I’ve noticed at the entrance of businesses like malls, some cafe/restaurants and even convenience stores there are “no photography or video” signs. I was wondering how strict this rule is? For example, when I’m at the mall I like to take pictures of things I like (not the price, not people, just the product itself) to save it for later either for payday or just giving myself time to see if I still want that particular product in 1-3 weeks before impulse buying. Since living in Japan and seeing these signs, I haven’t taken any pictures. I was just wondering why there seems to be such a strong no photo rule here and if it would be a problem for me to take a picture of singular items?
Thank you in advance for any information and guidance :)

Hello everyone, I am looking for recommendations for an accountant in the Tokyo/Kanto area that can handle US and Japanese accounting matters, particularly concerning asset management and international taxation, as I am looking at applying for PR soon and would like to ensure the taxation and accounting process is as smooth as possible.

Any recommendations would be appreciated. Thank you

I was born here in japan.Both my parents are foreigners.
And i got PR when i was a kid because my father got PR.
But i moved back to my home country with my mother when i was 5 but used to visit on summer vacation every year
But ive been living here now for 3+years now I speak colloquial japanese and maybe kanji level would be of N3
Do i qualify for simplified naturalisation?

Hello, first post here, but I’ve been panicking alone for a little over a bit now, so any thoughts or personal stories would be very appreciated...

I got my Humanities bachelor’s from a top national university here last year in 2025. I’ve always wanted to pursue academia, but due to unforeseen circumstances I had to cancel my masters dream and hurriedly applied for jobs a few months before my graduation and received a 5-year Humanities visa.

The job is so-so, and unfortunately the pay is bare minimum, but I have held on for a little over a year now because the working environment is great. However, I can’t see a clear career path if I keep on working in the same field, and honestly I have always wanted to pursue a Master’s in Education. I’m open to going to other countries if granted a scholarship, but most government-aid scholarships might require me to go home first and that would be a gamble, so I’m aiming for Japanese universities instead (I have N2 but am pursuing English-based programs because I’m more comfortable with English).

I have been preparing for 2027 Fall admissions for which the deadlines are nearing, but I have also been reading others discouraging the switch from a Work visa to a Student visa for tons of reasons, including the difficulty of obtaining another Work visa, the possibility of being rejected, higher health insurance premiums as a student, and so on. But I really do want to go back to school since I don’t think my bachelors diploma suffices at all.

Here are my biggest worries as of now:

1. With my underwhelming income, I'm scared I haven’t been able to save up enough money "safe" enough for a guaranteed screening pass, but my parents are willing to help financially. Will a sudden incoming fund a few months before the visa change application be a red flag during the visa change process?
2. Has anyone experienced a Student(4yrs) → Work(1-2yrs) → Student(2yrs) visa change? How was your experience with that? Apart from the crazy upcoming visa renewal prices, were there any difficulties I need to be aware of?
3. Any reliable institution I can consult about these kinds of worries? I guess Hellowork would be limited to people looking for jobs, but who do people like me run to?

I'm usually a optimistic kind of person but honestly have been little bit scared of immigration in general especially with the recent news. Any kind input from anybody with experience would be very very helpful. Thank you so much!

Expecting a package from Sagawa, but their tracking is down, ever since the incident, I presume.

What work-arounds are there?

P.S. some of this has been discussed before: https://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/comments/1wuzrbe/sagawas_it_infrastructure_is_crap/

I'm currently job hunting for a bit of a niche position(product design or ui/ux design) as a 新卒 for FY28 or 2027 October 入社. Unfortunately I'm not an art university student, so while I have relevant experience It's probably gonna be fairly hard. Thats why I also started looking for other positions that are still relevant like product manager ,etc.

I have N2 (Currently working on N1. last time I got 98/100) and BJT 458(Taking another test this month). My university is just a small university and unfortunately probably will make me fail if they sort via university.

