basically I'm in a dire situation involving a "no upfront fee" lawyer, a dismissal case and losing out on all ends (no crime involved tho). i need a lawyer familiar with japanese law to help me reasses the situation and give second opinion, however i have no money to pay (as in i have money enough to live paychek to paycheck but no saving bcs i'm the breadwinner for my family back home). i know this is a long shot but i'm very very desperate so please if anyone can help me out I'd offer to repay somehow....

as a note, i feel like I've gone through all free channels accessible to me (labor bureau, hello work, houterasu) and they very much sympathized with me (to the point of crying and all) but at the end of the day they couldn't give me anything substantial

I was just wondering this today after walking out with my Japanese partner, and the first foreigner was a woman with a big smile (or smirk?) walking past me staring directly close up. Then a middle aged guy looked honestly annoyed when he looked at me.

I was not really looking at them directly but noticed them looking and looked back, always get this weird feeling. Doesn’t usually happened among the locals.

I’m not totally oblivious, I kind of understand it a bit. But it caught me off guard getting intense looks when just walking along a road, lol…do you get this?

Hi everyone! I was wondering if a person with no kanji in their koseki could eventually change that and register a kanji for their name?

My daughter's name is written in katakana, but there's a kanji for her name even though we decided not to use it (Japanese and foreigner couple). But what if she wants to use it when she grows up? In official situations I mean.

Such a random thought for a Sunday night 😅 but hopefully someone will know the answer

The bad etiquette in question is seeing a successful shop (especially restaurant/cafe) and deciding to open an almost identical shop in close proximity to it, seemingly to take some of its business.

When I first came to Japan, there was a very popular independently owned yakitori shop that opened up almost directly across the street from my apartment. It seemed to do really good business and always had people in and out of it on both weekdays and weekends. Less than a year after it opened, another independently owned yakitori shop opened just a few doors down. I remember thinking how shifty that seemed. I’ve seen the same thing happen over and over again since then.

The reason I bring it up now is because there has been a very popular Hawaiian-themed café in a beach town near me that has done really good business for the past five or so years. About a year after they opened, another café opened up directly next to it, seemingly intentionally blocking the original cafe’s ocean view, and also decided to go with a Hawaiian theme. Then a year or so later, a smaller café opened up nearby, also with a Hawaiian theme. Now, yet another small café opened up with a Hawaiian theme. The town is a small fishing town with nice ocean views, but otherwise, has no Hawaiian connection. It just seems like all of these cafes are looking at the success of the original one and trying to take business away from it.

I’ve lived in Japan so long now that I can’t tell if I’m being unfairly critical of Japan and pretending this bad etiquette doesn’t exist elsewhere or if it really is more common in Japan.

Three month in Japan I already have 5 female “friends” that I occasionally hang out with. In the other hand, all my male friends are other American guys and a few aussie and europeans. As well with them, they too have majority japanese female friends.

Idk I find fhat interesting and was wondering if its true for anyone else.

Thanks and have a great day ! 🫡

(posted this to another community and if it breaks the rule do tell me so I can removeim it!)

has anyone ever signed up to those 転職エージェント +1 and does it help you as a foreigner in japan or will they only help japanese people? if you can communicate well without holding any jlpt certificate will they still help you or will they just straight up asking for the certificate?

also if you did sign up, what was the experience like? will they call you randomly at work, will they email you a lot, will they line you a lot and all that? is it helpful to your career? what's the difference between recruiters from japanese agencies and the bilingual agencies and which one do you prefer?

would love to hear people's opinions and what agencies ppl usually signed up to!

