Hi all! I've been an art student in Tokyo for the past 4 years, but I'm moving back home to the US soon. I have a whole apartment full of furniture, decor, plants, and appliances that I don't want to go to waste. I'm moving out by November 5th, so I need to get rid of everything by then (but also hopefully not before the end of October, as I still need to sleep and eat here lol). I hope to throw out as little as possible, so I'm looking for someone to take everything. I've spent the past few years curating my apartment, and I think everything goes together super well. Everything is still in good condition. I'm open to giving everything away for free, although I wouldn't mind getting some money back for all these pieces. I have no way of delivering these items, so it'd be on the new owners to arrange pickup. I'm located near Yoga Station in Setagaya. Please let me know if you're interested. I also posted a Craigslist ad, but as I've never posted there before, I'm not super confident in it. Here's the link anyways: https://www.craigslist.org/view/d/urgent-free-furniture-and-apartment/qPzjTbhxGwGNWht9cj92LN. I'll also upload pictures here!

Went to get tested, got a manga about ADHD for free from the mental health clinic

This week Apple announced the Apple TV 4K (4th Gen), HomePod mini 2, the Apple HomeView, and the Siri Remote.

• Apple TV 4K (4th Gen) - 49,800 yen. Previous gen was 19,800 yen.
• HomePod mini 2 - 24,800 yen. Previous gen was 22,800 yen, but was 14,800 yen before June 2026 and originally released at 11,880 yen.

HomeView and Siri Remote don't seem to have prices for Japan yet.

I'm deep in the Apple ecosystem and generally a fan of their products, but they're getting so damn expensive.

I mean, a Google TV Streamer 4K is only 16,000 yen.

An Echo Dot is only 7,480 yen, and it's on sale right now for less.

Friend sent me this. I think the Japanese cultural idea that unchi/poo is something cute is absolutely ridiculous - but in this context (decorating the box for stool samples) I’ll give it a pass. 🤗

Hi everyone! I’m an international master’s student in Japan, and I’ve been here for about a month.

My professor assigned me a tutor who helps me with almost everything, including documentation and other university-related procedures. I’m also the only girl in my lab, and everyone has been quite nice and helpful so far.

Recently, my tutor invited me and seven other labmates to go to Costco. I honestly didn’t know what to say, so I agreed to go. But afterward, I started wondering whether they were just casually inviting me and might have expected me to decline (I know I might be overthinking this 😭).

When we were about to pay for our food, my tutor stopped me and paid for mine too. I was genuinely surprised and didn’t know how to react.

Then, on another day, our lab had a welcome party for me. When I tried to pay my share, they stopped me again and told me that it was free for me and when I got sick they bought me some energy drink and left at my room door and texted me to take it(I didn't pay for that too)

Now I’m really confused about the social expectations here. 😭 I’m grateful that they’re being so kind to me, but I also feel guilty because I don’t want them to keep spending money on me.

Does this mean I’m expected to treat them next time we go to a restaurant or do something together? Should I offer to pay them back, or is it normal in Japanese labs for seniors or labmates to cover expenses for a new student?

I don’t want to misunderstand their kindness or accidentally come across as someone who takes advantage of others. I’m still learning Japanese culture and social etiquette, so I’d really appreciate hearing your experiences and advice!

Thank you! ❤️

Edited: I bought them sweets and cookies from my home country when I visited the lab for the very first time.

Night shifts at my hotel job are completely destroying me, even though I've worked nights before. Need advice/perspectives.

Hey everyone,

I’m writing this because I’m honestly feeling completely burnt out and I don't know what to do anymore.

To give some context, I’m not new to working night shifts. In the past, I worked night shifts in a factory, and I also spent about 3 years working nights at a fast food chain. Back then, while it was tiring, I managed fine and my body adapted.

However, my current job working night shifts at a hotel is a completely different story. I feel like this schedule is genuinely killing me—both physically and mentally. My sleep quality is terrible, I feel constantly exhausted, and the mental toll is getting way too heavy.

What confuses me the most is why it feels so much harder now compared to my previous night jobs. Is it the constant customer interaction/hospitality stress? The unpredictable rhythm of hotel night shifts? Or is my body just telling me it can’t handle nights anymore?

Has anyone else transitioned from other night jobs into hotel night shifts and felt this kind of severe burnout? How did you cope with it, or did you end up having to leave?

Any advice, shared experiences, or tips on how to survive (or step away) would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading.

