After pregnancy loss, found out my boyfriend is married and have a kid, I suffered depression here in Japan. I cant go to work because I break down during work. (tried to work twice). I told my boss that I will leave for good but told me I can have vacation to relax and refresh my mind. But, in my mind, I don't know if how long will I be okay or if I will be okay after going back home. I dont want to be a meiwaku for them and if I go on vacation, I would still continue paying taxes and insurances here. I have been on leave( including maternity leave) since July and no income since then. I am just tired. I dont know what should i do

I joined a Japanese company this year and after the 3 months training period, I got enrolled into my team within the technical department.

I am 25F, one of the very few foreigners within the company. I was assigned the work for a subject I never learned in school or college, my japanese level is N2 and most of the time I rely on translation apps for complex technical words that even japanese don't understand.

All the new hirees were assigned an instructor to guide them through the work.

I was never asked for JLPT but I don't struggle with my work as such.

Ever since I got assigned to my department, I have always been very quick to finish my projects. Sometimes I did miss to do the non work related stuff but I have become more mindful about it now so no one else, especially my instructor has to cover up for me.

Recently I have noticed that my instructor has started to publicly humiliate me by talking down on me in front of everyone else.

Every question that I ask him would lead to him getting super annoyed and giving backhanded comments.

I have become scared to even ask him for help but when I google or use Gemini, he gets angry and is never satisfied with my answer or approach. None of my work is ever approved until I write the answer that he gives.

It is scary to even come to the office because I sit next to him.

I have a coworker who is always up on my business, I used to be annoyed by it but now he has become a life saver. Whenever he sees me struggling, he would just come to help me.

And before anyone assumes, he is not into me I am sure. It's just his nature to want to help people.

My instructor has started asking him to not help me whenever he does, but he does it anyway by giving some excuse or other.

Today the printer wasn't working so I did my best to fix it myself, but my coworker ran to me to help and fixed it.

Ever since that happened, my instructor has been giving me cold shoulder and silent treatment.

I am holding back my tears, writing this inside the women's toilet. Afraid to return to my seat and face him again.

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!

UPDATE: Thanks for all the comments so far! Before this gets out of hand: yes, bringing the bike indoors is the obvious way to keep it safe. I’d appreciate any other ideas for protecting it.

Spotted separately from the cake section.

UPDATE
I called the Saitama Prefectural Flood Control Office, who administers the immediate area surrounding the river and property nearby, and spoke to the officer in charge of this area. In a survey conducted last week, several of the nearby cherry trees indicate damage from longhorn beetles. The same survey identified that these trees seem to indicate damage by longhorn beetles, as evidenced by the dusty tree "frass." While the trees are stll under consideration for future action, he reported that they are at a priority consideration for removal. Insecticides may be used for further prevention, but there's a good chance of internal damage to the trees which may be outside of their ability to ignore it for sake of future damage.

A bummer. I know those bugs - I have shown them to my grandaughter who REALLY hates them - and I am upset because... Y'all have eaten your own home, and now no one gets to live there.

I'm glad I called, as I otherwise would have harbored enmity to my neighbors, which isn't great.
------------------------------

Basically, the local citizens council (自治会)has asked the city to cut down the trees on the riverside easement, because some residents feel the leaves are a burden. turns out this is discussed every year, but not actually the issue at all; confirmed with neighboring jichikai-iin.

Myself and other families, we kinda like those trees as they’re big beautiful trees with beetles and owls and whatnot. They’re not diseases or anything and are among the last trees left since some local chainsawed the other trees in the easement a few years ago.

Are there any mechanisms or ways to view selection plans?

I've been living in Japan for about 2.5 years, and since around this time 2 years ago I've been getting intense migraines once every 2 weeks or so, which I never experienced in my own country. My coworkers have advised me that it's due to barometric pressure changes and stress, and that most people in Japan get them so I should just take medicine and 我慢する. However, it's to the point where on really bad days I throw up if I try to move, and I had to miss a lot of work in the past year. This is making me seriously worried if I can continue living here, and if I can keep my current job. I've been receiving painkillers from a doctor but they only work 50% of the time (triptans). Did anyone experience this and find something that worked?

I’m not sure where to post this but I have been having thoughts about moving out of Japan and relocating to the US. I am an American citizen living in Japan for about two years with my Japanese husband.

I have US debt which I’ve been struggling to pay while living and working here and it’s been affecting our finances and ability to save. We thought it wouldn’t be too bad but we realized later that the pay out here and the exchange rate is ….

