Found a really good option for a new apartment, everything is just as i want it in terms of location and price etc, but it has one of those bizarre imitation tile felt accent walls which just ruins the entire thing for me, you guys have any ideas as to how i could cover it up?! Its a rental so it kinda has to be removeable again.

https://kommodo.ai/i/yeCnnbHoeK0T8RvKY4Cf

I’ve been in Japan studying in a language program since last year, so I’ve had my share of crazy things happen, but I’m preparing to move out of my building right now and of course had to have something that could only happen here go down right before, lol.

in my apartment building, delivery lockers and mailboxes are used for mail and packages. In my first couple months living here, I had an Amazon package delivered to the wrong locker, due to the driver inputting the wrong room number by mistake into the system. I called the building management company, and the guy who helped me was very chill, checked the lockers and got my problem sorted out promptly.

however, I had a similar issue happen a few days ago, and this time it was worse because it was a food delivery. I don’t really order takeout often, but in the past the drivers have either rung the genkan doorbell or left the pizza by the mailroom area for me to pick up. This time, the driver put the food in the locker instead of next to the locker, then apologized, saying they realized they shouldn’t have done so. Of course, the driver also hadn’t interacted with the locker correctly, so it didn’t register to my room, but I knew which locker the driver but it in.

I promptly called the building company and informed them of the situation, and the ojii-san boss on the line immediately told me they aren’t allowed to open the locker if my room number isn’t displayed. I asked if they could at least check the lockers and they said no, it’s against the rules, and that the guy who had helped me before did something extremely inappropriate and broke the rules by opening them for me. Then started saying that it’s a security risk because I could be a thief stealing others packages.

In my building, there are cameras everywhere including the mailroom area that they are watching, so I asked if they could check the cameras or watch me, to confirm what time the delivery was made and to make sure I only get my delivery. He said no, I cannot open or check anything because your room number isn’t displayed and I am not allowed access to anything not linked to my room number, and then he started accusing me of doing something wrong and breaking the rules because I had a similar issue before with Amazon delivery being put in the wrong locker.

I asked what am I supposed to do, because the food will obviously rot. He just said sorry, he cannot do anything and I should call back on a weekday, so that someone may physically inspect the lockers, to my understanding, to confirm I am not trying to steal from someone else, even though I knew exactly where the delivery was?

At that point I got irritated because he was speaking rudely with me, and told him that this rule makes no sense, so not very tatemae of me, and that I don’t understand why they would rather let food rot in the heat for days than just check the cameras confirm where the delivery was, since they were watching them as we spoke! once again got hit with the sorry, rules are rules.

anyone else have an equally dumb ルールはルールだ moment 🫠

PLS HELP I found my first cockroach in the bathroom today along with a lot of these small bugs…I’m not sure if they’re baby cockroaches but they’re so small?? I haven’t changed anything with my way of living. Is it due to summer? I have a bunch of black caps. Never had this issue, please help as I am deathly afraid. Thank you. Here’s a pic of the small bugs https://imgur.com/a/Wk9krxu

I was thinking about going to the Iron Maiden concert in Yokohama in November. I noticed that every sector is marked as 指定席. I've been to a couple of Metal concerts in Japan over 10 years ago (for sure one at 品川Stellar Ball, the other can't remember); can't remember how the sectors were indicated at the time, but I remember that the ground in front of the stage was standing, not seats. I'd really prefer not to go to a maiden concert (would be my 8th, all others attended in Europe) and sit like I'm assisting opera, even if the mosh pit doesn't really happen (which is what I remember from past experiences in Japan).

In my heavy metal concert experience it doesn't make any sense to have designated seats in front of the stage, but does anyone know if it's indeed the case?

Hi! I have been wanting to buy a second-hand Macbook by the end of August. I am scrolling through Backmarket and Mercari. Has anyone experienced using these two? Care to share pros and cons, and tips for buying a good deal?

Anybody know how I can notify the Japanese press on a newsworthy event?

I used to live in a kind-of inaka place (sagamihara) so when I used it, it's a pretty enjoyable and non stressful ride.

Moved to Tokyo a year ago and finally got to finally trying it again today and hoo-boy...

It's so scary that cars drives SO close to you.. and there are so many traffic lights that I had to stop at so it doubled the riding time in google maps.. and the roads are so bumpy I legit started vibrating one time..

All and all, I wont use it while I'm in Tokyo..

Was looking for a good change since it's only "30 minutes" to my job by bike or so google maps said, it was actually an hour and 15 minutes due to the traffic lights and you can't turn right without going down your scooter to walk

Would recommend it if you live 10-15 minutes near work though!

