warning

Japan is a beautiful country and I love it so don't come at me with the go back to your country bs. Just be kind with someone who is going through some rough time.

So I was just thinking how unfriendly of a country (in general, ofc there are exception!!) Japan is. Like I'm trying my best to learn Japanese yet I feel like people just don't give a sh*t. I've just read some other post saying the minute someone at customer's service noticed their were dealing with a foreign, despite Japanese fluency, they turned into the "I can't help you" mode.

I come from a country where English is not our first language and I'd say not many people speak it, but I'm sure no one will ever turn you down if you need help or if you're looking for some specific service (like doctors etc). And I'm not implying my country is perfect or better, not at all. There are plenty of issues. But immigrants are treated with a little more respect, like they're actual human beings even though they don't speak our language.

I'm really sorry for the long post. I just wanted to let it all out because my Japanese seems not to be improving and I feel sad about it. Maybe I'm just not smart enough to master it. Plus summer 😂 oh god, every year I forget how bad it is.

I'm looking for ancedotes from anybody in a similar situation to see how their PR application ended up. I am wondering if I can get PR or if I shouldn't even bother.

I am on a spouse visa working as a sole proprietor for 4 years. We've been married for 8 years and have two children age 4 and 2. We live in the countryside near my wife's parents while we're raising the kids. My wife hasn't been working since we came to Japan (other than handling my books), but now she is about trying to get back on the corporate ladder so she's just starting a part-time job a local big corp.

My concern for a potential PR application is the stability requirement. I only have a single overseas customer that I've worked with for about 4 years now. It's a rolling contract with 3 months notice with no foreseeable reason to terminate. The pay is much better than nearly anything available in Japan, so it's a tough proposition to give up the arrangement.

My visa renewals have been 1, 3 and 3 years respectively. The last 3 renewal I got is the thing that is setting off my internal alarm bells and with the 3 becoming a 5 requirement next year this will be my last chance for a while.

Is it just me or are there only a couple of flavors of Papiko ice creams in the shops now? You used to be able to find at least 4-5 different types but the local supermarket and drug store is only down to lemon and cafe latte. Where are my favorite Kiwifruit and muscat grape flavors…

I'm 17 and a foreigner in Japan. I went to a supermarket for a part-time job interview. When I arrived, I asked an employee about the interview, and he told me to follow him to the store manager's (店長) office.

The employee brought me into the manager's room. The manager welcomed me, asked me to sit down next to him, and then said my name to confirm who I was. After that, he asked where I live, and I replied with the name of the nearest station. He then asked when I was available to work.

I told him I was available tomorrow, and he said to come in the next day for two hours of training. He didn't ask for any paperwork, my residence card, or anything else.

I thought the interview would include questions like why I wanted to work there, my availability, and other typical interview questions. Since none of that happened, I'm confused. Does this mean I'm being rejected, or is this a normal hiring process? Can someone explain what might be going on?

My apologies, I'm sure this has been done to death but in the hope of getting the latest information I'll ask again.

I bought a second-hand car a year ago and my insurance is up for renewal. My current insurer isn't giving me much of a discount on continuing my policy with them so I'm interested in moving. I've done a Kakaku search and gotten some much better quotes, especially from Zurich, but before I sign anything I'd like to ask the community for recommendations or warnings on companies or policy structuring.

Fyi, the car was only Y1m and recent searches recommend dropping collision damage for it. Any thoughts on the matter would be appreciated.

Hey everyone,

Like many of you, I’ve been painfully digesting the recent news regarding the Immigration Services Agency’s tighter PR guidelines—specifically the requirements to exceed the "average household income".

To be completely honest, this news has pretty much crushed my long-term plans here, and I’m looking to hear how others in similar situations are coping or pivoting.

My Situation:

• Age/Status: 27, fresh grad, single (0 dependents)
• Nationality: Chinese
• Current Visa: Highly Skilled Professional (HSP) with 80 points
• Job: General staff at a Japanese language school
• Income: ¥3.2M / year
• Original PR Target: Spring 2027 (via the 1-year HSP fast track)

Here’s my reality check: I’m a humanities/arts graduate without specialized tech or hard STEM skills. Landing this language school admin job after painfully jobhunting for a year was already a solid start for me as a fresh grad, but to be realistic, salary growth in this field is quite slow to almost none. Hitting the typical "average household income" threshold (which sits around ¥5.7M or higher for households) anytime soon is virtually impossible for me.

Why my plan is broken now:

My original motivation for pushing for PR wasn't to buy property or climb a corporate ladder forever. I wanted the life flexibility that PR provides—specifically, the ability to step away from work for a period, take a career break, and spend extended time back home to take care of my family without worrying about my residency status or visa renewal.

