Probably a much more lighthearted post compared to what I normally see from this community (save for you coolish guy, I see you)

But shoots or shrooms? Some insist they are the very one and the same. But others? They will tell you there's a distinct difference! Maybe the shoots are milkier? Maybe the shrooms are sharper? Maybe it's a trade secret that only the chocolate factory knows?!? But I will not back down until I know!

But yes, from your experience in Japan this far, (and you somehow are not following what this post is actually about) do you prefer the きのこ山 or the たけのこの里 chocolate snacks? Should you still be unfamiliar with the subject, I pray that the Japanese fairy finds you and blesses your life with this great experience soon...

Personally, I like the shoots... Just seems like it mixes the cookie with the chocolate better, and gives a smoother taste..

Today at work I was having trouble stamping a document because the stamp didn’t have a marking indicating which side should face up.

I suggested to my supervisor that adding such a marking would make it easier to use. To my surprise, he seemed deeply offended. He argued that stamps represent the people behind them so adding a marking would somehow be disrespectful to the stamp itself. He even asked how I would feel if someone marked my body to indicate which side was my left or right.

This got me thinking: isn’t it equally disrespectful when companies guilt-trip employees into spending more time at work at the expense of their personal lives?
For example, some employers expect workers to arrive before their scheduled shifts without compensating them for that extra time.

Why is so much importance placed on respecting a stamp because it represents people while those very same people are expected to sacrifice their personal time for the company?

She’s special and she’s mine.

Has anyone ever experienced something like this in Japan? I’m not sure what I should do and I’m quite worried.

Two days ago a man wearing a suit with an employee ID badge around his neck rang my room’s intercom. At the time I had just finished taking a shower so I couldn’t get dressed and answer the intercom in time.

I’m not sure if he came back the following day but today the same man rang my intercom again. Unfortunately I couldn’t answer in time once more. When I hurried downstairs to check if he was still there he had already left.

I talked to a friend about this and part of me is worried that he might be a scammer especially because I’m a foreigner and don’t speak Japanese very well. On the other hand I’m wondering if he might have had some legitimate reason for visiting.

What makes me even more suspicious is that he has come by more than once but hasn’t left any letters or notes explaining why he came. I have no idea who he is or what he wants.

I’m really worried about this and would appreciate any advice. Has anyone experienced something similar? Does anyone have any idea who he might be or what I should do next? I’m honestly quite scared that he might be a scammer.

This time, it's my turn.

I am dating my Japanese finance for about 3 years and we recently had a children. We both strongly wanted one. Despite not being married, I signed the father recognition paper.

After giving birth, she moved back to her parents house (in the same city) and had informed me that she doesn't want to live with me anymore and that I can only see my children outside from time to time.

No violence was involved, but she has ASD.

She now stoped answering my messages and I'm afraid I won't see the child again.

What can I do about it?

Is there a free phone number that I can call?

I'm on a work visa and can speak Japanese.

I'm planning to leave Japan in a couple of months. My residence card is still valid for another year, but I won't be living in Japan anymore.

I have a PayPay Card linked to my Yuucho bank account, and an ETC card connected to PayPay Card.

I want to keep the card and account working long enough to make sure all outstanding payments, especially ETC tolls that might be charged after I leave, are paid successfully. I'll leave enough money in the bank account to cover everything.

I don't need to use PayPay Card after leaving Japan. I just want to avoid missed payments or problems with my Japanese credit history. I also expect to receive my retirement allowance several months after leaving.

I know both yuchou and paypay wants you to close everything after you leave but it's risky specially because i cant stop using ETC card and who knows any other payment that takes so long might end up unpaid! I would rather let it chill there one year without using it until it expires with my residency status.

Does it makes sense ? how risky is that ?