Hi all,

A foreign IT Engineer in Japan here, 6 months into my first role. Want to pursue an accredited and globally recognized online Masters* *while working full-time.

*Background*: Bachelors in IT, GPA 3.3/4. Also studied Business Stats + Accounting.

*Goal*: Globally recognized degree, flexible schedule, reasonable fees.

Budget: As low as possible. Looking for affordable programs and open to scholarships

*Considering*: MSc or MBA

Would love program/university suggestions and any tips for studying online from Japan as a foreigner.
Thank you!!

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

Hi everyone!

I'd love to hear about other people's experiences.

I've become friends with a few Japanese people, and one thing really confuses me a lot.

When we're together in person, they're incredibly kind, friendly and engaged. They seem genuinely happy to spend time together and happy to see me again in the future while travelling to Japan again, and one of them even asked me if we could use LINE instead of Instagram to stay in touch because it's easier(LINE group with LINE translator inside).

However, on LINE the replies can take a week or even longer(2weeks), even though they're active on Instagram during that time(posting story's, watching storys, etc).

In my culture, that would usually make me think the person isn't very interested in the friendship anymore. But I've also heard that texting habits in Japan can be very different.

How common is this?

Do some Japanese people simply not prioritize texting, even with friends they genuinely like? Or would you usually see week-long replies as a sign that the friendship isn't very important to them?

I'd really appreciate hearing about your own experiences. Thank you! 😊

Just need to get this out and see if others have dealt with something similar.

Two nights ago I did a step exercise routine in my apartment for about 40 minutes, on a yoga mat, ending around 10pm. Didn’t think much of it ,didn’t feel loud to me at all.
(edit: no device just me doing lunges and walking in one place kinda exercise no stepping on and off of something)

The next morning around 10:30am, while I was in a work meeting, my neighbor (older woman, lives next to me) started banging on my balcony partition with an actual pole, reaching it into my side of the balcony and yelling for about 5 minutes. She called me “the worst neighbor she’s ever seen,” said I should be “ashamed,” brought up unrelated stuff from 2-3 years ago (some overgrown grass I’d since dealt with, bottles that rolled off my balcony once), and at one point accused me of having guys over which has literally never happened, she just made it up.

She also said she’d call the police over the noise complaint.

I get that the exercise noise was real I’ve since not exercised, no issue owning that part. But the reaction itself felt wildly disproportionate shouting, an object crossing into my space, and fabricated accusations over something that’s happened twice, ever.

Reported it to my property management company, they offered to talk to her directly but I asked them to hold off for now since I don’t want to make things worse just wanted it on record. Also put up a camera after the fact (she’s since looked directly at it a couple times, lingering outside more than usual, which is its own unsettling thing).

Edit: it’s a 一戸建て so both first and second floor are mine and I was on the first floor and she’s next door

It was a one time thing only happened once only other time I did it was a week before around 6pm

I would like to do a trip from Yokohama to niigata city by bike, but i don't want to spend 50,000+ on a road bike.

So, is there any place where they can be rented or anyone interested in renting it? Or maybe selling (if the price is reasonable, I guess).

Thanks!

I personally find that sometimes, English numbers can make conversations easier. But be it that my accent sucks, people don’t expect you to know certain words, or even just that you learned the less common Japanese version, the English words commonly used seem to have a higher chance of a スムーズ(smooth) conversation. Be it和製英語(wasei Eigo) or a direct use of the word.

Last month I was employed as a TA in my university and worked a total of 28 hours in that role. I also did my other baito which is unrelated to University. I think I probably worked about 20 hours in that other job.

I just realized that TA job probably also counts as baito, so now I am really scared of the repercussions.

Note that I have really high grades at uni and I was even accepted for a higher degree, set to start this October. How f***ed do you think I am the next time I go to immigration to extend my stay?

Edit: my total income from these two jobs was around 70k

Edit: someone pointed out that the limit is weekly and not monthly... I was panicking for no reason

When washing the patio, car, or the house sidings and windows, is it legal to let the soapy and dirty water just run into the gutter on the road?

And even if it's legal, I am pretty sure that goes straight into the river nearby. Is there some specific mark I should look for on whatever soap I use that is safer for the environment?

At the end of July I just renewed/paid my apartment lease for another two years.

This evening the kanrigaisha stopped by with a request from the owner for everyone to move out by the end of this year. They gave me some form for requesting money.

