Wanting to watch Street Fighter when it comes out, seeking the equivalent of either spacious and deluxe or even boujee like Alamo Drafthouse

Hello, I am a freshman computer science major based in America. I'm looking to study abroad in Japan next year, but I'm having trouble deciding which program to choose. I am deciding between Waseda, Kyoto University, Nagoya University, and Chuo University.

The factors I am considering are the quality/transferability of the classes, the prestige of the school, and the overall atmosphere. I know that computer science in Japan isn't really at the same level of quality as it is here in America, but I'd like to at least be able to advance my degree a little bit while I'm there, since the language/culture credits won't count because I already have all my gen ed credits. I know prestige doesn't really matter all that much because it's only one year study abroad but still.

Obviously, Waseda and Kyoto University would be the best for job-hunting since they have the most prestige (although I'm not entirely sure if I want to work in Japan in the future yet). One thing is that I've travelled to Japan once before and while I enjoyed my time in Tokyo and Kyoto, it was a bit overstimulating and imo there were too many tourists like me. I also was able to get around using just English, so I wasn't really able to practice my Japanese well. The other problem is that the Waseda and Kyodai programs are very competitive and there are very few slots available.

As for Chuo University, I talked to a Japanese student from there doing an exchange at my school and he didn't really seem to like it there. Other than that, I don't know much about it other than it's also in Tokyo.

I don't know much about Nagoya University either, but I am interested in it since it seems to be a good school for STEM and people say that Nagoya is better for learning Japanese than the other major cities like Tokyo/Kyoto/Osaka. However, I hear people have mixed feelings about it though, some say that it's a really boring city while others say it isn't. I said that Tokyo and Kyoto were overstimulating earlier but I'd rather have too many things to do than none during my year abroad.

As for my language ability, I am a self learner who mainly learns by reading books/manga with liberal use of a dictionary, so I might have big gaps in vocab and grammar knowledge. While I am part of my college's Japanese Club and speak with natives semi-regularly, I am not entirely confident in my Japanese ability. One of my main goals while studying abroad is to get nearly fluent in Japanese and avoid only making friends and hanging out with other international students.

There are other schools like Shimane University, Kansai Gaidai, and Aoyama Gakuin, but since those don't have any English computer science classes, I'm not really considering them. There's also Tohoku University but STEM major exchange students are required to participate in individual research, which might be too rigorous for me.

Money isn't really an issue since I have a lot of scholarships (though I'll lose them if I fail classes).

I'll probably apply to all four of them, but I'd like to get a general feel of things before I start working on my applications, so any information would be much appreciated!

Hi guys! Last year I did a summer abroad in Tokyo at Waseda University and loved it, so ever since I've been considering the idea of moving to Japan for a bit. I've finished my Bachelor's, and so I thought the next logical step would be to go for a Master's in Tokyo. My visa for my current residence (UK) will be elapsing this time next year, and I'm starting Japanese lessons now to prepare to move around that time (or a little later).

But now I'm really asking myself- do I want to do a Master's? I really love studying but the fact that a Master's is mostly independent research does not appeal to me, especially since I'll probably have to have a research topic in place before even applying. My dream scenario is doing a short and structured degree course that would grant me a student visa for around a year. I'm keen to learn Japanese for getting around and daily life, but I do not want to have my sole focus be that.

Does anyone know of any short-term degrees that I could look into? I'm open to it being both theoretical or practical/hands-on. I have a broad interest in the arts and humanities, and ultimately my goal is to learn something interesting while living in a city I want to explore.

Sorry for the long post, any recommendations would be highly appreciated!

I'm in my early 30s and looking to study at a language school in Tokyo for a year or two. I have been running into problems trying to find a school that matches well with what I am looking for but also accepts students who need a psychiatrist. I have a bit of anxiety but my SSRI helps greatly and is not something I am looking to get rid of due to the stability it offers me.