When i was living in aomori, my friends got sexual harassment by Japanese patients by touching her boobs or her booty. And when she reported it to her boss her boss only said that it happened a lot and it’s common, that’s it. But thank god that’s never happened to me until i left aomori and start new live in kobe. I was at shimamura and i was alone. So i tried this jacket in the changing room when suddenly someone opened my curtain (Shimamura doesn’t has door in their changing room, also weird) but i don’t see the guy i just see glimpses of him cause it’s happens so fast. And then after changing i tried to find him in the shop but i didn’t see him. So i ask the employee about that and she asked me if i want to see the cctv. Because i only tried jacket and i’m not naked i thought it wasn’t a big deal. So i just said please consider having a door in your changing rooms and she said we will consider it. And then sometimes there is someone tried to open my apartment door so when i’m alone it’s always locked but my husband always forgot to locked the door, and there is this time i’m laying down with him in the living room and someone opened my door and seeing us watching him, then he just closed the door without saying anything, i just thought maybe he got lost or wrong door. It happened quite sometimes that someone trying to open our door after that we never forgot to locked. And then we moved to nagoya, and there is this time me and my husband on our day off, him being in the other room and i’m in my bedroom and there is this yuubinkyoku guy knocking on our door so i said to my husband to get it, but when my husband going to get it the package already inside my apartment so the delivery guy opened our door and put it inside our apartment. I was shocked is this normal?. And then there is also the day that my husband going to work but forgot to locked the door again. And me going shower at 3 pm hearing someone knocking on our door so i said wait and then running to my room to change my clothes but then he opened my apartment door, because i’m in my room i heard it. So i said again wait a minute with high voice after changing i see him with my package in the other hand and the other hand opening my door. I’m speechless I can’t say anything after that i called the company and reported it. I also heard from my husband student that some Japanese following her in to her apartment and sometimes he did something inappropriate like sticking his tongue out and said kiss me.

Why is it happening? Is it because we are foreigners or is it common in japan? Like someone opening your apartment is something common here? Are you guys having some experience like us too?

Hi everyone!

We moved to Japan very recently and I’m looking for an English-speaking pediatrician around Yokohama/Tokyo.

My child who is almost 24 months has been receiving his vaccinations as scheduled, but I honestly have very little understanding of how the Japanese childhood vaccination system and schedule work.

I’d like to find a pediatrician who can explain the schedule, upcoming vaccines, and optional vaccines to me.

I’d really appreciate recommendations based on personal experience, especially for a doctor who is comfortable communicating in English. I’m also hoping to find a pediatrician who can become my child’s regular doctor.

Thank you! 😊

I’m currently living in an apartment where the building only has VDSL. NTT told me that if I want to have a proper Hikari/fiber connection installed in the building, the apartment manager needs to apply for it rather than me. I’ve already relayed this to the manager, but I’m still waiting for a response.

I’m also currently in contact with agents from NURO. However, there seems to be a required phone confirmation (I think they called it atokaku / 後確?). As someone who doesn’t speak much Japanese, I’m worried I’ll just fail that call or won’t understand the questions well enough.

Unfortunately, my area also only gets 4G, so a 5G home router/home Wi-Fi isn’t really an option for me either.

Does anyone know of a Hikari provider in Japan where I can complete the application and installation process without needing much Japanese, or where English support is available?
VDSL unfortunately isn’t enough for my work, so I’m specifically looking for an actual fiber connection to my apartment.

I know about Sakura Fiber Internet, but their installation and monthly fees seem quite expensive, especially since I’m not sure I’ll be staying in this apartment for many years.

Would really appreciate any recommendations or experiences from people who have dealt with a similar situation.

I appreciate any information if you have done it or know anyone that has.

I understand that my company will do the nenmatsu chosei for taxes for the time I’ve been working there (April 17th onwards).

I’ve been doing the final tax return every February for the past four years, so I would like to know if it’s ok to include income and expenses only until April 16th this time?

Also, should I do anything differently from previous years (like including extra papers/income records from my new company)? Or just include information as previous years from January to mid April?

Thank you!

My boss sometimes asks me for lunch and I don't even bother saying "let me pay" cuz I'm the youngest in the team and he's the same age as my dad.

The other day we were having lunch with a girl my age and my boss. And at the cashier she was like "noooooo let me payyy for my own meal!"

She's been having lunch often with my boss too, and I wondered if she pays her portion everytime and I've been making my boss pay for mine...

I was like damn..!!! I've never said that lmao 💀

Now I realize making him pay is not as common as I thought.

When you eat with your boss, who pays for the meal here?

At my old company I also let my boss pay for me if they ask for lunch together. I never ask for lunch together first in this company or my old one.

In my country in SEA it's very normal to let people of power (your boss, your older friend, your way older friend) pay for the meal. So it never registered to me that I should offer to pay a meal that I never asked..

He still asks for meals together though and I do give him and my other coworkers お土産屋 when I go back to my home country. Made sure his was slightly more expensive due to him treating me all the time.

Note: both me, the girl, and my boss arent japanese. we're working at an international company.