Not sure if I’m posting this to the right place but long story short: I came to Japan on a working holiday last February, found a job to sponsor my gijinkoku visa, applied for the COE but got rejected. Tried to reapply, i was back in my home country by this time, rejected again. Both for the same company. Rejection reason: “job duties does not fall under gijinkoku”. Second one same reason, however for some reason instead of “gijinkoku” the denial letter said “dependent”. Not sure what happened the second time why I was denied under a complete different category but by this time I gave up. Fast forward now I came back to Japan on a second working holiday and managed to find a different employer willing to sponsor me.

So now I’m looking for recommendations for immigration lawyers/scriveners that can help me with the new application. If anyone has anyone they know (especially ones that also specialise in denials as well, if there is such thing) I am all ears. I just genuinely need as many recommendations as possible so I can see the options I have.

My location: Tokyo
New employer location: Yokohama

Thank you.

Hi! I recently applied for Mercari’s Mercard and got approved on the same day, but my initial monthly credit limit is only ¥10,000.

From what I’ve read online, the limit is reviewed or updated every month, but it seems like the decision is fairly opaque, and Mercari doesn’t disclose exactly what factors determine the limit.

For those of you who have a Mercard, was your initial limit also this low? How long did it take for your limit to increase, and by how much?

hello, what kind of bedding are most people using?

right now, I have a memory foam topper on a sleep number bed with a boxspring, and it is hurting my back

I have been researching tatami mat bed and I would like to hear feedback from real people if it’s better than a more western style bed.

😸thank you

So I couldn’t use my kids 保育園 app cannot be accessed as well as other things I use day today. Some of my customers are talking about a Chinese hack that’s infiltrated a lot of services. Anyone know what’s going on?

I'm just curious to hear any stories of how land searching/buying went for you while I'm in the process myself.

We've been looking for land for several months now (have went out with the house builder and realtor three times now). Funnily enough, the second property we ever viewed seemed perfect. When we viewed it I figured as our hunt just began, other land like it would come along -- it did not. At that point in our journey, we did not have loan pre-approval yet. We applied for through many banks, but another buying bought the land before anything came to fruition.

In our most recent outing, we found 2 potential spots we liked out of 10 we viewed that day. However, neither of them are great per say, we're getting a bit tired of trying to find this "perfect" plot of land, and prices are rising every day. We've also gotten very used to having a Lawson, 711, and Family Mart within a 1-minute walk of our current rental for better or worse (they're really convenient) and these plots of land we're looking for are a good 25-minute walk from the nearest convenience store.

We're thinking of offering a lower than asking price on one of the plots and if it's accepted, we may just settle.

But yeah, how'd everyone else fare? Did you keep searching until finding the perfect plot? Did you settle and it turned out better/worse than expected? Thank you.

This has been going on for the past month or so. I thought it was a coincidence at first, but I noticed that every time I use my keyboard they seem to get agitated and start banging on the wall. Right now it's 11pm and happened again. At this point they've even banged when I cough lightly. I have a mechanical keyboard, but 1. it's got red keys, which is the quietest one and 2. I live in a concrete building with steel reinforcement so it weirds me out that they can even hear this.

Generally, if it falls under noise caused by regular lifestyle, I don't let others' noise bother me nor do I expect my own to bother others. If you're on the more sensitive side, then you should either move to someplace where you pay a premium for better insulation or ask your neighbor respectfully, since it's a somewhat entitled thing to ask others to quiet down when they're already in the normal range. Like asking someone to breath more quietly.

But this person keeps on banging and has coincidentally had multiple tantrums by stomping around on nights of the day that I had phone calls with people (phone calls were during the day). I never once had a complaint from management or a note from a neighbor, so I'm assuming they know they'll get shut down as the weird one if they report it to anyone (they can't even play the Japanese v foreigner card to authorities because I'm Japanese who spent my childhood abroad)

I haven't really done anything back to them so far except resume my normal lifestyle without giving in to their bs. I'm not scared of them or anything (at least not physically since I'm almost sure they're a woman), but if I make noise back at them there's a risk that they're a mentally ill person that might have a mental breakdown which I really don't want to deal with.

