r/japanlife

It's the weekly complaint thread! Time to get anything off your chest that's been bugging you or pissing you off.

Remain civil and be nice to other commenters (even try to help).

• No politics
• No complaints about users of JapanLife

I’m looking for laptop recommendations around or under ¥200,000, ideally with at least an RTX 60-series-class GPU, a decent refresh-rate display, and a strong enough CPU for gaming and everyday use. Laptops are very expensive here, so I’m trying to get the best performance possible with that budget. It’ll mainly be used for gaming and studying, including bringing it to classes, so I’d prefer something relatively minimal and slim, and not overly “gamer”-looking while still having good cooling and performance. I’d also like it to be from a major, reputable brand or retailer, rather than a lesser-known manufacturer or marketplace seller.

what I’ve found thus far is the gigabyte aero x15 with 5050 and 16Gb Ddr5 5600 for around 210k, but in my eyes that’s still quite a scam

Thanks!

As a language school student,I really feel I did well in school.My grade is the best,and often received praise from the teacher for my learning attitude and enthusiasm for Japanese culture. but on the other side.I failed in finding アルバイト for many times,don't know the real reason. Now I will graduade from language school in next year march.But I still don't have a formal job which can provide the visa for me to stay in Japan.What should I do?I dont have money to go to professional school or University.My family will not give me money.

In reality, I do possess a number of skills. I have worked at major banks in China and am quite familiar with office operations. I am proficient in assembling and maintaining PCs; regarding software, in addition to Microsoft Office, I frequently use code editors to manage my VPS.

Mini rant incoming but help is very much needed/appreciated

So I recently posted here about having issues with Paypay because of the new residence cards. The post got locked before I could update but even after providing them my new card information with scans of the card, they still did not accept it and my account was restricted. I could still use my physical card but I am completely cut off from app access. So no topping up my balance card, no using points, no paying early etc. I have no idea if I’ll be able to use the card after the auto-pay day since this is the first month after it was restricted. So that’s really annoying but I’ve got bigger fish to fry.

Aside from using the credit card for school expenses, I mainly used paypay for the balance card since Yucho refuses to give me a debit card despite being here for three years now. But since I can’t top up the balance card I have a couple of reoccurring payments I’ve fallen behind on. (Mini rant feel free to skip) Also I just think it’s so dumb that this is even happening because I keep going back to the fact that instead of just having debit cards be standard, Yucho gives out cash cards. A singular function item that doesn’t serve any purpose when debit cards are a thing. And it’s even worse if this is merely a xenophobia thing and debit cards are easy for Japanese people to get.

Anyway I need to cover these reoccurring payments asap and also I just need a normal non-credit card for daily life. A lot of the posts similar to my situation seem to be years old so I‘m not sure how accurate they are now but I’m betwee Wise and Rakuten. If anyone knows any relatively fast ways to get a debit card please let me know.

Just say I move out on the 1st of September, but my flight home is on the 16th of September, can I wait a single day to submit the form (転出届) so that I have time to get home? (because you have to leave within fourteen days once you submit.)

Or do i have to submit the form before I move out?

Hi everyone,

I am currently 6 weeks pregnant and I've been experiencing bleeding for 3 days now. My scheduled first appointment isn't until next week, but I am really worried and want to get checked as soon as possible.

Does anyone know of an English-speaking obstetrics/gynecology clinic in or around Katsushika City that might accept walk-ins or urgent same-day appointments for early pregnancy bleeding?

If there aren't any walk-in options locally, any recommendations for English-friendly clinics a bit closer to central Tokyo that can handle urgent early pregnancy checks would also be hugely appreciated.

Thank you so much in advance for any advice or help!

Hello everyone! First of all, I hope everyone and their families are okay after the Chiba floods. Last week, on Friday 14th, I had a flight from Narita in the morning. I saw the news when I woke but still try to go to airport with a taxi, ofc couldn't make it since it was impossible to actually get to airport. After 5 hours of a taxi trip, I came back to Tokyo, get myself a hotel again, and contacted the Korean Airlines. but they refused to return the ticket since flight already happened and I was labelled as "no show". Yeap, probably no one made the flight besides those who have connecting flights and already at the Narita, and they don't care there was a literal disaster happening because plane was there and it made the flight at the end.

I was wondering if anyone in the same situation and/or have any idea what can be done legally. Since, I am not Japanese I have no idea about my rights unfortunately.

As everyone else is, I'm trying to get it in before the price rises.

Collected all the juuminzei history I could and the oldest payment in the record, 1st quarter 2022 was paid late.