I was thinking that I could move to the US for work and pay down majority of my debts. Possibly have my husband follow me a year after I settle down.

My worry is, I might regret moving. If we move and decide later to move back to Japan, would it be difficult for me to return with a spouse visa? I know my husband would need to do a COE again.

Anyone experience anything similar?

So I live in Japan. My ex is Japanese. Anyways from the start, he was really sweet and said he wanted to date with intention of marriage. I thought our relationship was going great. He constantly said 大好き and 愛してる even. Our last date went well and we were talking abt our next one. He even asked what day works best. Anyways fast forward, he visited Osaka where he used to live. Since he visited his communication became less. For a week he didnt say anything but sorry I cant respond today. I confronted him about it and got a long break up message ending in a goodbye. Honestly I'm really hurt and have been crying all night. I'm just trying to make sense of it all. I'm so confused bc I thought things were going well but apparently hes been reflecting for a while and couldnt see me as a romantic partner anymore. I'm... Crushed. And feel like I meant nothing to him bc he couldnt even bother to talk to me about it. Idk I'm just venting. I have work in 6 hours and idk how im gonna do it...

PLEASE do not debate on the definition of ghosting. Whether its ghosting or not im really hurt and dont really want to read replies about how he didnt ghost me/was good enough to say goodbye

update: cant believe yall are still fighting over whether its ghosting, seriously? who cares atp, have some compassion or dont respond at all

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 after handing my notice, 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!

One of my grandkids got a special needs diagnosis (they are slow at processing information and find it difficult to follow instructions, but language skills are almost normal) so we are talking to their elementary school about maybe having them join one of the special needs classes next year.

After talking to the teacher in charge and observing the class they would be joining next year, I am pretty appalled.

At first it sounded reasonable, the children do Japanese and maths in the special needs class and join the regular class for art, music, science experiments, etc.

But we saw a class today (my grandchild joined as a trial), and they just did kanji worksheets individually for twenty minutes then played a karuta game that it seems they play regularly (so have memorised) for twenty minutes. The class is a mix of two different grades, and the teacher just walked around saying 'sugoi' to kids as they completed their worksheets. The older and younger kids were mixed for the karuta game.

There was a 'helper' (an older woman) who just stood next to one of the kids and did nothing, didn't walk around helping proactively, just stood there for the entire class.

We asked after the class if the students had some kind of educational plan based on their grade and abilities, and were told no, they just do things day by day (probably just worksheets).

If they are just doing worksheets all day long, when are they being taught anything?

Does anyone have experiences, good or bad, of special needs education in Japan? I am trying to find out if this is normal or we are just looking at an underperforming school.

Any input appreciated.

hey guys i am 24 and arrived in tokyo last month with ryuugaku (1y6m) visa. i've been dealing with finding rental mansion and after settling on one, its currently in screening from guarantor company phase. yesterday i was told that i need a local bank account, overruling the initial plans with my agent about sending international transfers from my bank account located in my home country. the issue is that i have been here for only a month, obviously not meeting the 6 month requirement in banks. i have a yucho account but to my knowledge with those limits i won't be able to meet the amount of my rental (~100man jpy). i have a wise account if that helps i guess, i use wise apple pay every day. as far as i know japan registered wise accounts are capable of local jpy transfers but since it's a fintech app i imagine they're not using my name for sender field, could be an issue. for yucho limits increase i kept reading it can take weeks, and i don't exactly have that much time left. the contract is projected to be prepared in 2 weeks, though this last minute development might put the application at risk. i need ideas. if i missed required context i'll answer

Please recommend me a affordable dental clinic or orthodontist, I am planning get braces so I can close my gap tooth. Need also english speakers because I will definitely have hard time with communication. Thank you so much. I live around yokohama

I really cherish my time in Tokyo ~2008, a truely amazing place and I got into billiards culture.

Some memories here https://ameblo.jp/tailuge/entry-12981511558.html

If you played there do say hi

I was talking with a Japanese lawyer friend about their taxes and it got me to thinking about my own situation.

Background:

I'm a foreign national with permanent residency. I've worked as a teacher for a company for more than 20 years. Our bosses insist that, since we work less than 30 hours per week, we aren't 正社員

and therefore they don't have us enrolled in the shakaihoken (社会保険)

system. As teachers, we are well paid, but the consequence of this is that our health insurance (健康保険) and residential taxes are quite high.

At the beginning of each year, we get a pay statement from the previous year that details how much we were paid (gross) and also how much tax (源泉徴収税) was withheld. With that, we file our 確定申告 ourselves and report our tax payments, medical expenses, etc.