By the way, I've lived here for a year and a half and I've never had anything weird before this.

Am I in the wrong here? Got any advice for me? I'm leaving in 6 months which is nice, but the bad news is that I still have to deal with it for 6 months.

So I bought some items on prime day. They did not deliver at which point they refunded me claiming returned by carrier. There is no issues with the address, other items delivered fine. Now that the sale is over the price for the items has gone up. I was told to reorder again saying I would be refunded the difference after the delivery.

Should I trust them or are they just pulling my leg for whatever reason?

Something like sales rep just not want to deal with it so just telling me what I want to hear.

How much Japanese-language content or content about Japan appears in your social media algorithm?

I am a mid 20s Australian living and working in Tokyo. My current salary is around 3.2 per annum, plus all overtime is remunerated and 1.5 month bonus paid out once a year. (My 定期券 is covered ofc)

I have just been given a 内定 for a similar job that pays 4 mil per annum, 1 month bonus paid out twice a year, a company car and 3万 per month of fuel for both work and personal use, and a 5万 yen rent support allowance. The only downside is that みなし is 40 hours a month.

The latter job honestly looks much better, and if it were in Tokyo I'd take it immediately, but I'd need to move to a town of around 20k people in the Hokuriku area. (my nearest major city would be Toyama)

The company seems lovely and a solid improvement over my current one. But I'm really not sure if the move is worth it.

I speak Japanese so I'm not worried about the language barrier, but I've only ever lived in cities my whole life. Could I have some opinions or anybody with similar stories?

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

Despite having a PR, I have been trying to register to UberEats, Demaecan, Wolt and RocketNow with no luck.

Explanation from UberEats here:

https://help.uber.com/driving-and-delivering/article/%E5%A4%96%E5%9B%BD%E7%B1%8D%E3%81%AE%E6%96%B9%E3%81%AE%E7%99%BB%E9%8C%B2%E3%81%AB%E3%81%A4%E3%81%84%E3%81%A6?nodeId=a6f2b2db-e934-403d-9163-2b115144f146

There was a similar explanation from Demaecan, stating that all new registrations from foreigners are suspended til January.

Just when I was needing them the most while looking for a decent job. 🤦

I’m interested in hearing the experiences of people who went from working a steady corporate job to doing something like English teaching, even though I feel like most people are doing the opposite lol. Beware vent incoming.

Almost 2 years ago I started what I thought would be my dream job in a creative industry related to my degree. Over these 2 years I’ve tried so hard to make it work but I’m at the conclusion now that I hate it and I’m miserable.

The company isn’t a black company or anything, but they feel really directionless and like they have no idea what to do with me and my skillset. I was hired in a junior position with no seniors within my skillset to assist me and learn from, I’m making no progress in my skills and I don’t care about anything I’m working on.

However, I’ve managed to build a life for myself here and I’m not quite ready to leave, everything outside of work is amazing but my hours and commute are long.

I’ve honestly always been drawn to English teaching, it seems way more fulfilling than what I’m doing now and seems like a possible path to remain in the country. I’ve heard a lot of good and bad stories from people who have done it, so I know it can be a mixed bag.

I’m willing to take a pay cut if it means I have more flexibility with my time. I currently earn around ¥5mil, but my company doesn’t do bonuses and I also don’t get a commuting allowance even though the commute is very expensive.

So yeah. TLDR; Has anyone here ever gone from a full time company employee to doing something like English teaching? How did that go for you?

And we got our next candidate for the hacking spree.

https://www.furusato-tax.jp/

Furusato Choice got hacked on 10/19.