Reason being that I wasn't in the country when they sent the payment slip. Technically I was back in the country for 2 days when I could have paid it but caught COVID on the return flight so self quarantined then had to go to the quarantine hotel for a week.

Everything else is paid, pension going back 11or 12 years, no other taxes I know of and ill write a letter explaining this with some evidence from me and my wife's texts at the time and plane ticket receipts. ...just worried that it's going to get rejected because of that.

Anything else I can do or do I just expect rejection in a year or two when they finally process it and then get screwed by the fee hikes ?

Hey everyone, I hope you are doing well.
I have run into a problem switching from my student visa to a work visa and would like to ask, if anyone has been in a similar situation.

I am currently enrolled in a Japanese language school and am scheduled to graduate next march. However, since I passed N2 last December and have a master's degree as well as 4 years of experience, my plan was to leave school early once I find a job.

While the job search has been difficult, I finally received a job offer and am scheduled to start next month. I also handed in the application for changing to a 技術・人文知識・国際業務 with help from my employer a month ago. However, today I received a letter from immigration requesting a graduation certificate from my language school. This surprised me, since I have been told by my school that it is completely fine to leave school early after attaining a work visa.

Has anyone been in a similar situation? Is this some kind of new rule that you cannot change your status before graduating language school?

I'm grateful for any advice.

I was reading an article from Nikkei earlier today talking about Japan’s rising bond yields, and it made me wonder how sustainable the current situation is.

Japan has already approved its largest budget ever, while also planning measures such as effectively reducing the consumption tax on food to zero. The government has removed the cap on ministry budget requests for the next fiscal year, and has also spent significant amounts intervening to support the yen. Visa and residence-related fees are increasing as well, but the revenue from those seems relatively small in comparison.

My question is where the additional revenue eventually comes from, especially if higher bond yields also increase the government’s debt-servicing costs. It seems possible that income taxes or other burdens will eventually have to rise.

At the same time, businesses are facing pressure for higher wages, higher borrowing costs, and potentially tighter immigration rules in industries that depend on foreign workers. I wonder whether the combination could eventually cause households and businesses to become more cautious about spending and investment.

Obviously, government spending and the food tax cut could also support the economy, so I’m not suggesting a recession is inevitable. But do you think the current direction is increasing the risk of one, or am I overlooking something?

My girlfriend (she’s half Japanese) and I are both in our early 20s.
A few days ago, she texted me saying she had been sexually assaulted by one of her coworkers. He forcibly touched her private parts without her consent.
She reported everything to her boss and the police. Her boss was really supportive, and the guy admitted to what he did, so he was fired immediately The police also took him in for questioning.

Later, there was a meeting at the police station with my girlfriend, both of her parents the guy and his parents. All showed up Her dad was understandably furious not just at the guy for what he did, but also at the way the police were handling the situation. During the meeting, the guy and his parents apologized and offered my girlfriend ¥5,000,000 as an apology/settlement, but she refused because, in her words “It’s not about the money”

What upset us even more were some of the comments made during the process. One police officer reportedly told her (今度からはそんな服着ないでね) (Next time don’t wear clothes like that) During the meeting someone also said, (確かにセクハラしたのも悪いけど、肌見せすぎるのも良くない)(What he did was wrong, but showing too much skin isn’t good either)

The thing is, she wasn’t wearing revealing clothes at all. She had on a long summer dress that went down to her knees. The only skin showing was her shoulders. It’s kinda messed up how you could still find a way to blame victims after what happened
She’s been devastated ever since and barely wants to leave the house. Thankfully, her boss has been incredibly understanding and gave her time off until she’s feels ready to come back.

What really shocked me was that just a few days later, the guy was back out. As far as I know, he lost his job, but I don’t know if he received a criminal record or if the case is still ongoing.

Is this kind of outcome normal in Japan, or is there usually more happening behind the scenes that victims don’t see? I’m just trying to understand how cases like this are typically handled. Cos it looks like offenders here just get a slap on the wrist and let go

Edit: appreciate everyone sharing their experiences and knowledge. It’s helped me understand the situation a lot better as far as I know I believe they’re still planning to press charges I think since she didn’t accept the settlement. I just hope she gets the justice she deserves

i have just paid rent for a new apartment im moving into and the real estate company sent me the nhk sign up form including an envelope to send it back signed.

can they actually force me to sign this?

do you have any recommendations what i can say to them other than 'i refuse to sign this' or 'i haven't done this before and i won't do it now either'?