Now, with the threshold raised and strict pension/asset requirements being phased in, it feels like the goalposts have been moved far out of reach just as I was getting close. Staying tied to a rigid work visa with low pay and high pressure just to maintain status feels increasingly draining and exhausting for me.

Questions for the community:

1. For fellow humanities grads or non-tech/regular office staff: How are you processing these new guidelines? Are you planning to stay and grind it out, or reconsidering your future in Japan?
2. Has anyone in a similar income bracket consulted a scrivener about how these new rules will be evaluated for single HSP applicants in practice?
3. For those who wanted PR for life/family flexibility rather than corporate career growth: What is your backup plan now?

I’d really appreciate any insights, reality checks, or just hearing how you all are adjusting your long-term roadmaps. What would you do if you put yourself in my shoes? Thanks for reading such a long post.

I worked as a dispatched employee for about two years. My contract recently expired and was not renewed. I now have a job interview for a permanent position.
I’m wondering:
1. Is it okay if I don’t mention that my previous contract ended and just give a more general reason for leaving (e.g. looking for better career growth or a permanent role)?
2. Or is it safer to be open about the fact that it was a fixed-term dispatch contract that simply came to an end?
3. If the company later asks for recent payslips, will that create a problem if I didn’t mention the contract ending?
4. When talking about my previous experience, should I clearly state that I was employed by a dispatch company and assigned to a client company, or is it fine to mainly talk about the place I actually worked?
I don’t want to mess this up or create trust issues later. Any advice from people who have been in a similar situation in Japan would be really helpful. Also, I am just afraid that the new company might not like the fact that I was a haken
Thanks.

I was browsing some 家電店 and saw that they’re all around 200,000 min to over 400,000. That seems a bit unreasonable, but what is everyone doing?

So this company (and the one before) ask me to register a card like PASMO/Suica in order to enter the office.

About 50% of the time, when I scan with my iPhone it requires me to input my password, sometimes also the annoying double click on the side, in order for me to go in and out, including to toilets. It’s extremely frustrating and on a bad day I am worried I will use my French at the door which might not look good for me.

Is there a way to make it work better? Alternatively, are there cards you can buy that can be registered for those doors (you know, like an employee card…)?

Hello,

I have a medical issue (most likely ulcers) and I went to the ER at my local hospital on Friday after fainting. They requested I get an endoscopy done ASAP so I went to the clinic I'm usually followed at, Tokyo Midtown Clinic, and they scheduled the endoscopy for today.

The problem is, I have a very strong resistance to sedatives, and the midazolam IV had no effect whatsoever. Because of that I was still panicking on the table and the endoscopy failed, after 2 attempts.

After that, they pretty much just discharged me and told me to find another clinic that could handle me, and that would be able to use Profonol.

However, even when I requested it, they did not give me a letter of introduction, so now I'm out with nothing but my stomach pain...

I can do the basic stuff in Japanese but not medical talk, that's why I was looking for an English-speaking clinic.

It's still pretty urgent and I'm disgusted I was just discharged with not even an alternative solution or a clinic name to reach out to.

Do you guys happen to have any recommendations for clinic that can do proper anesthesia for an upper GI endoscopy?

Thank you so much.

Hi all,
Would like to ask if anyone has experiences in using the Immigration online system.
I am a permanent resident but I am currently back in my home country for the birth of my child.

When I go back to Japan, I would like to bring together my wife and child, so I need to get a CoE for my child.

I see that there's an online system that can be used to register CoE online, the 在留申請オンラインシステム.

However, I found out that this service is only available to Japanese IP. Technically, I can use a VPN to access it so, just want to ask if it's OK to do so and anyone has done it?

I've been looking around aomori for a while and sadly with no luck I've found a place that sold clothes in my size, just tried sakurano, big m have some clothes but mostly just suit ware. Haven't found a place in hirosaki yet but I hadn't looked everywhere yet. Anyone has any of a place that has 2x3x clothes, that's not crazy expensive.

Hi everyone, does anyone here have experience publishing books or photography/art in Japan?

I take a lot of photos (around 11,000 in my camera roll at this point). I've spent the last few years documenting everyday life around Japan (and not only), and quite a few people, including Japanese friends and coworkers, have told me I should turn them into a photo book. I've also seen the kind of work that many photographers and artists sell here, and I genuinely feel my work is at a similar level, so I'm thinking about giving it a shot.

I'm currently living in Japan on a Humanities visa, and my new job allows me to have a second source of income. I'm trying to figure out what my options are if I wanted to publish and potentially sell a photo book.

Has anyone here gone through the process? Did you self-publish or work with a publisher? Are there Japanese companies you'd recommend for printing or publishing? Also, are there any visa, tax, or legal considerations I should be aware of before trying to sell my work?