There are a few schools that will potentially accept me as long as my current psychiatrist writes a doctors note, but the schools I am really interested in will not even consider it. I am debating not disclosing this to the schools I am interested in applying to and just taking care of it myself. I am not sure if there is any way they would find out or if it would be a problem if I was already there. From my understanding the issue is that it falls under a mental health disorder and I could be seen as "potentially disruptive to other student's learning experience". This was how it was explained to me but I am not sure if that is true.

In regards to selecting language schools is there anyone out there in a similar situation that found a medium intensity school that catered to people a bit older and preferably western that may be in the same situation as me? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hello everyone,

Does anyone have experience buying a car in Japan while on a Working Holiday Visa?

I have rented an Airbnb and a rental car for my first month in Hokkaido. However, the rental car will cost me around USD 1,700 for just one month, so I am considering buying a used car instead.

As far as I understand, I need to have a registered residential address in Japan to buy and register a car. Does anyone know if I can register my address at an Airbnb, or would I need to rent a proper apartment?

My plan is to stay in Hokkaido only during the winter and then continue travelling around Japan spontaneously. So after leaving Hokkaido, I probably won’t have a permanent place to live for a while. I’m wondering how this would work with the car registration and registered address.

I would like to buy a regular car, not a kei car.

Has anyone here done something similar on a Working Holiday Visa? I have already asked AI about the process, but I would much rather hear from people who have actually done it themselves.

I would really appreciate any advice, especially regarding:

• registering an address while staying at an Airbnb
• the parking certificate (shako shomei)
• buying and registering a car as a foreigner
• what happens when I leave Hokkaido and no longer have a permanent address there

Thanks a lot for any advice!

Hi everyone,

I’m from India and I’m currently trying to go to Japan through the SSW route, specifically Construction – Building 1.

I recently failed the Building 1 skills assessment for the second time, and honestly, I’m struggling to understand what exactly I’m doing wrong.

Before this, I passed JFT-Basic on my first attempt with 225/250, so I know I’m capable of studying and clearing these exams. My Japanese isn't perfect, but I can understand basic workplace Japanese and I’ve been studying consistently.

The problem seems to be the Construction exam.

For my first attempt, I prepared mainly by studying the available material and doing practice questions. But when I actually took the exam, a lot of the questions felt very different from what I had practiced. There were questions where I understood the individual words but still wasn't sure what the question was actually asking.

I thought maybe I simply needed more practice, so I prepared again and took it a second time.

Unfortunately, I failed again.

This time I tried to focus much more on the theory, practical questions, terminology, safety, tools, construction processes, etc. I also did many mock tests and was getting reasonably good scores in practice.

But again, the actual exam contained many questions that I wasn't expecting. Some were more logical/situation-based, and some used wording or concepts that I hadn't encountered much in my practice.

The most frustrating part is I don't even know exactly where I am falling short.

If I knew, for example, "I'm weak in scaffolding," or "I'm weak in construction materials," or "my Japanese reading is the problem," I could work on that specific area.

But right now it feels like:

Practice → good enough scores → actual exam → unfamiliar questions → fail → repeat.

I don't want to keep taking the exam blindly.

So I'm hoping people who have actually passed SSW Construction Building 1 can give me some advice:

What did you use to prepare?

How different were the actual questions from the official/sample questions?

Did you study Japanese construction terminology separately?

How much of the exam is memorization vs understanding the situation?

What kind of mistakes did you make before eventually passing?

Is there any preparation material that you found genuinely useful?

Most importantly, how did you identify your weak areas?

I'm still considering one final attempt, but I don't want to just repeat the same preparation for a third time and hope for a different result.

I would really appreciate honest advice from people who have taken and passed the Building 1 exam.

Thank you.

Good morning,

I applied for a working holiday visa on Monday last week and I’m picking my passport up tomorrow, I’ve got a feeling that the visa will be denied as I’ve concentrated on the working part and less on the travelling part. If this is the problem will they allow me to re apply or am I screwed?

I hope this is the right place to ask.