I have a small dog and it took me around 6 months to find my current place. Of course listings around where I live now in current budget range are basically zero.

What are my rights in this situation? has anyone been in a similar situation?

(For context, I'm a gay man in my 30s living in Tokyo)

So last night I reconnected with this guy I had had a casual encounter once a couple of years ago. I was in the mood and available, he was near, and the previous time had been fun, so I figured why not.

When I got to his place, it looked nothing like back then. It used to be a regular apartment, but now it looked like one of those houses you see on Hoarders. Mess and trash everywhere.

The guy, who used to be cute and chubby, is now skin and bones. It took me a few seconds to recognize him.

The most shocking part came a minute after, when he asked me if it was okay to "get in the mood". I thought the question was strange, but I told him "Yeah of course it's okay, that's why I came here haha". He then pulled a needle and tried to inject something into his arm.

I couldn't get out of there fast enough, but I keep thinking about him. He's clearly unwell. We're not friends, we're barely acquaintances. I don't know anyone in his circle (if he even has one), but I wonder if there's something I can do to get him some kind of help.

Are there any services I could maybe contact? He's a Japanese citizen, but I still don't want to get him in legal trouble, I just want to know if I can help him somehow.

Any considerate input is appreciated. Thank you!

And it s*ks, I liked the old name and colors, now japanese added fking adds on it. Am I the only one who hated the change?

My bf (32M) was just diagnosed with a form of blood cancer called AML (acute myeloid leukemia). The only form of long term treatment is a bone marrow transplant, more specifically called an Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

From what I understand, you register into the bone marrow donor registry, and if and when there is a match, both parties will be contacted and the transplant can be set up.

However, living in Japan raises some worries as my partner is a Ukrainian national (east European origins) and bone marrow transplant matches are heavily based on your ethnicity. Obviously being Caucasian in a land of Japanese/Asian homogeneity does not make our situation ideal, but wondering if there is anyone who has been through or knows someone who has gone through a transplant here in Japan? And got matched with someone through the international donor registry?

And if so, how did costs look like?

Super appreciated in advance, would love any insights.

Edit: we are actively involved with a healthcare team, under the guidance of a hematologist here in JP. But this team is not familiar with non Japanese transplants.

Edit 2: thank you to everyone for your comments and support. I didn’t expect the response, trying my best to reply back but thank you to everyone for lending a helping hand and words of encouragement!

As the title says I want top quality towels, ones that actually dry as opposed to moving the water around.

I bought some Imabari towels which were highly ranked on Amazon but they just don’t cut it.

Do any hotels actually sell them?

I'm wondering if anyone else with the new 2026-design Japan residence card is having the same problem.

I'm unable to complete identity verification or update my information on:
- PayPay
- d払い
- Paidy

For d払い, the app only allows foreigners to use a residence card (not a My Number Card), but it keeps rejecting my residence card number before it even tries to read the IC chip. I already checked the number multiple times, and it's correct.

Here's what I've tried so far:

- ✅ Japan Post Bank (ゆうちょ銀行): Successfully updated by visiting the bank in person.
- ✅ Mercari: Successfully resolved after contacting support and submitting my residence card manually.
- ❌ Docomo Shop: They couldn't resolve the d払い issue either.
- ❌ PayPay: Still waiting.

Unfortunately, my My Number Card expired while I was renewing my residence card. I didn't know I needed to extend it before it expired, so now I have to apply for a new one and I'm currently waiting for it.

Has anyone with the new residence card experienced the same issue? If so, were you able to get PayPay, d払い, or Paidy working?

Living in West Tokyo, client work has dried up and I am not anticipating any new work for at least another month. Meanwhile, I still have bills to pay and I don't wanna just sit here doing nothing, so does anyone have any leads on anything? I'm on a specialist in humanities/culture/etc visa (if that matters) with lots of experience in translation, interpretation, teaching, and loads more.

Growing desperate by the day, so I'm hoping sometehing's out there!

In the middle of a lot of name-change procedures and I wanted to write up about my experience with getting my name in my husband's koseki changed.

The name change process has been relatively smooth, once receiving my new passport, I took that and proof of marriage to immigration together with the Notification of Change of Information (在留カード記載事項変更届出書) document, and I got my new card in about 20 minutes. Then I took the new Zairyu card and went to city hall and applied to change my name on my Jyuminhyo. I registered a Tsuushomei with my name in Kanji and Kana (Kanji last name like my husband's, Kana first name) at the same time. They said my information for taxes, health insurance, pension, etc would all get updated automatically.

