{"Common":{"brandName":"Ryugaku Jinja","portalLede":{"expand":"Read more","collapse":"Show less"}},"Life":{"metaTitle":"Living in Japan | Residence, Housing, Work and Healthcare","metaDescription":"A content knowledge base that organizes how daily life in Japan actually works, all in one place — residence procedures, housing, part-time work, insurance & pension, and healthcare. First learn that something exists and the traps people fall into, then confirm with official sources.","kicker":"Living in Japan — Knowledge Base","title":"How life in Japan works, all in one place","lead":"We gathered the everyday \"common sense\" of living in Japan — the kind you'd otherwise spend two or three hours researching and still trip over — and organized it systematically in one place. First learn that something exists and the most common traps, then go confirm with official sources. Many pitfalls you don't even realize exist (classic example: assuming you can freely work part-time once you arrive, not knowing you first need a permit to engage in activities outside your status, a 28-hour weekly cap, and industry restrictions).","trapLabel":"The trap you might miss","openGuide":"Open guide","footerNote":"This page is continuously expanding — more life topics are added over time.","disclaimer":"Everything here is a reference guide (last reviewed {date}). Amounts, rules, and municipal practices vary by year, region, and individual. Always confirm with the official sources.","breadcrumbHome":"Home","breadcrumbHub":"Living in Japan","guides":{"residence-life":{"title":"Survival Guide After Arriving","summary":"A timeline you can check off — from picking up your residence card to resident registration, national insurance & pension, banking, and transport — covering everything to do right after you arrive.","trap":"Think you can just live normally once you land? Picking up your residence card, registering as a resident within 14 days, enrolling in national insurance & pension, buying a separate express ticket for the Shinkansen — one misstep and it all becomes a scramble."},"housing":{"title":"Housing Guide","summary":"The whole picture of renting in Japan — guarantors and guarantor companies, deposit and key money, move-in costs, and renewal fees.","trap":"Think renting is as simple as one month's deposit back home? You'll need a guarantor or guarantor company, move-in costs can reach ¥400,000–500,000, and there's a renewal fee every two years…"},"part-time-work":{"title":"Part-Time Work Guide","summary":"How to get permission for activities outside your status, the 28-hour weekly cap, and industry restrictions — the rules for working part-time legally as a student.","trap":"Think you can work freely once you're here? You first need permission to engage in activities outside your status, you're capped at 28 hours a week, anything related to the adult-entertainment industry is off-limits, and going over can hurt your residence renewal."},"insurance-pension":{"title":"Insurance & Pension Guide","summary":"Compare three National Pension choices, then see National Health Insurance reductions, the student payment exception, and lump-sum withdrawal side by side.","trap":"Think it doesn't apply if you have no income? National Health Insurance is mandatory, and the National Pension has a \"student payment exception\" — failing to apply for it actually leaves you worse off."},"medical":{"title":"Medical & Hospital Guide","summary":"From the 30% co-pay with your insurance card to referral letters for large hospitals, after-hours and weekend services, and free campus mental-health support — how getting medical care in Japan works.","trap":"Think seeing a doctor works the same as back home? You pay 30% with your insurance card, large hospitals require a referral letter, nights and weekends have separate services, and your school has a free mental-health desk."},"residence-visa":{"title":"Visa & residency strategy","summary":"The ladder to staying long-term: student → work statuses → Highly-Skilled Professional → permanent residence → naturalization (highest-risk area; direction only).","trap":"Think 10 years in Japan auto-grants permanent residence? PR rules have tightened — taxes, pension and health insurance, even if paid off later, are in principle marked down if you missed the statutory deadlines; and Highly-Skilled points are not a one-time pass."},"highly-skilled-points":{"title":"HSP Points Calculator","summary":"Switch among categories 1(a), 1(b), and 1(c); every selection updates the total, itemized breakdown, and distance to 70/80 points in real time.","trap":"A point estimate is not Immigration approval. Income, academic background, Japanese ability, bonus items, and the proof documents all need official confirmation."}},"leaf":{"arrival-quick-start":{"metaTitle":"First days in Japan: a quick-start guide · Living in Japan","metaDescription":"The first days are draining not because of one big task but because dozens of small ones land at once. This guide sequences the first 72 hours: get online, get moving, get somewhere to sleep.","readMore":{"heading":"Read further · in-depth pages on this site","items":{"resident-registration":{"label":"Resident registration · full walkthrough","note":"Counter dialogue practice and the document list"},"bank-account":{"label":"Opening a bank account","note":"Japan Post Bank (yucho) then online banks, with the traps"},"mobile-sim":{"label":"Phone · SIM","note":"From a stopgap connection to a full contract, in two steps"},"utilities-setup":{"label":"Electricity, gas and water","note":"Turning them on for move-in day, and who to call"},"ic-card-shinkansen":{"label":"IC travel cards · Shinkansen","note":"Registered cards and phone-based issuance, end to end"},"disaster-and-fraud-prevention":{"label":"Disaster and fraud prevention","note":"The full earthquake guide and the common scam patterns"}}}},"bank-account":{"metaTitle":"Opening a bank account in Japan · Living in Japan","metaDescription":"\"Foreigners cannot open an account until six months in Japan\" is a myth. What decides it is each bank's own screening — compared line by line across Japan Post, Mizuho, SMBC and Rakuten."},"bicycle-registration-and-safety":{"metaTitle":"Before you get a bicycle: registration, insurance, road rules · Living in Japan","metaDescription":"Three things riders miss here: crime-prevention registration is effectively mandatory, bicycle insurance is required by ordinance in most prefectures, and a bicycle is legally a vehicle — from April 2026 violations draw traffic tickets."