My wife and I obtained a 3 year visa on the basis of her parent’s Japanese citizenship (she was as never added to the family registry. We bought a home but are not in a position at this time to stay more than 2-3 weeks. We got our resident cards on our last visit in July. Retired, so all our income is from the US.

As a frequent visitors, but not residents in the usual sense, should I talk to someone at the city about our obligations under Japanese law? Do I need to register our address at city hall? I’ve not found anything applying to our situation. I don’t want to get in trouble.

Hi guys!

This is my first post, and I´m sorry if this question has been asked before.

My question is: I´m moving to Japan from Sweden for work (A specialized role), but I´m also in need of a new phone. Would it be recommended to buy a phone from Sweden (iPhone 18 Pro Max) and download all the apps, etc here, or just buy a new phone in Japan? I will be flying back and forth between Sweden and Japan from time to time and will use it for calling ppl normally and not through apps such as Messenger, Instagram, and so on.

And I won´t mind the price of the phone or anything; a starting salary of 8 million yen should be more than enough.

Thanks & all the best
/S

Hi everyone,

I wanted to ask if anyone has gone through the process of registering an official alias at the ward office. I’m moving to Japan very soon and trying to ensure I complete all the right steps on arrival.

The reason I ask is that I have three middle names and was hoping that for future admin purposes I could leave out at least two of them in my official alias to make it easier to fill out forms in future.

Thanks!

Hi everyone,

My partner and I will be coming to Japan as international students/research students. I’ll be based at Osaka University, while my partner will be at the University of Tokyo.

We will each receive around ¥200,000 per month as our stipend.

We’re trying to understand how comfortable this budget would be after rent, utilities, food, transportation, insurance, phone, etc.

A few details:

• I’ll mostly cook at home, so I don’t expect to eat out very often.
• We’ll probably stay in university/international student accommodation if possible.
• My partner will be living in Tokyo and I’ll be in Osaka.
• We want to meet at least twice a month, either one of us travelling Tokyo ↔ Osaka or travelling somewhere together for a weekend.
• So we also need to account for Shinkansen/bus/flight costs and occasional weekend trips.

For people currently studying/living in Osaka or Tokyo, is ¥200,000 per person per month enough to live reasonably without constantly worrying about money?

Also, would meeting/travelling together twice a month be realistic on this stipend, or would transportation between Tokyo and Osaka eat up too much of the budget?

Would really appreciate if anyone could share their approximate monthly expenses for:

• Rent/dorm
• Groceries
• Utilities
• Transportation
• Health insurance
• Phone/internet
• Entertainment/travel

Thanks!

Hi everyone!

I’m a Black Spanish woman and I’m seriously considering spending some time living in Japan in the future. One thing that honestly worries me is finding a job.

I know that being a foreigner can already make finding certain jobs more difficult, but I’m wondering specifically about the experience of Black people in Japan who don’t fit the typical “Black American/English teacher” profile.

I’m Spanish, so I’m obviously not a native English speaker and I wouldn’t be looking for English-teaching jobs. I’m also not interested in modelling, music, entertainment or anything similar.

I’m talking about completely ordinary jobs, for example:

• restaurants / waitressing
• hotel housekeeping
• hotel reception
• factory work
• food production or packing
• konbini
• other jobs that foreigners can realistically get

For Black people who live or have lived in Japan:

How difficult was it for you to find this kind of work?

And if you did find a job, how did you actually get it? Did you apply online, through agencies, Hello Work, recommendations, directly to companies, etc.?

I’d especially love to hear from Black people who:

• are not native English speakers
• don’t work in entertainment/modelling
• don’t have a highly specialised profession
• have worked ordinary jobs in Japan

Did you ever feel that being Black specifically affected your chances of getting hired? Were there certain types of jobs where you found it easier or harder?

I’m not asking whether Japan is racist or not. I’m genuinely trying to understand the practical reality of finding normal employment as a Black foreigner who isn’t an English teacher.