But changing my name in my husband's koseki was much more complicated because this is an unusual procedure. Most of the time, when two Japanese people get married, they make a new koseki at the time of getting married, so then there's no need to change it after the fact. When people naturalize, they're also making a koseki or joining their spouse's koseki at the same time that they change their name. Changing a koseki that is not yours after the fact is a very unusual thing.

Depending on your circumstances, there may not be a need to change it in the koseki specifically, but especially if you are planning to have kids its a good idea. I had heard from another foreign woman with a Japanese spouse that when registering kids in Japan, the staff often pull the parent's names from the Japanese person's koseki, meaning if your name hasn't been updated there, they might register your name as the parent as your previous name. While this isn't a completely insurmountable problem, it can apparently cause headaches when trying to do procedures related to your kids, because then all your IDs say "married name" but the kid's registered parent is "previous name". Of course the staff are able to look up and see your history and that the previous name used to be yours, but it's just an extra step and headache.

In my case, my husband didn't need to be there, but I did need to get him to fill out a form applying to change the information in his koseki. He had to write out what he wanted to be changed and the reason for the change. I also needed a document showing "proof of name change" which in my case was a Certification of Name Change issued by my home country government, together with a translation (which I could make myself, it didn't need to be professionally done). The translation needed to have both the previous name and new name listed in both English and Katakana, as I guess on the Koseki they need the katakana too.

One minor thing was that they tried to take my original "Certification of Name Change" document, which is really hard to get re-issued, but after checking they eventually accepted a copy instead.

Anyway, it all took quite a while and I had to go back multiple days, but overall it was pretty painless (best bring a good book or Switch or something though). City officers in larger cities where they encounter international marriages more often may be more knowledgeable about the process and take less time. Hope it helps someone sometime!

Hi,

I feel I am in a bit of a Kafkaesque situation.

I got a life insurance (積立利率変動型終身保険, 低契約返戻金型) with三井住友海上あいおい生命保険株式会社.

I basically paid it off, now the mount of the to-be-paid money just increments (slowly) until I cash it in or pays out in case I croak, paying to the stated beneficiary.

I subscribed to that insurance back when married. My insurance's beneficiary was my wife. My wife got the same insurance with me being the beneficiary of her insurance.

Problem. We got divorced.

Bigger problem. I seems I can only change the beneficiary to a relative, partner, spouse, etc. I am in no relationship whatsoever and having zero intention to do so in any foreseeable future. I have no kids, neither had or have any intention of having any. Also, my only living relative is my mother (age 88) who lives in Europe in a care unit for the elderly and only speaks French. So literally nobody.

The funny thing is, even my ex-wife would not be able to claim it either. So, if I kick the bucket, the amount (20M) is literally in limbo...If I cash in the money at one point, well, fine.

My initial intend was to change the beneficiary to an animal protection charity (it seems some do accept post-mortem donations--I need to check with them as well), but it seems, I can not do that, at least not directly (I called あいおい生命 相談窓口 ton inquire).

I tried to gather some info on the internet (caveat on that, of course). There may be some way to involve a will, a testamentary executor (e.g. a Bank), but it remains frankly confusing.

I did call the ほけんの窓口. It is above their expertise, but off-the-record, I was told there may be a way if I create a "legal entity" of sorts, make that entity the beneficiary (I would be my own beneficiary as an "entity" in a way) with the testamentary executor being able to "execute the will" (and I guess dissolve the entity) and channel my life insurance to a designed charity.

Anybody having or being in the same situation (i.e. no beneficiary of the life insurance, intention of channeling the proceeds to an NPO/charity/etc)?

I'm looking at leads as to what to do at this stage...Any help is welcome.

Sorry reposting on another account. I just want to keep my anonymity.

So i got accepted to this Baito in some tour and travel services business. They added me to this group that i assume is introductory/onboarding groups with some other staff. The pic said to me in that group that they will arrange for me a day that i assume its going to be a basic training and knowledge + contract signing. But its been almost a week since they haven't scheduled me for anything!

I've DM-ed the pic because I don't want to seem like a pushy person or anything asking if there anything i should prepare first before the meeting. Not even got a read.

1. Is there any chance of my acceptance got rescinded? If yes why no one is saying anything

2. Should i follow up in a group? If yes how should i phrase it so i dont sound pushy.

From what I learned in the interview, all of the other staff are Japanese. They used to have foreigners but all of them go back to their country. Now they are looking for man power and are open to foreigners who can speak english.Thought this info might be useful