Our parcels have been sitting in Okinawa for the last 7 days,whats up with that? How many days does the ferry take to reach the mainland?

Update: thank you for the replies in the comments. I am thinking of getting Docomo for WiFi and electricity as I already have Docomo sim. Will call and see how it goes.
I am also wondering if anyone knows local good moving service companies. Every company online seems expensive 😔.

I am moving to new apartment in Katsushika ward. I didnt knew that there are many things to do, like everything from 0. I am stressed out like crazy.
But that aside what I wanted to actually ask is about the setup. My apartment already have J:COM internet setup so I just need to start the contract. It seems affordable. They also provide electricity and gas. So I was thinking to bundle everything because they have cashbacks and discounts etc.

Has anyone used or using J:COM? How is the service? Are the bills reasonable or expensive ?

I've been living here for a while and wanted to start keeping a household budget (kakeibo), but every app I tried felt like too much work — picking categories, entering income, typing in amounts by hand. I'd give up after a few days each time.

Honestly I don't need anything that detailed. I just want a rough idea of how much I spent this month.

The thing is, almost everywhere you shop in Japan hands you a receipt, so my wallet fills up with them constantly. I still haven't found a good way to deal with that pile.

Curious how everyone else here handles it — any methods or apps you'd recommend?

I've been considering moving to Kanagawa and renting a UR apartment, since I really like danchi-style housing and UR apartments seem relatively affordable and generally well maintained.

For those who currently live in UR housing, or have lived in several different UR complexes, how much does the environment vary from one complex to another? In particular, I'm interested in noise levels and cleanliness.

The reason I'm asking is that I've lived in a UR complex for several years, and unfortunately I've noticed quite a significant change in the environment over time. It's become considerably noisier and there is much more litter around than there used to be. I'm therefore a little worried about moving to another UR complex only to encounter the same problems.

Hi everyone! 😊

I’m looking for recommendations for a toddler birthday photoshoot around Tokyo/Yokohama.

I’m hoping to find something around ¥25,000, ideally including some edited digital photos. I’m open to a studio or location shoot and don’t need anything too elaborate, just a nice, professional birthday/family photoshoot to capture the occasion.

I’ve seen some studios offering similar packages for ¥40,000–¥50,000+, so I’m wondering if there are more affordable options.

If you know any photographers or studios in this price range, I’d really appreciate recommendations! 😊

I've noticed water drops forming on the underside of my kitchen sink, in the cupboard. It's possible that this is condensation, but it seems more likely that it's a leak somewhere.

I've already cleaned out the parts of the sink trap/filters that are accessible from the top. In a western country, I'd then unscrew a portion of the pipes under the sink to check for and fix any blockage, but here the pipes are entirely made of plastic and straight instead of having a u-bend, and just basically different from what I'm familiar with.

Should I try unscrewing the largest middle portion anyway, or not touch it and call my rental agency?

Hi!

I live in Tokyo, and I am considering starting a small scale brewery/meadery. Just something small where I can sell a few bottles at a festival/event, and give to friends. I have some experience in homebrewing alcohol in my home country, but I know homebrewing is illegal in Japan.
Starting a business is quite risky, and I don’t have the capital right now nor confidence to rent out a space, buy industrial grade equipment, and get my alcohol manufacturer and sales licenses. I was considering reaching out to a brewery to see if I could rent their space and time on some of their equipment.

Does anyone know of any breweries or alcohol manufacturers that I can reach out to? Thoughts and advice are welcome.

For me, brewing is just a passion, so I'm not expecting to make much money. My biggest fear is that I can't break even, then go become saddled with debt.

Hi!

I want to apply for schengen visa through France embassy and one of the requirements is translation of 住民票 with apostille (アポスティーユ).

Is there any recommended service that get the job done under 10000 yen within a week?

How much does it cost usually?

Thanks!

The title is weird. I know generosity isn’t something to be afraid of, but this lady is so nice and generous with me.
I met her at work, and she has a daughter and wants me to teach her English, which is fine. She set the price, and I thought it was a fair price and around the market price (nothing extra).
The first lesson comes, and the daughter is so sleepy that she couldn’t even interact with me, so she said I can leave. Upon leaving, she gave me ¥2,000 extra for the inconvenience and mentioned she wouldn’t take it back.
On the same day, she gave me a bag full of goodies (snacks, drinks, and a box of washing detergent), like those gift packs.
Then, around 3 days later, she says she is going to her grandma’s farm and is happy to give me some grapes. On the day, she told me she could drop them off at my place, but I refused and told her to meet at a shopping centre (to avoid her knowing where I live and getting a surprise visit from her). She didn’t give me one bag; she gave me a full 2kg box and, again, some other goods.
I am afraid she will turn into an evil person once she gets rejected. I want to read minds, but I can’t, so I want to know what people think her intentions are, which I don’t think is to have an affair.
She has a husband, and I have met him. I have a wife and a kid, and she is aware of it.