I’m on a one-year fixed-term SSW contract in a shift-based restaurant job. This is my first year, and I am quitting my job due to an unavoidable family situation and personal reasons. I'm planning to return home in November. I have only missed a single day of work and have 10 Days left of my 6-month holiday. I plan to hand in a resignation letter tomorrow after my shift, effective Oct 31. Can I skip work starting the day after tomorrow, using all of my 10 days off and the normal days off, without any legal repercussions? I’d like to know the real risks of leaving mid-contract and whether my approach makes sense.

More Questions: On a fixed-term contract, can the employer refuse an early exit? Has anyone left an SSW contract early, and what happened?
If I leave on Oct 31 but stay in Japan until Nov, is there anything beyond the 14-day immigration notice and health insurance and pension I should handle?
Will leaving an SSW contract early hurt a later work-visa application?
I’m flying out of Japan on Oct 21 and will be back on Oct 26 for a trip.

I’m not asking for validation. I want to know what could go wrong before I commit. Please help cause your insights will be immensely valuable. Thanks!

Hi there!

I'm writing this post because I have been the victim of bicycle theft twice in just three weeks. Apparently, some lovely people show their appreciation for bicycles by disassembling them in the middle of the night and take the parts they're particularly fond of.

I assume I am not the only one who's had a similar experience, so I'd be grateful for any tips on how to protect my bike from these upstanding members of society.

More importantly, do you have any recommendations for household insurance or specific bicycle insurance policies that cover the theft of individual parts, rather than just the theft of the entire bike?

I bought my bike only six months ago, so I'd also appreciate recommendations for insurance providers that don't require the bike to be brand new.

Thanks in advance for your insights!

I’m at the post office trying to send a one-page document using EMS. Starting today, the U.S. wants DDP codes for many things, but not a document.

The staff here is trying to get me to send it as a gift. Gifts go to individuals, not businesses, so I would have to lie to send it as a gift. I want to send it as a document, which needs no code.

Any ideas? I’ve been here more than an hour.

I tried the new mcd chicken menu that will be starting from 21st oct. I tried the spicy one. The taste of sauce is very similar to スパチキ that we had but much more creamier and just a little spicier. The game changer is the chicken patty. Its もも肉 unlike the previous むね肉. Which made it much more juicier from inside and really crispy on the outside.

If anyone was missing the スパチキ, we just got the super upgraded version of it. But as it will be replacing the M chicken patty, the new one is priced similar to it which is a bummer. 単品470円. You can 倍 it though which is 610円. I really liked the スパチキ and was very sad wgen they removed it. Even though I work there I almost stopped eating mcd. So I'm super excited right now.

Before I go to a local bar association, I figured I'd ask here if anyone has had experience with terminating a Fixed-term lease.

We found this house that is a 5-year fixed-term lease. The realtor told us we could terminate at any time with a 1 month notice, but then he sent us contracts that contradict that:

1. 乙は本契約期間中は原則として解約はできません。 但し、 表記 「本約款に記載のある本契 

約上の変更事項及び記載のない特記事項」において解約予告期間が定められた場合は、当該 

予告期間以前に甲に対し書面をもって解約の通知をすることにより、本契約を終了する事が 

できます。 

1. 前項の規定によるも、 表記 「物件表示」記載の貸室面積が200m2未満の場合には、転勤、 

療養 親族の介護その他やむを得ない事情により、 乙が本物件を自己の生活の本拠として使 

用する事が困難となったときは、 借地借家法第38条 第7項の規定により前項の予告期間を 

1ヶ月とします。 いずれの場合も予告期間の経過をもって本契約は終了します。 

Article 38 paragraph 5 (not 7) gives similar details, where unavoidable circumstance are required for you to terminate. https://www.japaneselawtranslation.go.jp/en/laws/view/3787#je_ch3sc3at1

In the amendment and special provisions section, there is mention of a 1 month notice period, but nothing about the conditions:
・本契約を途中解約する場合には、1ヶ月前までに甲に文書にて通知するものとします。
I am unsure if this is enough to override the other conditions.

I asked the realtor to modify the amendment to include the possibility to terminate "for any specific reason", he came back saying there is no issue with early termination, because the house is smaller than 200 square meter. Which to me is completely missing the question of the "unavoidable circumstances".

My Japanese is definitely not good enough to grasp the subtleties of these contract terms. I know fixed-term leases often mean it will be hard to renew, but having to commit living in a new place I know nothing about for 5 years is even more of a deal breaker to me.

Am I completely misunderstanding this termination clause?

TLDR: Don't be like me, make sure you never throw away garbage with info that can be traced back to you.

I was visited by 3 policemen yesterday, asking me whether I threw away garbage illegally.