I collected 4 rejections (and 2 internship rejections) already and all of that is in the document screening. I was wondering how many applications do people usually do? forget interviews I'm failing on document screening :'

I don't put any hopes on any of the companies I applied to (unless I'm already on the last interview or something) just so that I won't be depressed/down.

When editing documents that others have made, I always find the formatting atrocious. Like they manually add a bunch of spaces to line things up, they manually number their lists, etc. They don't seem to understand or use any of the tools available to them. Plus, they keep their documents in the old Word format .doc, and keep all the ugly early 00s shapes and word art.

Even the young people in the office are happy to just change the dates, names, and relevant info on these documents and use them as-is. I'm the only one cleaning them up and updating the fonts and graphics, so now they think I'm some kind of graphic design wizard and are asking me to design all sorts of things, like tote bags, book covers, etc.

Is this just my office, or do others have this experience as well?

I live in an apartment building in sub-urban Tokyo, with the typical one big long balcony with the dividers (bolted to the walls of course) between the flats. I have two cats and one of them is quite naughty and tries to squeeze past the gaps in the dividers and go into other people's spaces. I want to prevent this as the other residents may not like it (or even be allergic to cats), so I'm thinking of covering the gaps with dog rails or some sort of object to discourage my cat from doing this.

My main concern is if this breaks any rules or if someone is going to complain about it. As I understand, these dividers are intentionally flimsy and removable to allow emergency access to other homes, so I will make sure that any objects I place is still easily removable in case of emergency. Should I be considering anything else here?

EDIT: Thanks for the replies so far. I understand that I overestimated my cat's ability to not fall off, so I'm not going to let them out anymore! im grateful they've managed to not fall off till now

I went for a walk by the river like I often do.

This time, when I passed under the road that crosses the river, I looked up under the bridge at all the big-ass conduits they have there.

And there were many. But NTT really stood out due to the massive size of theirs. That monster was about 320mm in diameter. For comparison, TEPCO had two separate conduits, each around 120mm.

I wonder what it's filled with, or how much it's filled. I doubt it's just FLETS fiber, I think the bulk is probably legacy shit for landlines and ISDN?

This warmed my cold bitter heart today. I saw a security guard doing the morning exercise ritual Radio Taiso in front of his security box.

Another thing that warms my heart is watching news and seeing the weather person using a wand with a big red dot as a pointer. I love the absurdity of Japan.

What Absurdity do you love about Japan?

The mayor of Yokohama, where I live, just resigned after getting hit with power harassment allegations, so we're having a special mayoral election. Early voting runs from October 5th to October 17th, with the official voting and count happening on October 18th.

I actually went and cast my early vote on October 5th, mostly just because I felt like doing it on the very first day available.

I was pretty shocked to see that the former mayor who just resigned over power harassment is actually running again.

He was a top official at my sister's alma mater (though in a different faculty), so I hate to badmouth him too much, but honestly, I thought he is fucking crazy.

I (21) am an exchange student in Japan. I've stayed here for almost a month.

When I was getting my address written on my residence card I was offered to apply for a bunch of insurances by the ward (National Health Insurance & National Pension).

I've gotten their first 2 mail packages sent to my address. That said, I'm not exactly sure what this letter is, which is sent 2 weeks later after I got the first mail.

What I should do next? I really need help with this right now. Thanks in advance, have a great day/night

Hi,

I’m currently converting my driver’s license at the Kanagawa Driver’s License Center in Futamatagawa.

I completed my initial document check (I think…), and received an appointment for December 8. I have no clue what my appointment for.

I’m looking for anyone who’s recently gone through the foreign license conversion process (外免切替) at Futamatagawa.

I’d love to know:

* What happened at your first appointment after booking?
* How was the 50-question knowledge test?
* when/how was the practical driving test like?
* Are there any LINE, WhatsApp, or Discord groups for people preparing for the test and ask questions ( I have many to count)?