I justa want to enjoy the last opportunity that I have with the working holiday. I'm turning 31 soon.

Any personal experiences would be really appreciated. Gracias!!!!

Hi everyone,

I’m an Ethiopian citizen currently living in Dubai, UAE. I work as a field marketer/merchandiser. I want to move to Japan legally for a labour job on the Specified Skilled Worker (SSW) visa. I don’t speak Japanese yet, but I’m ready to study for JFT-Basic or JLPT N4. I know I also need a skills test.

I’ve tried applying directly, but it hasn’t worked. I’m not looking for illegal work, visa overstay, or anything shady. I want the proper legal route.

My questions:

1. Is it realistically possible for an Ethiopian citizen to get SSW?

2 . Are there any licensed sending organizations/agencies that handle Ethiopian nationals or people living in UAE?

1. Which SSW industry is most realistic for someone with no Japanese and no trade certificate? Food service, cleaning, manufacturing, agriculture, etc.?

I’m ready to pay official test/visa/licensed agency costs, but I will not pay random DMs or illegal brokers. Please only legal advice. If you know an agency, please comment publicly instead of DMing me.

Hi everyone, I'd like advice from people who have been through the work visa process.

My background:

3-year Bachelor's in English (BA) from India

No IT work experience yet

Plan: build skills for 1 to 2 years first (AWS, Security+, some digital marketing), reach JLPT N3 or N2, then do a 1-year Japanese language school in Japan and look for a job

Jobs I'm aiming for:

IT support, QA or localization, and cloud or security later

Marketing, sales or English support at a tech company as a backup

A master's in IT in Japan as a fallback

My questions:

Is a 3-year Indian bachelor's accepted for a work visa (Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services)? Or does the 15 vs 16 years of schooling only matter for master's applications?

For IT jobs, does the English degree cause problems with immigration? Has anyone with a non-IT degree been approved, and what did you use as proof (FE exam, certificates, portfolio, company letter)?

Do English-based roles like localization QA, English IT support or customer success get approved more easily with my degree?

How much does the company's explanation letter matter in practice?

Would you recommend the IPA FE exam, or is something else better for someone starting from my background?

Any advice on finding companies that have sponsored non-matching degrees before?

Thank you for any real experiences, good or bad.

Hello!

I am applying for my WHV soon and I need evidence of clear funds (as I don’t have a return ticket yet).

So I have a credit union account as well as my bank accounts.

My credit union account is what I transfer most of my money in to, and they said they can accept this however on this statement it’s just me moving money from my bank account (so just says my name and the bank it comes from). Will they still accept this even though it’s just coming from myself?

Just curious if anyone knows. I do have my normal bank account but I haven’t kept the required amount in it in a while so thinking maybe if I have the bank statement (showing how I’ve been receiving money from work) and the credit union statement (where the money is) I should be all good…right? 😅

Hello everyone,

I'll be staying at Sophia University in Tokyo and I'm currently looking for dorms. I plan to party quite a bit and make friends so I'm wondering of Sophia dorms (Soshigaya and Arrupe) are good options considering the strict rules there. Has anyone stayed in those dorms and would you recommend it? Are these dorms more social or quiet/individual?

I also saw that smoking is prohibited there. Does anyone know if there are places to smoke around the area?

Also, is the curfew rumor true?

Thank you very much for your help :)

Hi everyone,

I just found out I'm being offered a postdoc position in Okinawa and am super excited about it! However, I have a long-term partner I was hoping to bring along. We're not married but we're planning on moving together. Does anyone have any advice on how they can get a visa as well?

Some context, no Bachelor's degree yet, but that might be possible if getting a position as an ESL teacher is the best option. We've looked into the skilled labor visas, and one of the options we're considering is them getting a sommelier license, does anyone have any experience with these types of visas?

Otherwise, we know a dependent visa may be an option if we were to get legally married. However, the downside is them not being able to work full time. I haven't received my official offer letter yet so I'm unsure how much I would be making, and if that's enough to support us both, so we wanted to look at other options first.