I was shown a picture of the garbage and a notebook I threw away with it. They knew it was me because in the notebook, I had a page with info about my current apartment (wrote it down as notes when I was going to sign on current apartment).

They talked to me in quite a threatening manner, saying "You better be telling us the truth now, if later we find out it's you that threw this garbage, we will be angry". Whatever "angry" implies here.

OBVIOUSLY I did not throw away said garbage illegally because I can throw away garbage 24h at my apartment's disposal place. I have no recollection of doing it and I have 0 reason to do so.

I have no idea how that garbage was found somewhere it shouldn't be and the police would not disclose where it was found.

I was questioned repeatedly for 15 minutes or so, my registration card was checked, my employer infos, all that.

I was told they will continue "investigation" and I will be contacted if needed.
However, if they eventually decide I have nothing to do with this, I won't be notified, how kind of them.

Cementing themselves as the best major rail company yet again...

There's a middle aged (maybe 50's) Japanese guy who, if he sees me walking to/from work, makes a passing comment at me. He says it quietly, and it's just like 1 word or a short sentence, and wears a mask, so I can't make out what he's saying (I speak Japanese so that's not the problem). He always just keeps walking, so that's the extent of the confrontation. He makes direct eye contact though, and sometimes walks a bit towards me, and has even done it when I'm on the phone or sending a voice memo so he doesn't seem to care if "he's caught in record", at least via audio.

I always look right back at him, and although I'm a woman (clearly foreign, white) I'm pretty tall (173cm) and not thin, so he's not choosing "an easy target" here.

Today was maybe the 4th time. There was once a few weeks ago in the morning, and once maybe last week going home, and yesterday and today. This is on the work-to-train walk of my commute in the evening (not the home-to-train leg).

Although I can't really make out what he's saying, I vaguely remember he said something that felt xenophobic the first time (it's been a bit hard to remember and it's taken me some time to piece together that it's the same guy).

I don't wanna change the road I walk on, but confronting this guy could make a problem, although I've been mulling it over. I'm considering obviously recording my walk tomorrow (like holding my phone in a super obvious recording position), or low key recording so I can get some record of his face without him realizing and hiding it.

Basically I thought I'd ask here what yous think or what you'd do, because I'm always so confrontational that I wanna yell at him, but thinking about it when I'm calm I realize it could end up being dangerous. Thanks in advance for your advice or experience!

TLDR

I am renting a property in Osaka (Asahi-ku) under fixed-term lease agreement (定期借家契約), due to expire at the end of Nov 2026. The agents were supposed to send me a new fixed-term agreement but after we negotiated and agreed on the terms about 5 months ago, and after what I now see as “buying time” until now, they bailed out today saying that there was a change of circumstances. Due to legal reasons (ongoing adoption process with already vetted living arrangements), I don’t want to move out so suddenly.
I am looking for advice on how to proceed from anybody who might be familiar with the issue, please.

The problem.

In Dec 2025 I received a formal notice of termination upon expiry (定期賃貸住宅契約終了についての通知), along with a proposal for a new fixed-term lease agreement.

We negotiated the terms of a new 2 year fixed-term lease agreement with the agency, and following discussions with the property owner, we agreed on new terms in May 2026.
We were informed that the renewal documents would be sent two to three months prior to the expiration of the current lease, and that the process would be finalized upon signing.

In mid-Sept 2026, I asked for an update and received confirmation that the new lease agreement would be sent to us shortly.

Not having heard since, this week (mid-Oct 2026) I asked again.

Today, about 45 days from the expiration of the current lease, the agent said that the circumstances have changed and that they will not proceed with the new fixed-term lease agreement.
Given the sudden change, and as a way to counterbalance the problem they have created, they proposed that we vacate the property in “about 3 months”.

To further compound the issue, me and my wife are in the middle of an adoption process, the current living arrangements have been vetted and approved by the relevant authorities and the family court proceedings will be based on that evaluation. Moving out now would mean invalidating part of the process done so far, and possibly introduce months of delays.

Several months ago, we made the agent aware that we are in the middle of an adoption process. At the time, I informed them that there was a new occupant and sent them the updated certificate of residence (住民票), along with all the info they required.

We don’t really want to move out, because we were planning to do so at the end of the following fixed-term lease, and because we needed to provide stability both to the child and to the relevant authorities.

For lack of better words, naturally, I am disappointed by the lack of reliability of the gentlemen I am dealing with..

What I think of doing.

We are thinking that maybe we could reply as follows:
Q1 .ask details about the changes of circumstances
Q2. try to negotiate a 1 year long new fixed-term lease with the property owner. 
Q3. ignore (for now) their “you can leave in 3 months” “offer”. 