I've been job hunting since March this year, but my documents weren't good back then. It took me months to finally fix my applications and give job hunting another go. So far, I got around 2 interviews, way better than when I first started.

If you're doing a job hunting, how are you doing?

Hello i just wanna ask and confirm if nexplanon is really not a thing in japan since im thinking of getting that instead of using a mini pill, and if its not really available here does anyone get it from a different country even just for a vacation or something and still come back to japan? And if thsts so how and where do y’all get it removed? Is it possible to get it removed in japan or its also possible to just go to the country where you got in again to get it removed/changed

I need every girl’s opinion on is since ive never had or use any birth control stuff and my reason is mostly for irregular period and pmdd thats why i thought of getting/using one, please and thank you

Just wanted to post here to see if anybody else has something worth sharing.

So 3 years ago I spoke with an immigration lawyer about my plan to move to Japan on a Working Holiday Visa for a year, buy a house and workshop, then start a business making fiberglass car parts in my garage and apply for the Business Managers Visa. He looked through the plan and said it would be a piece of cake and no problems at all.

Fast forward 3 years, I own a house in Japan, spent all of last year here on a 1 year Working Holiday Visa slowly setting up and restoring my garage that I purchased to work from. I'm now here on my 2nd WHV and am speaking with immigration lawyers about applying for my BMV but have been hit with countless different stories and explanations of how it's impossible.

So this actually isn't even really to do with the 30M capital increase, which to be clear is absolute bullshit, but I can manage that if I'm able to include my assets such as the approximate 10M yen value the garage, 5M yen spent on tools, and 15M in my savings account if I find a way to accurately tie that to my business.

The issue isn't even to do with hiring a Japanese worker as I'm pretty sure I can get someone to fill that role quite easily.

The issue that I'm being told is that my business plan of starting this business as a sole proprietor, hiring a worker to help me with "grunt work", and then I do all the more technical physical work like designing the products, making moulds, R&D, etc... in addition to all the roles of managing the business, apparently that does not fit the requirements for the Managers Visa as I'm doing more than just managing.

I'm being told that I'm not allowed to do any physical work, and that my entire job must be exclusively management related roles like organizing meetings, meeting with clients, and otherwise sitting around wasting time getting nothing done like managers are supposed to do.

The issue is that I can't find anywhere at all that actually says this. The only passage I've found that is close is one that states I can't outsource my management responsibilities to someone else. But that is not what I'm doing. I'm doing 100% of the management of this business, but that only takes a couple hours a day because it's a small business, and so the rest of the time I'm actually, you know, working. I cant just get my worker to do everything as it requires skills and experience that only I have.

Does anybody here have any experience with this? I know the changes now have made applications much harder but he's trying to tell me that this has always been the case even before the changes, but that's not what the first immigration lawyer (who is no longer working for that company) told me years ago.

I've got time, I'm only 2 months in to my 1 year visa, I wanted to get onto this application as soon as possible because I anticipated there being some bullshit but this is worse than I expected.

Husband and I are looking into getting 2 singles to be pushed together as 1 wide king. I've looked through the subreddit and there are older posts that have some comments about this but I wanted to hear more recent opinions. To preface, my husband is quite tall and moves around a lot when he sleeps which is why the width of 2 singles is being considered.

Did you both like it? Did you end up returning or going with a King mattress or go even smaller? Did you use the gap filler? Did you use a mattress topper? Thank you in advance!

Edit: I was under the impression a Japan single was 97cm in width and a Japanese king was 180cm in width so therefore two singles would be wider at 194cm! I’ve been using ワイドキング when looking for bed frames.

But thank you everyone for your feedback so far! This has been really helpful. Really conscious that bringing up a large mattress can be a faff for the delivery.

I’ve been really enjoying the UCC 職人のコーヒー that I picked up for 400 yen (20 pack) at Sunday.

What other brands do you like for a cheap post-lunch coffee?

Currently working for a gaishikei that has paid sick leave (Tokyo based) but I am looking to change jobs and no other company I’ve found so far offers the same. I get sick quite a bit (weak immune system) so this is quite important to me.
I’m curious if I just have to bite the bullet and accept I can’t really get it anywhere else, or if I’m just looking in the wrong places and there are more companies with SL?
Also out of curiosity, are there any companies that offer negotiable PTO for experienced hires, rather than the tenure-based progression that is standard here? Wondering if that’s another thing I’ll just have to accept.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a cheap and English-friendly moving company? I’ve done some research here on Reddit, but no one really mentions which companies are English-friendly. Most people seem to recommend LCL. I’m considering LCL, but I’m also open to a door-to-door service.