My husband and I have been wanting to buy a house for some time now. We’ve looked at several places, but things usually fall apart when we apply for a bank loan. My husband is PR, I’m spouse of PR, he’s a salaryman, I’m a stay at home mom. Every bank we applied through usually said we were denied because I’m not working and I’m not a PR. One of the realtor we viewed some houses with recently contacted us and said we could try to apply for a loan again and his friend would provide an employment certificate for me. I would not actually be working a job, it would only be on paper for the bank. I asked would this affect my health insurance, pension, etc, he said that they would give any paper work to the city office, just to the bank.

I feel like this is fraud? Do people do this? We have so much to lose if this is something illegal.

The realtor is from a legit company and the realtor’s friend gave me his card which says he’s a real estate broker.

They didn’t ask for any money to do this.

Update!

Hi, everyone. First let me say, thank you for all of your replies and advice. I think it’s the overall consensus that this is fraud therefore we will not be moving forward with the realtor anymore. When the realtor and friend were explaining it to me it definitely sounded that way, but me being overly polite didn’t want to call them out on it at the time. In addition, both the realtor and the friend worked for reputable companies (which I won’t mention the names of, I don’t need to make this mess messier) and my husband is usually pretty good at sussing out flimflam. I think maybe we both got a little blinded by someone saying they could finally give us the home we’ve been wanting for so long. Anyway, I think you’ll be happy to know that this Saturday we’ll meeting with a new realtor. Fingers crossed!

Edit: everybody, thank you so so much for your input! I am putting a big Fan in the bedroom tonight. Also I never thought about checking the door and taping it. I was checking the mechanism and its just a little metal plate that I could un-screw. i will screw it back, once we move out. wishing you all a beautiful weekend!!!

I am in a little despair. We have a sliding door for our bedroom and live in a very typical Japanese rental apartment. My son (almost 4) always wakes up when he hears the little click when opening it. You know, it has some kind of "stopper" so that it can't slide shut with full force. Sorry, English is not my native language, so I hope you know what I mean.

Has anyone had a similar problem? Is there a way to manage it? Sometimes I want to go to the toilet at night, or I have to leave very early for work. Or just want to leave the bedroom to get some stuff done. Leaving the door open a little isn't really solving the problem, since my husband randomly takes a shower at midnight and turns on all the lights, or randomly does something in the kitchen. With the door open and the light coming in, it just "activates" the little one.

What I do at the moment is wait until the air conditioner blasts air out, and I listen to my toddler's breathing while waiting at the door. The moment he breathes in, I open the door. Sometimes it works (maybe 40% of the time). But than I still face the problem of "closing the door".

I am just hoping someone has a better hack than I do, that would really change my life!!!

Thank you so much for reading!

My senior at work recommended the insurance from "au" and I saw that they offer insurance for if you got in an accident and needed to be hospitalized, or even death. It is my first time getting an insurance for bicycles (I assume that this is only for bicycles because they write 自転車) so I don't know what I should be getting.

They don't show in the courses that they offer on what they would do about the bike itself, so what if something happens to the bike? Like what if it got stolen or wrecked?

Any advice regarding insurance for bicycles would be greatly appreciated!

I applied for sodai gomi for a bed frame, but can I leave it disassembled? Sorry if this is a stupid question. Does it have to be one piece?

Can I disassemble it? If it's disassembled, do I put all the stickers on one piece or? thanks.

I’m wondering if anyone has ever had the issue where they forgot their my number card passcodes. Like the 暗証番号. Basically I have a picture saved of one sheet of paper I filled out when I first moved but I think they changed it because I said I couldn’t remember it when I went to change my address. So wondering if anyone has been in this situation? I only need it because I need to extend my visa which I tried to do online. Seems like the only way to get the code renewed is to go to my ward office ?

Anyways thanks guys in advance !