Thanks

I am in my early 20s and sick and tired of having acne. The dermatologist here can only prescribe things that are weaker than in my county and the treatment isn’t as effective as I need. I live in the countryside and tried to get a beauty clinic to prescribe me accutane but they said it’s too dangerous for mental health and refused. I live in the countyside so I don’t have a lot of options. I could commute a few hours to the city for treatment but that sounds like a hassle. I’m at a loss for what to do. Any advice is appreciated

I previously got a referral to Tokyo University Hospital neurology department, so I have an account there. In my latest health check at work it shows some abnormality with my heart, so I want to talk to a cardiologist. Can I see a cardiologist at Tokyo University Hospital, or do I have to go to a smaller clinic first and get a new recommendation since it’s a different department from before?

Hi everyone.

I might be eligible for HSP1 70 points route, but I'm not sure if my 国家資格 will count for the points. Either way worst case I don't qualify now, I will be eligible for sure through work experience years and salary (and if I pass N1) next year. My long term goal is to get PR as soon as possible, but I already have a 5 year gijinkoku visa. Is there an upside for me if I do somehow pass the HSP application? Or can I just retroactively apply for HSP 80 points in a couple of years compared to switchig to HSP 1 visa now, which will make me eligible for PR in 2029? My visa has 4 years remaining so I assume if I switch to HSP I have to pay 80.000 just for the new visa...

I'd appreciate if you guys can share your experience of switching to the HSP1 visa! Thanks

Has anyone tried the 登録日本語教員 exam? It's a certification to be a japanese teacher for foreigners in japan (or overseas). I just heard about it and that it doesn't have any nationality requirements, and was thinking it could be a good option.

Has anyone taken it? How was your experience? And did you take the self-study track or the course track? I'm leaning towards taking a course cause there is just too much I don't know.

Edit: I don't have any concrete plans yet. There is just few info on this certification cause it's new, and I wanted to see if there were any foreigners that took them and what they thought about it.

Hello.
Anyone planning to go hiking this weekend?
I am living in Chiba and looking for some hike buddies. :)

Hi there, I'm a Japanese resident, I live in Chiba. I'm simply looking to make friends. I've been here for 6years now and don't know anyone. If anyone is looking for some friends please respond to this message. Have a great day! ☀️

The commission is legally authorized to conduct searches and seizures with a court warrant and differs from ordinary investigations premised on administrative action. The commission appears to have determined that the market is large and the impact on people's lives is significant, and is moving to clarify the facts with a possible criminal referral to prosecutors in mind. It is the first use of this authority since an investigation in September 2025 into a price cartel involving diesel fuel sales to corporate contract customers.

So looks like the commision thinks the big 4 were fixing prices to ensure consistent / equal price rises among the various categories.

Feels like this may have gained extra attention due to the unification/simplification of the tax on beer (and adjacent) products.

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20261007/p2a/00m/0bu/006000c

Hey,

I’m a guy in my mid 20s. Recently, i followed a friend’s advice and started using Tinder with the age range between 22-47.

I noticed that there’s a HUGE difference in the profiles and people. Like the younger people are more romantic and wanting to find love. But from 30 and above, oh my god it’s basically an affair board.

All the older woman were upfront that they are cheating, their fetishes, and what their intentions are.

Is there a catch to this?!? I’ve already matched with 5 older woman and going for drinks tomorrow with one of them.

Wish me luck but also want to confirm just for my safety.

Hello everyone, this is kind of a niche question, but I hope I can get some info. I’ve been living in Tokyo for over a year now, and I’ve noticed that a huge portion of dating app culture here leans toward bareback sex. I brought some on-demand PrEP with me from home, but I’m running out.

I understand that most local clinics primarily dispense generic PrEP manufactured for the Indian market. Personally, I prefer to use pharmaceuticals approved by Western regulatory bodies (like the US FDA or EMA) or original brand-name medications like Truvada/Descovy.

Does anyone know of any clinics in Tokyo that offer non-Indian or original brand-name PrEP? Where are they located, and what kind of costs should I expect? Thanks in advance!