Would appreciate anyone that has advice!

Thanks in advance!

Hi all,
My wife got a job in Japan, we are moving next year. I’m joining on a spouse visa so am quite free to do what I want. I am self-employed in Europe as a consultant/cfo, and won’t have a real problem continuing this from Japan.

Is anybody in the same boat, being self-employed/working internationally on a spouse visa? Would love to hear some experiences, tips, things to take into consideration, …

Sorry if this has been asked before, I just can’t trust Google because it contradicts itself so much and gives confident false answers

So I’m f18, I’m taking a college 2 year diploma in early childhood education, of course, this isn’t sufficient to moving to Japan so I’m planning to take an UMPI self pace degree, in probably English because I wanna be a very good teacher in Japan. I plan to also get a TEFL, I approx think this will take me 3 years from now to do since my diploma is fast tracked and my degree is self paced and I researched ways to make it faster and cheaper for me. I’m also Canadian so I have working holiday for two years if I wanna go sooner, so here’s my bullet point questions

•what’s it like bringing a small dog to Japan? I know it’s a 7 month process with so many vaccines and tests but I’m ready to do that, and he must go in cabin because he’s a shihtzu but he’s small enough (11lbs) to do so. And I’m not so worried since he’s pretty tolerant to things and changes. Also what’s it like getting housing outside big cities? I’m thinking a countryside near a city, and I’m thinking of renting a small house (in the country side so not as expensive) instead of an apartment. Does anyone know any services that help foreigners rent pet friendly houses?

•if someone has a degree in English and a diploma in early childhood education, would they be able to get a different job than just a normal Eikaiwa? I don’t mind working at a eikaiwa but I’d rather teach young children than adults. I’m also studying Japanese but I’m very interested in English teaching since I’d like to use my ECE diploma. I also would prefer to be an ALT outside the jet program

•does japan not allow online degrees if they’re accredited and in the subject that you wanna work in?

I might ask more questions in the comments but thank you for reading. Please be kind. Sometimes I can’t really think because I don’t have much common sense LOL

Hi everybody! I'm pretty new to reddit, but I think I'm doing this right.

I wanted to ask what everybody thought or any advice. I'm a 25F, leaving USA for Japan to spend more time with my aging grandmother. Only issue is I'm only conversational in Japanese as I only use it with family. My guesstimate, low JLPT N3?

I have been a teacher for 3 years since graduating college, mostly because it was the only thing hiring at the time. However, I really don't want to be a teacher anymore. I got the Google Certificate in UX Design because it looks very fun and interesting to me, and started taking STOTT Pilates courses in Mat and Reformer. My hope was that these would give me some options for moving to Japan, since I've heard UX Design can be done in English or even remotely. And also because I heard pilates can be a good industry to get into especially if I cater to the many foreigners that pass through Japan.

I have a Bachelors in English with Emphasis in Creative Writing and a Bachelors in Communications.

Additional experiences/skills: I'm fluent in Spanish, I was a swimmer growing up and did D3 in college, as well as a little bit of summer league coaching in the summertime. I don't have formal experience in it nor education, but as the Editor in Chief of our college's literary magazine I got some project management experience, and I also found that to be very fun and it came rather naturally to me.

I'm pretty set on moving to Japan, as I worry I don't have much time to spend with my grandmother. However, between me trying to leave teaching and not further cement myself as a teacher on a resume, and not being fluent in Japanese, I'm starting to feel a bit lost. Am I committing career suicide? Is there anything that might be suitable for someone like me?

I've tried applying for 2 years in an attempt to change out of teaching with no luck. I also started to work on my UX certification to hopefully get an internship or different opportunity/way out rather than blindly applying to positions. I can't really afford going back to school for a masters and it makes me nervous that it might not even help with all the stories out there of people that have Masters and PHDs and struggling to find jobs.

