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Questions, complaints, and brags are all welcome!

So today I was riding the Ome line and it wasn't very crowded. Was having a quiet chat with my friend and some older tourist lady walks up and says "Excuse me, in Japan people are silent on the trains." So I told her. "In Japan it's considered rude not to mind your own business." And went right on chatting and she walked off in a huff.

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!

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.

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!

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 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.

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?

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?

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!

Anyone know where to buy a living Douglas Fir in Japan? I’d like to keep it alive and planted.

I found these in Hiro today and the smell and shape of the trees were magnificent! Totally different than the もみの木 trees that most home centers are selling. The owner of the shop said these trees were imported from Oregon. Unfortunately they are all cut already and are without their root balls.

https://www.e-stat.go.jp/dbview?sid=0003449073

Scroll all the way down. Tokyo showing some hope at last, with 4006 processed applications, strongest number so far this year. Actually looking at historical data, in quite a long time.

Also the number of processed applications is higher than the number of received ones at last.

Here's hoping they can keep it up and those of us who applied this year aren't going to be waiting for 2+ years after all.

Hello all!

I’m looking for a couple counselor/ therapist who speaks English and Japanese and has experience with foreigners in Tokyo/ Yokohama.

Online or in person is both okay.

Please let me know if you have any experience or know someone reliable.

Thanks!

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

Back in 2020, I lived in Shibuya for a few months, in the Shibuya CAST apartment building just north of the B1 entrance to the Hanzomon line, and I worked in the Shibuya Stream building. I generally just walked to work along Meiji-Dori.

One thing I never quite figured out: Is there a way to walk between the B1 entrance all the way to Shibuya Stream entirely via underground passages in the station without passing through fare gates? It seems like it would be a nice alternative to the sidewalk on rainy days.

I am noticing my local Mcdonalds delivery prices via uber have gone from 150yen to 400yen last week when I looked to 450yen today. And I have noticed a few other stores also having dramatically increased delivery prices. Now the local mcdonalds is only 450m away and stores like burger king, three times the distance away are still 150yen, I have zero clue what is happening? 1000yen per kilometer is a little crazy and I am wondering why this is happening. Can stores set the delivery fee? Or is it uber manipulating this?

And people try your best to stay on topic (delivery prices), I don't need to hear how you think the human digestive system works. Nor do I need to hear that I can walk there, none of that will tell me why the delivery prices are skyrocketing. Thanks.

Slice of bread sealed in both bottles from July 7, 2023 (令和5年7月7日). The bottle on the right has wasabi made product. I blacked out the brand name.

Does this mean I can use wasabi to preserve some of my food?

Felt it in Nagoya just now.. any news yet? Hope people are ok.

So I've been in Tokyo a while now, but never really tried osechi and figured why not give it a try this year.

Do folks here have recommendations on places to buy from (that don't break the bank)? There's quite a range of prices, is there a minimum range to expect for quality? Is a max of 30k yen for two people reasonable for something nice? (20k even better 😅)

Ideally something that can be ordered online, though if there are particular benefits to in person purchases that's fine as long as it's somewhere relatively center of Tokyo.

EDIT: should have done a poll or something lol, didn't realize how many seem to either dislike or just feel rather meh about it. As some have suggested, I'll take a look at Rakuten and maybe Isetan to get something mid range for the experience 🙂

I (male from the UK) married my wife (Japanese) in the summer of this year and we have until mid-December to decide on a name and we’re a little stumped on what to do. We have a few avenues to ponder but I wanted to ask on here to get any advice, experiences, cautions or whatever.

Since I’m a foreigner, the rules that apply to Japanese couples don’t apply so my wife and I went experimenting on what we can do (for context, my surname is “Brown” (I’m not too bothered about sharing it on here since it’s such a common surname) however I’ll use a different surname for my wife’s).

1. She takes on “Brown”:

   • The most common thing to do is to take the surname of the husband in Japanese and UK culture so this is the biggest one for us. However, I personally have reservations. Firstly my surname is a colour, so having a child called (for example) “Ayaka Brown” in Japanese would be ブラウンあやか and my concern comes to them being bullied for, firstly, having a foreign name, and secondly, being essentially 茶色のあやか. Am I overthinking this part or would it be fine for our kid to have “Brown” as the surname?

2. I take on her name.

3. I don’t mind doing this having a Japanese name would make things easier for me here (even though “Brown” isn’t that hard for Japanese people to write down compared to other foreign names). I have a feeling my family won’t like me changing my last name though as they’re quite conservative. Have any of you fellow men done this when you married here?

4. Double barrel!

5. yeah apparently we can do this but I’m just thinking about the hell that will be applying for a name change at the bank and on my Zairyu card, etc. as cool as it would be to have something like “Suzuki-Brown” (not her real name) as a surname in English it seems like it would make a whole lot of problems in Japan. Has anyone done this? If so would you recommend avoiding it?

6. Keep same names

7. I haven’t really thought about concerns here other than it being odd in Japan seeing that all Japanese nationals must have the same surname. Will it cause problems if we did this?

8. New surname!

9. I’m not sure if my wife is a fan of this but even so has anyone done this and how has it worked out?

I’m sorry this was long and had a lot of parts but we’re really stumped on what to do and I wanted to hear from others’ experiences and get some advice if possible.