The idea behind that is that we can maybe:
R1. better understand the property owner’s POV
R2. enable them to re-rent the property earlier than originally anticipated, with the bonus of a just slightly delayed reikin (礼金) pay-out from the next tenants in 1 year (which I suspect might play a part in this). This should buy us enough time for the family court proceedings to run their course, after which we could freely move out because we would no longer be constrained by the vetted living arrangements.
R3. do not immediately take an adversarial step.

The ideal outcome for us would still be to stay on the originally agreed new 2 year fixed term lease. We like the area, the child gets along with the neighbours and shop owners, and staying for longer would allow us to account for possible delays in court proceedings.
However, we can somehow compromise.

All negotiations are written in the Line App, and I have downloaded them for safety.

Which recourse do I have?
Does anybody know of free legal advice I could pre-emptively get access to, just to better understand where my family stands?
Any paid legal advice people have experienced with?

As a note, I can speak Japanese to a certain extent, but I believe that I would not be able to follow a complex legal discussion in Japanese, so anything with English support would be preferable. Missing that, I would still do my best.

Thank you all for any advice.

I've been struggling with (presumed) ADHD my whole life, but never got diagnosed out of fear of judgement from family, society, job, etc. So I've been struggling and manage to keep decently afloat in certain areas (mainly job) but others have been hell to deal with. Finally reached a point where I felt getting diagnosed and medicated was my last resort.

Only to find out that absolutely no clinic in this region or any others, even far out, will take new clients due to a shortage of Concerta, which has been going on for a year and has no signs of improving.

Life sure has been bleak here this year man.

for those of you in Japan that have to fly to your family/inlaws domestically, what are you doing about insane flight prices? we've been going to my in laws every year for the last 7 years but this year we have to skip... 7man for 1 person round trip is just insane. When we started going we thought 3man round trip was expensive. We have plenty of miles but it's harder than ever to find flights that aren't blacked out.

Are y'all sucking it up or staying home?

I get treated and looked at differently by colleagues if I end up not being able to work due to sickness. I live alone and have no family here so I need to take care of myself, especially since I have asthma and more often than not my lungs and chest become affected by viruses too.

There are those at my job that just power through and go to work sick like it’s a badge of honour, but then people like me get sick because of it. Last week a colleague with influenza came into work (with a mask on) because she was “too busy” to take time off. She stayed away from others but it made me uneasy. Everyone mentioned how かわいそう she looked working hard at her desk.

I don’t get sick that often, maybe a few times a year, but when I do get sick I get sick and need to take time off work to recover. I always do the expected thing and visit a doctor just in case, and I always pay out for a medical certificate to take back to work with me (診断書) even if it’s just the common cold or a virus that can’t be helped other than pain medicine and rest.

This year it seems a gossip and rumour mill has started about those that take time away and has been participated in by my superiors. I caught them doing it about me when they thought I couldn’t overhear but it made me feel depressed because I genuinely work hard and try my best, but if I take time away it’s always like I’ve let everyone down. It’s started a chain reaction and now many others do it too.

Anyway I don’t think there is much point to this post other than me just wanting to let it out. I’m very sick today and have just made the phone call to a disappointed-sounding colleague who will report my absence to my superiors. Part of me just doesn’t want to care but I can’t help but feel worried knowing that when I go back I’ll be treated differently.

For work, I bought L-shaped wood pieces and cut them to the right length to use them as jigs for a project where we are putting together a huge assembly overseas. It turned out that customs in that country won’t accept them because they are over 6 mm thick. I want to reduce the thickness to around 4 mm using a band saw. 

In the past, for personal projects, I’ve had in-store pieces cut at home centers but I don’t know if they will let me bring in my own pieces and cut them for me. If not, is there another place in Tokyo that will cut pieces for me or let me use a bandsaw without a membership or a high cost? We are shipping very soon so I don’t have time for membership processing, etc.

Japanese studying motivation I mean the actually studying part like high level grammars, kanji, complex level conversations.

I'm in 100% Japanese environment both at home and work. I watch movie, tv programme, and movie with my family members fully in Japanese

Only in my own free time like games or YouTube video I would consume in English or my native language.

I'm so tired coming back from work everyday and still needs to taking care of my family.

However, I know it better than anyone I need to have near native Japanese level to advance my career but I just couldn't put myself to do it...

How do you guys who was or in the same position as me and deal with the situation?

All I needed to do was change my address and now I am having trouble transferring my money to my account