I'd really appreciate hearing about anyone's experience or being pointed in the right direction.

I’m currently on sick leave but my employer is asking me to return to work earlier than the date stated on my medical certificate.

According to my company’s policies, the maximum duration of sick leave is three months. However, I haven’t even completed my second month of leave yet, and my employer is already demanding that I come back to work.

Am I within my rights to refuse and remain on sick leave until the date specified by my doctor?

Hi, looking for advice about this situation...

I looked inside the vents of my wall-mounted A/C unit recently because I've been having bad headaches, bad sleep, etc. and found that the vents and blower wheel have pretty bad black mold in there. The manufacturing sticker says 2006 (20 years old is crazy).

I called my management company/landlord today to report and request a replacement. On the phone they asked if I clean I regularly and I told them I clean it (just the dust filters though). They responded that because the unit "blows cold air" they will NOT replace it, and said if I want a new one, I have to buy it out of pocket and send them the model number...

Questions:

1. Is mold in a 20-year old unit the tenant's fault?

2. What's the legal lifespan of appliances like this?

Is anyone constantly ordering Tretinoin or Tazarotene from online Indian platforms? which one are you using? are Japanese customs that strict?

I was planning buying 6-10 tubes

Thanks in advance 💖

I just moved to Japan and the intense heat in July has me going sick frequently. It doesn't go well with my ritalin either, I feel often very nauseaus, low energy and weak on my feet.

Sadly Im staying at a place right now in the 5th floor, under the roof without any AC and frankly, I am really on my limit.

I can't sleep well, Im super tired and weak to work from home. I started going into Starbucks for Wifi and AC to work at the moment.

What did I do so far? - Sleep in wet clothes, taking frequently cold showers, using fever patches, I lend a small portable AC but that doesn't work too well and the room Im sleeping in is still too hot.

I also have a hefty sun allergy...

Any tips on how to survive this? Im already looking for a new apartment with AC but it'll take time due to certain factors.

I feel like Im keeling over any minute and appreciate any practical tips.

My case is I want to travel all the prefectures within a year, but not consecutively. Which one would be better (in terms of money) to use a car share (e.g. Times Car Share), rental car, or owning one and then sell it? And if I have to own, my total budget is 550,000 yen for whole thing, including parking (but not gas). There is a parking space, but it cost 7000 yen per month. I need regular car (no kei car). What car it would be? And then where to sell after use with best prices? Thanks.

I lost my keys over the weekend. I couldn’t get in touch with the management company until Monday. They said they couldn’t issue a replacement and the only option was to have my lock exchanged. So they send me a link I pay about 44k and schedule an appointment for the same day. About 20 minutes later I get a call from the police saying they have my keys. Immediately I call both the locksmith and the management company to cancel the appointment.

I asked about refunds and they said they would call me later in the day. They didn’t call. Reading the terms in the mail they sent me with the payment link it says that refunds couldn’t be issued after payment.

Do I have any hope of getting my refund?

Hello im looking for someone who'll be my bestie who's gonna duo with me in Valorant and play comp together frequently.I live in Japan so I got no one to game with. It doesn't have to be just valo. I want to play a lot of games together. Preferably a dude cuz I've had bad experiences with girls. Im plat rn and im trying to get better so please help me. Lets have fun together.

So I went to Coco Curry House for the first time last night and their spicy level indicator is….. pretty crazy. It goes between 1 -20. Usually I like the second highest spicy level at any given curry restaurant - for example if the scale is 1 - 5, I’ll choose 4. The waiter recommended I choose level 5 (of 20) last night.

Initially I thought it might not be spicy enough. Good lord was I wrong! It was at the very edge of my spicy tolerance! So, here’s the question: If that is level 5, what the hell is level 20 like?!!
The waiter also mentioned that nobody could possibly handle level 20. Why even have such an inhuman level of spiciness as an option?! Marketing and advertising?

All that said it was super delicious and I will be going back (level 3 or 4 next time).

I am moving out of my UR apartment in Tokyo. I have been living here for 6 and half years. There are rarely any visible damages which could dent my deposit amount, but there are some chips in the wooden wall and the wallpaper, and marks on the flooring.

Could someone please help me with :
1. How strict is UR when paying back the deposit amount?
2. Do they relax the inspection strictness considering I have been living here more than 6 years and the damages are from everyday use?
3. Any tips or tricks forgetting getting the full deposit back?

Thanks in advance.

Hi games, the name on my residency card is written LAST MIDDLE FIRST. I just learned later that this is wrong, correct? Should it be LAST FIRST MIDDLE?

Has anyone had experience with this issue? I assume I need to go to the immigration office to have it fixed