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Living in Japan (Page 5)

What’s Japan’s least appealing big city, and why did it get stuck with that title?【Survey】

Town ranks in last place for second survey in a row, but there actually are some things to love about the place.

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Japanese government announces stricter requirements for foreigner student visas

New rules aims to close loophole that lets language school students spend as much of the year working full-time as attending class.

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Turn unwanted fat into next month’s rent at new exercise-themed sharehouse in Saitama

Gran Toda’s “Fat Purchasing Campaign” is certainly one of the best incentives to finally get into shape.
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Five magic Japanese phrases to know before starting a job in Japan

Gomen and kudasai are great for travelers and students, but if you’re going to be successful and happy working in Japan, you’ll want to know these.

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Survey picks the eight best Tokyo-area neighborhoods to live in, and number one isn’t in Tokyo

Tokyo’s much-ballyhooed Kichijoji only makes it to number-three, while an outsider with easy access to Tokyo takes the top spot.

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Four frustrating “middle-aged man rules” that dictate life in a Japanese office

Are you an innovation-loving young professional? Brace yourself for the chance you’ll run into this aggravations working in Japan.

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Five of the worst areas to live in and around Tokyo

While they might look appealing to visitors, according to residents, these suburbs can be hell to live in.

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Easier anime work visa requirements for foreign students being considered by Japanese government

New system could start as early as next year, making it easier for foreigners with anime aspirations to get their foot in the door.

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Please don’t make the stupid mistake of taking an “abandoned” bike for a ride in Japan

Just about the dumbest way to get in trouble with the law while living or traveling here.

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Tokyo ranked as most livable city in the world in annual survey

Two other Japanese cities join the capital in top 25 of international quality of life ranking.

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Tokyo ranked as most expensive city in the world for expats, three other Japanese towns in top 10

But the situation might not be as bad as it sounds.

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The tiny shaded part of each map represents half of the population.

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When “yes” means “no” — The Japanese language quirk that trips English speakers up

You can learn all the words and practice all the kanji, but there’s one little Japanese language quirk that will almost certainly trip you up when you first encounter it.

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Five life-altering mistakes foreigners make when living in Japan

Beyond silly mistakes like wearing toilet slippers on tatami or forgetting to add “san” to someone’s name, what other things do foreigners unknowingly do to reduce their chances of living happily in Japan?

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Six types of Japanese people you’ll meet while living in Japan — An illustrated guide

A while back, we had some fun talking about five of the more noteworthy types of foreigners you’ll meet in Japan, based upon observations drawn from our time spent working and living here in the Land of the Rising Sun. Whether you’re a Plastic Sensei, Hateimus Japanicus, Secret Ninja, Bubble Dweller or Kid in a Candy Store (or indeed, all of these at different times), we reckon there’s probably quite a lot foreign residents can find to nod their heads at when considering each of those five extreme types.

But what about the flip side of the coin? Spend enough time as a foreigner in a country like Japan—a place that’s 98.5% ethnically Japanese—and you’ll be sure to notice that Japanese people will approach you, the foreigner, in a number of different ways. Today we’d like to share our thoughts on six kinds of Japanese people foreigners might meet during their time in Japan. See how many of them you’ve come across during your time traveling or living in the country!

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Thinking about moving to Nara? Here are eight things that may surprise you!

Moving to Japan from another country can be a bit of a culture shock. Some handle the transition without any problems, and others can find it initially overwhelming. But it’s easy to forget that Japan isn’t one giant monolith, and the various prefectures can be wildly different—so much so that moving to a new prefecture can bring plenty of surprises even for those born and raised in Japan!

A great example is one of our own RocketNew24 Japan writers, Masami, who shares some of the things that surprised her after moving to Nara. Here are nine that may resonate with you!

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Coin laundries in Japan are now more popular than ever, but what makes them so good?

If you’re used to using a dryer when you do laundry in your home country, you might be in for a surprise if you ever move to Japan. Despite the country’s numerous technological advancements to make your life easier, clothes dryers here pale in comparison to many overseas models, and they aren’t something you’ll find in your average Japanese household. Instead, most Japanese people prefer to hang their washing outside to air dry.

Sure it’s a more affordable and ecological way of doing things, but what do you do when the rainy and typhoon seasons make drying clothes outside impossible or you have too much laundry to hang outside all at once? It’s time for a trip to the laundromat, or what Japanese like to call a koin randorii (coin laundry).  In fact, they’re becoming so popular that over the past 10 years the number of coin laundries across Japan has almost doubled, despite little growth in the laundromat industry world-wide.

But why is the coin laundry business suddenly booming? We decided to find out!

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Five types of foreigner you’ll meet in Japan

Japan attracts all kinds of people from all over the world. Some come to work, others come to play, and thanks to its relatively low crime levels, high standard of living and abundance of delicious food, Japan is a very easy place to call home for a while. Plus, isn’t Japan where all those anime, video games and ninjas come from? It’s got to be worth a visit!

But today, instead of talking about the myriad things Japan has to offer visitors, we’re going to have a bit of fun by taking a closer look at some of the visitors themselves. You might not encounter each of these five types of people if you’re staying in Japan for just a couple of weeks, but if you’re here for work or an extended sojourn, then you’re bound to meet at least a couple of them along the way…

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“The Gaijin Nod” or “Ron, I’m so sorry about what happened yesterday”

I come before you today, readers of RocketNews24, with a confession. What I am about to tell you may shock you, but it’s eating away at me and I need to get it off my chest. You see, yesterday afternoon on my way to lunch, I did a fellow foreigner–a fellow gaijin, if you will–a tremendous injustice. It was not my intent to do so, but at the very moment this gentlemen, this benevolent stranger, put himself out there and sought to make a minor connection with another foreigner, I turned away.

That’s right, gentle reader, I accidentally ignored a Gaijin Nod.

Allow me to explain.

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On living in Japan: Five essential essays from the internet, the greatest library on earth

Ten years ago, I used to read a lot of books. Now, I read a lot of content, which is to say, blogs and online articles. But when I read something that sticks with me, even for a fleeting moment, I still want to reach for a highlighter and shade the words fluorescent yellow, so I can find that part again later. And I’m not alone in my instinctive response to treat the digital word in the same way I do printed material. There’s a reason browsers still call it a “bookmark” when we save a webpage.

There are all kinds of great English-language blogs about Japan out there. But there are also a number of stand-alone articles that, over the years, I’ve read again and again – and they still make me want to grab my highlighter and start collecting quotes. I’ve put them together into this short list, which we may think of as a small (highly subjective) foreigners-living-in-Japan canon: seminal pieces of writing from around the internet.

Some of these are very long. Some are controversial. All of them have stayed with me for some reason or another, and maybe they’ll stick with you too.

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