My question is whether I can register myself as a sole proprietor despite receiving this pay statement from just one employer.

I work mostly remotely and have heard that as a sole proprietor I can deduct a percentage of my rent as a business expense. Since that portion would be approximately ¥720,000 per year, I thought I would ask here for any advice you all may be able to give. I'm also hoping to deduct any future work-related expenses (computer upgrades, software, etc.).

Thank you in advance.

Very niche question, but has anyone at a 外資requested to relocate to an international branch of their company immediately after passing their probabtion/within 1-year at their job?

How did your Japnese HR react…?

TLDR

I am renting a property in Osaka 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.

Hello all, I recently got admitted to a masters program in electrical engineering where I’d like to focus on RF engineering or DSP. I’ll be doing my masters online while living in Kanagawa. I’m looking to get more experience and looking for opportunities. (Note I have my work visa).

Does anyone know of any paid/unpaid internship opportunities in the area?

Or is your company open to taking someone on? I’d appreciate any and all help!

I’m a native English speaker and around n5/n4 for reference

I’m thinking to buy a ninja 400, and have a car parking space outside my house, but can’t build a garage / shed and don’t have a security fence. I’m thinking to get a ground anchor and good quality chain and bike cover.. do you think my bike will be stolen? Is this a bad idea? I’m in Nerima.

Hi redditors,

I moved to Tokyo from Jakarta about two weeks ago and I’m actively looking for my first role in Japan. I have had interviews through recruiters for a few different roles, and have a few things lined up, but still trying to spread my search nonetheless. Figured I’d post here in case anyone knows of something, or has advice for someone in my spot.

A bit about me:

• 24 years old, with 1.5 years of professional experience across data engineering and DevOps
• At my last company I built a sales recommendation engine pretty much solo (design, ETL, feature pipelines, model training), and it’s still running in production. I also migrated our PostgreSQL workloads to ClickHouse, which cut storage by about 10x
• Still working remotely and currently developing a Document AI to assist CS in the financial industry
• CNCF Kubestronaut (all five Kubernetes certs: CKAD, CKA, CKS, KCNA, KCSA), plus AWS Solutions Architect and Data Engineer Associate
• B.Sc. in Data Science from the University of Melbourne
• Native-level English (TOEIC 980), JLPT N3, conversational Japanese and improving (working toward N2)
• On a J-Find visa, so I can start work right away without a limit in hours (as written in my designation sheet)

What I’m looking for: DevOps or data engineering roles, ideally on a team where I can learn from more experienced engineers. I’m honestly at the stage where growth matters more to me than title. Open to full-time, contract, or 派遣.

If you know of any openings, or your company has an English-friendly engineering team, I’d really appreciate a DM. And if you’ve been through the job search here with a similar profile, I’d love to hear what worked for you.

Thanks for reading!

Hi! Just wanted to genuinely know why do Japanese doctors do not immediately give injections to Alopecia Areata spots? I have been to two different clinics and I understand they have certain procedures they follow but I just feel like they don’t take it seriously. I’ve been in 4 months treatment (oral, cream, laser). It was only a small size at first but now it’s almost the same size of a 4 pieces 100 yen coin. Although it is only 1 spot, but that spot is still getting bigger up until now. Steroid injections are the most effective way but why don’t they resort to that? TYIA.

Hey everyone, needing some help!

I been living in Japan for a working holiday visa from October 2025 - October 2026, and worked from June 2026 - September 2026.

My employer didn’t pay my income tax from my payslip, which should be the ~20.62%. (Part-time job)

So my question is, where can I pay my income tax? Apparently it’s not my local office ward. Bit lost and unsure, maybe I have to speak to an accountant here in Japan.

I have to pay around 70,000円

Super grateful for some advice 🙏 I’m leaving in 10days (just received my final payslip)

Will submitting a Yunyu Kakunin Sho every time I need to import testosterone and needles from a US prescriber allow me to import TRT meds without restriction? I will be in Japan for 18 months and shipping to a military post office.

Friend of mine who works for the post office let me know that Japan Post just announced a new policy on packages to the US (https://www.post.japanpost.jp/service/send/oversea/information/2026/1014_01_en.html) that take effect tomorrow. But... I can't find anything on the US side confirming any of these rules? It links to two sites for "prepaying duties" but they both charge fees even if there are no duties to pay.

Anyone know anything on the US side that could be prompting this or what's up? It's weird for them to drop a policy less than 24 hours in advance...