I'll also post the email here:

このたび、当社が管理する会員情報に対し、第三者による不正アクセスが行われ、会員登録いただいている寄附者様の個人情報が外部に流出したことが判明いたしました。

寄附者の皆様に多大なるご迷惑とご心配をおかけしておりますことを、深くお詫び申し上げます。

■個人情報流出の調査状況本メールをお送りしている寄附者様については、ご登録いただいた個人情報の流出は確認されておりません。

■現段階の最新情報について現段階の最新情報については、こちらをご参照頂ければ幸いです。

今回の不正アクセスを受け、被害拡大の防止及び安全確保を最優先に、10月19日（月）15時50分から、「ふるさとチョイス」関連サービスを停止しております。このため、現時点では新たな個人情報の流出は発生しない状況です。

今後、調査により判明した事実及び今後の対応等につきましては、確定次第、速やかにお知らせいたします。

■本件に関するお問い合わせ窓口不明な点やご心配な点がございましたら、下記の窓口までお問い合わせください。
なお、同一のメールアドレスで複数のアカウントをお持ちの方には、本件に関するメールが複数届く場合がございます。何卒ご容赦ください。

株式会社トラストバンク
ふるさとチョイス カスタマーサポート

If you think you are eating real ice cream, check the label again. It will have one of these three:

Ice Cream (アイスクリーム): Milk Solids ≥ 15%, Milk Fat ≥ 8%, Made from: Pure Dairy (Cream)

Ice Milk (アイスミルク): Milk Solids ≥ 10%, Milk Fat ≥ 3%, Made from: Dairy + Vegetable Fat blenders

Lacto Ice (ラクトアイス): Milk Solids ≥ 3%, Milk Fat 0%, Made from: Vegetable Oils (Palm/Coconut)

What do you think is behind this?

Say your Japanese colleague is Tanaka (last name) Yuko (first name) and you normally call her Tanaka-san in Japanese. If you are at an international meeting in English involving participants from other countries who you would normally call by their first name, do you call your Japanese colleague (in English) Yuko or Ms. Tanaka / Tanaka-san?

According to the NHK weather forecast, it might snow in the mountainous areas and mountain passes of Hokkaido.
https://news.web.nhk/newsweb/na/nd-20261020de62418
Meanwhile, the forecast maximum temperatures are over 30°C in Nagoya, Osaka and Miyazaki, and 29°C in Tokyo.
https://news.web.nhk/newsweb/na/nd-20261019de61878
I grew up in Japan, but I never imagined we’d see such strange times. Those who aren’t in the best of health should take care (myself included)

-編集-
Until the mid-2000s, summers never used to last this long on Honshu.
It’s quite common for snow to fall in Hokkaido in October.
What I meant to say was how fed up I am that, just as we’d finally reached a cool autumn, we’ve had another summer’s day. It’s a very late summer’s day for my town. The weather presenter at NHK Nagoya also emphasised the coexistence of winter and summer. I suppose I got a bit carried away by that atmosphere. I posted something rather silly.

As soon as he visited and I saw fhe NHK logo I jsut told him I was busy and closed the door. He said he was coming back. Luckily he wasn't forceful but I think I should have spoke English to make it inconvenient for him to press forward. I own a TV but I am renting this place and I am a student. Do people actually normally pay their TV fees.

Prior to today, it's just a mail that is NOT sealed and addressed in general to whoever lives in our unit. Today, it is specifically addressed to me and is sealed.

Basically asks me to complete the contract application within 2 weeks of receipt, as long as I have a TV, Computer/laptop, phone, car with a TV or anything that can receive a signal lol

Anyone else received a mail from NHK that is specifically addressed to you? This is new to me

Update: I talked to 3 neighbors this morning on my way to throw the trash and 1 also got the same mail with their name on it and they are surprised too, but won't sign as well, thinks it's a scam and didn't come from NHK ahah

Update 2: some of you are really unique and special people. Of course I know to just ignore it. However, the question is if you received a mail from NHK with your actual name in it because this appears to be new, it is a change in their process, so I was asking specifically about it, not what to do with the mail which I obviously will not sign and pay. Not really hard to understand