},"campus-life-course-registration-credits-student-id":{"metaTitle":"Campus life: course registration, credits, student ID · Living in Japan","metaDescription":"At a Japanese university you build your own timetable, track your own credits and watch your own graduation requirements. Enrollment status is also wired to your residence status, scholarship, dorm and work permit."},"customs-manners-japan":{"metaTitle":"Customs and etiquette: rubbish, neighbours, social rules · Living in Japan","metaDescription":"What reads as rude here is rarely the language — it is a set of unspoken rules nobody corrects out loud. The axis is inside versus outside the household: rubbish sorting, bathhouses, table taboos, and gift-giving."},"deposit-move-out-restoration":{"metaTitle":"Moving out and getting your deposit back · Living in Japan","metaDescription":"Having the deposit eaten by \"restoration costs\" is the classic move-out trap. Under the national restoration guideline and the 2020 civil-code revision, normal wear and aging are the landlord's cost, not yours."},"disaster-and-fraud-prevention":{"metaTitle":"Disaster and scam safety: quakes, typhoons, fraud · Living in Japan","metaDescription":"Earthquakes and typhoons are routine here, and phone fraud aimed at foreign residents is common. This page covers only the actions that matter in the moment, plus the official channels for checking whether a call is real."},"drivers-license-japan":{"metaTitle":"Getting a driver's license in Japan · Living in Japan","metaDescription":"Two routes: convert the license you already hold, or start from scratch here. A Chinese-issued international permit is not valid for driving in Japan, and the October 2025 rules tightened conversion to a 50-question test at a 90% pass mark."},"family-stay-spouse-children-visa":{"metaTitle":"Dependent visa for a spouse and children · Living in Japan","metaDescription":"The dependent status is a residence status in its own right, for a spouse or child being supported. The common misreading is that it lets you work freely — its legal core is that you are being supported."},"financial-fraud-prevention":{"metaTitle":"Financial crime: account selling, cash rails, scam jobs · Living in Japan","metaDescription":"Two halves: not being defrauded (immigration and police impersonation, phishing, investment and romance scams), and not becoming an accomplice — selling or lending a bank account, off-books currency exchange and \"easy money\" jobs are all crimes here."},"food-grocery-shopping-japan":{"metaTitle":"Food and groceries: shops, markdowns, labels · Living in Japan","metaDescription":"Saving money is less about finding the cheapest shop than about knowing which store format to use when, catching the evening markdown stickers, and reading food labels — best-before is not the same as use-by."},"home-internet":{"metaTitle":"Home internet: fibre, an existing line, or tethering · Living in Japan","metaDescription":"Before signing anything in a shop, find out whether the flat can take fibre and whether it already has an optical outlet. That one fact decides whether an engineer visit is needed — and whether your first weeks run on phone tethering."},"housing-contract-initial-costs":{"metaTitle":"Finding a flat: agents, guarantors, move-in costs · Living in Japan","metaDescription":"The frightening number is not the rent but the move-in costs due the moment you sign — a rule of thumb of four to seven months' rent, most of it non-refundable. This page breaks down every line."},"ic-card-shinkansen":{"metaTitle":"IC cards and the shinkansen · Living in Japan","metaDescription":"Two easy traps: a tourist IC card cannot be refunded if lost and cannot carry a commuter pass, and a base-fare ticket alone will not get you through a shinkansen gate. Registered cards, mobile cards and the two-ticket rule, explained."},"long-distance-budget-travel":{"metaTitle":"Long-distance travel on a student budget · Living in Japan","metaDescription":"One myth first: if you live in Japan on a student residence status you can neither buy nor exchange a Japan Rail Pass. What you can use is the student discount certificate, the Seishun 18 ticket, and highway and overnight buses."},"mobile-sim":{"metaTitle":"Phone and SIM: choosing a carrier and a plan · Living in Japan","metaDescription":"Run on a temporary connection for the first three to seven days, then sign a proper contract that can receive SMS codes. Walking into a carrier straight off the plane, with no address and no payment method, gets you turned away."},"moving-relocation-procedures":{"metaTitle":"Moving house: paperwork, utilities, disposal · Living in Japan","metaDescription":"Moving is not just shifting boxes — it is a chain of filings with legal deadlines. Across municipalities you file a move-out notice first, then a move-in notice within 14 days, which also updates the address on your residence card."},"overseas-remittance":{"metaTitle":"Sending money between Japan and China · Living in Japan","metaDescription":"The real cost is not the visible fee but two invisible ones: the spread banks bury in the exchange rate, and the reporting lines on both sides — Japan's remittance filings and customs thresholds, China's annual USD 50,000 conversion quota."},"payments-and-credit-cards":{"metaTitle":"Payments and credit cards in Japan · Living in Japan","metaDescription":"New arrivals struggle to pass a credit-card screening not because their credit is bad but because their Japanese credit history is empty. The realistic path is debit, prepaid and QR payments first, then a card once you have a record."},"resident-registration":{"metaTitle":"Resident registration at the city office · Living in Japan","metaDescription":"The first hard requirement after you land: take your residence card to the city or ward office and file a move-in notice. Banking, phone contracts, health insurance, pension and My Number all start here — and the 14-day clock does not start on your arrival date."},"student-commuter-pass":{"metaTitle":"Student commuter pass: buying it the right way · Living in Japan","metaDescription":"The student commuter pass is a steeply discounted season ticket for students at designated schools, bought with a certificate the school issues. Many international students never learn they qualify and buy the ordinary commuter pass instead."},"utilities-setup":{"metaTitle":"Turning on electricity, gas and water · Living in Japan","metaDescription":"Moving in does not mean the utilities are on. Gas in particular needs a booked appointment with you present — book it on moving day and you spend that night with no hot water and no way to cook."}}}}