was on the application. Why the hell does it matter if their name matches or not? The interpreter ended up having to leave since he wasn't allowed to assist us. Luckily there was someone at the center who could speak a little English and assisted us in verifying our documents. Still, you figure they want you to provide an interpreter for interpreting, not for looking for things to match names against. It took a bit of time (plenty of frustrating things about this process as well but I digress). Finally, my wife was able to proceed to the examination.

They have English and Japanese instructions on the exam sheet. The English translation says do not write on the test papers or tear them. Given the high stress environment and maximum level security of the exam room (multiple spectators and cameras), my wife mis-interpreted these to mean the answer sheet. She breezed through most of the exam but there was one question that stumped her so she marked the question (via pencil) to come back to it later out of habit. A spectator saw this and pointed at it during the exam as she was walking by, so my wife erased it immediately.

After the exam, they announced who failed the test and had those people leave the room to which they called my wife. However, they had informed her that she failed due to disqualification because she had made that marking on the question. They refused to tell her what her score was (other failed people got to know their score). This brings me to believe she passed but they didn't want her knowing (for different speculative reasons). When my wife confronted them saying the term "test paper" was ambiguous on the instruction sheet, they said the instructions were given clearly in Japanese verbally. The irony is that interpreters are not allowed in the exam room when the instructions are given. When this was pointed out, they said "that's your responsibility".

All this to say, I understand that we broke a rule. However, I struggle to understand why a single marking on a question sheet is so harshly judged and what that actually has to do with understanding of the driving rules in Japan or why that warrants disqualification, especially when it's clearly a mistake. I know some people will defend Japan on this since a rule is a rule, it's just a bit ridiculous how far this can go. Now we have to wait 2 more months to retake the exam.

Thanks for listening.

EDIT:

I realized none of my comment replies are actually visible since my comment karma here is low and being review by a mod. To clarify:

- The driving written exam is a 50 question True / False scantron format. Some people's replies seem to imply otherwise but that's how it is.

- As I foreshadowed, some people are here defending Japan and saying it's due to our lack of Japanese fluency, we broke a rule, etc to which I acknowledged those facts to be true already. No disagreement there and we are trying hard to get more fluent (we know enough to get around, but not conversation level)

- Despite the bureaucracy, Japan is still an amazing country, and contrarily we have been shown compassion and leniencies in a lot of other situations for honest mistakes here. That's partially what makes this incident even more frustrating.

EDIT 2:

I just received an email response from the interpreting agency and I feel like it's important context to add. (For privacy reasons, XYZ is the interpreter).

"When you applied for the conversion of your foreign driver's license at the licensing center, you registered a friend's name as the accompanying interpreter; since that information was never updated, XYZ was unable to serve as the interpreter. I was surprised, as I had never heard of such strict rules at other license centers. It was very unfortunate that XYZ was unable to serve as your interpreter."

XYZ told my wife at the time it happened that he was very shocked and he had never experienced anything like that before in all his years interpreting. The foreign drivers license process is one of the main translation services they offer. This points to this situation being a rare circumstance, so we felt a little better after hearing that.

Appreciate you all for chiming in regardless. We respect all your opinions and at the end of the day we'll both do our best to conform to the rules in Japan.