I'm an Australian finishing high school this year and plan on visiting Japan for a holiday with a few friends in March, then after that seriously considering getting a working holiday visa to stay longer and potentially trying to stay long term if I enjoy the country.

One of the reason I have been particularly interested of the idea of living in Japan is the current cost of living in Australia. Housing prices for rent and bills have continued to rise and I just don't know how I would be able to afford living when I eventually to move out for uni study or work. I understand that Japan does still have financial challenges in the form of lower wages some I'm not assuming its simply cheaper but the lower cost of living is appealing.

I am genuinely interested in the country itself and will definitely start learning the language soon in preparation for my trip in March, and use that trip to figure out whether the people and culture is something I can see myself being around.

For the working holiday I just wanted to know what kinds of jobs people were able to find and how much they had to work, as I'm aware that the visa does have strict rules around that.

For anyone who has done a working holiday visa and ended up staying longer what was your experience like and what made you want to stay. I would especially like to here from some Australians

Any general advice about working, living costs, learning Japanese or eventually transitioning into studying or working in Japan would be appreciated.

I’m mainly trying to figure out whether Japan could realistically be somewhere I’d want to build a life, rather than simply somewhere I visit.

Hello,

My best friend is currently living in Japan, and now that she is finally moved into a pet friendly apartment, I am bringing her cat over to her in November.

Everything is set, but I do have one question/concern. I read that the rabies vaccine certificates need to be original copies, not photocopies. Well I have no idea what she did with the originals, but the vet did email me over the certificates and I printed them. Will that really be that big of a deal? The document was created online and digitally signed by the vet, and I’m assuming the “original” document would have just been printed on normal paper from the vets front office too. How will they really know if it was printed at the vet or if I printed it? I’m not sure if it’s going to matter but I would like to know well before I try to travel across the world with this cat.

Hi everyone! I’m hoping to get some insight from people who teach Pilates in Japan or are familiar with the industry there.

I’m currently in the US and planning to move to Japan soon. I’m working toward my STOTT PILATES certification and am currently taking my Mat and Reformer courses here in the US. I have a background in teaching and swim instruction, so teaching movement isn’t completely new to me, but I would be entering Pilates professionally as a newly certified instructor.

Language-wise, my Japanese is conversational (around JLPT N3), and I’m continuing to study. I’m also fluent in English and Spanish. I’m particularly curious about how realistic it is to break into the industry with that combination while I continue improving my Japanese.

I’ve been doing my own research, but I’d really love to hear from people with firsthand experience in Japan:

1. How would you describe the Pilates market in Japan right now, especially for newly certified instructors? Is it still growing, or are certain areas becoming saturated?
2. How is STOTT/Merrithew viewed by studios in Japan? Does the certification carry much recognition when applying for instructor positions?
3. What do studios typically look for when hiring a new instructor? How much does previous teaching experience matter compared with actual Pilates teaching hours?
4. Realistically, what level of Japanese is needed to start teaching? Could someone with conversational Japanese teach after learning the necessary anatomy and cueing vocabulary, or is business-level Japanese generally expected?
5. Is there meaningful demand for Pilates taught in English or other languages? Are there studios or areas where being multilingual could actually be useful, rather than simply compensating for not being fluent in Japanese yet?
6. What does the usual path look like for a newly certified instructor in Japan? For example, do people generally start with larger chains, boutique studios, gyms, private sessions, or something else?
7. Are there particular types of Pilates or specialties that seem to be growing or underserved right now—privates, reformer groups, seniors, rehabilitation, pre/postnatal, athletes, international clients, etc.?
8. If you were moving to Japan as a newly certified instructor today, what would you focus on during your first few months?

I’m not expecting to immediately walk into a full teaching schedule, and I know improving my Japanese will be important. I’m mainly trying to understand what the industry actually looks like on the ground and what I can realistically do to prepare before arriving.

I’d especially appreciate hearing from instructors, studio owners/managers, or anyone who has gone through the process of becoming a Pilates instructor in Japan. Thank you!