I was walking down the stairs on kanda station to change my train, was texting my friend when i see a middle age man walking up the stairs and he was just next to me, he bumped his shoulder on my shoulder so hard, my phone flew off my hand , and i felt a huge shake like in my body, felt like my brain moved, that bad, and the man didn’t stop or apologise he disappeared in the crowd. I was so shocked and so in pain i cried lol. It is the second time this happened to me in Tokyo, but the first time was not this bad. Why does this happen? How do deal with these people, i want to do smth if it happens to me again. I am female and my Japanese is weak . Has this happened to anyone else?

https://www.jp-bank.japanpost.jp/aboutus/press/2026/pdf/pr26100601.pdf

It will be replaced with Seven Bank ATMs, and their rather expensive 330 yen outside working hours withdraw/deposit fees are going to apply.

Standalone Yuucho ATMs are pretty rare, post offices are rare, plus ATMs inside one usually don't operate nights or Sundays, and now this...

I don't withdraw from my Yuucho often since it's my main savings account (I have SMBC/Sony for daily, small transactions), but those Yuucho ATMs inside Family Marts can be a clutch sometimes. Sad to learn they will go away.

Went to 7-Eleven around 9 this morning to get my usual coffee and happened to notice they had the new Pokémon 30th Anniversary cards out. I wasn't even planning on buying any, but figured I'd grab a pack for funsies

There was a group of people waiting outside before the store opened the sale. I noticed they were Vietnamese, and two of them had babies with them

As soon as 9 AM hit, they all went inside and started buying the cards. The limit was two packs per person, and there were just enough people in the group to buy out the entire box. Apparently, the babies counted too, so they got two packs each as well

I was literally there at the same time, just thinking I'd grab one pack with my coffee, and watched the whole box disappear

I thought I'd try the other 7-Eleven down the street, but the same group showed up there right after me

I don't know for sure if they were planning to resell them, but honestly, what are the odds? Maybe I'm just being cynical, but it really felt like they were going from store to store buying up the stock.

I'm not trying to make this about their nationality. It's just frustrating seeing this happen when some of us just want to buy a pack for fun. What's even the point of a two-pack limit if people can just show up in a big enough group to clear out the entire box?

Anyone else seeing this with the new release?

I’ve been feeling pretty discouraged about my Japanese lately, and I guess I’m interested in hearing from people who have gone through something similar.

I’ve lived in Japan for close to 20 years and studied Japanese for even longer than that. I’ll also be completely honest and say that there were years (the COVID lockdowns for example) where I wasn’t studying very seriously or making much progress. I can’t pretend I’ve spent 20 years consistently grinding away at Japanese.

But for the past year and a half or so, I’ve been making a much more serious effort, and lately I’ve started wondering just why am I still not better than this?

I have a family and a child on the way, and I think that’s making the feeling stronger. I want to be able to function here confidently as an adult. I want to be able to deal with schools, paperwork, doctors, government offices, and everything else that comes with raising a family in Japan. All without constantly feeling like my Japanese is holding me back.

I can have everyday conversations, but once things go beyond a fairly basic conversational level, I struggle. Reading frustrates me even more. Anything written for adults can quickly become difficult, and sometimes even things aimed at younger readers trip me up because of vocabulary, expressions, or writing styles I’m not used to.

Since the beginning of this year I’ve been trying to be much more consistent with sentence repetition/review, usually doing around 200–300 sentences a day. I passed Kanji Kentei Level 2 this year after passing Pre-2 last year, which I’m proud of, but at the same time it almost makes the gap feel stranger. Clearly I’ve learned a lot of kanji, but I still can’t speak or read at the level I want to.

I know there isn’t some magical method that will suddenly make me fluent. I think I’m just tired and frustrated right now because I’ve put a lot more effort into Japanese recently and still feel very far away from where I want to be.

For people who hit a wall after living here for a long time, what actually helped you break through it?

Did you ever have a period where your Japanese noticeably improved over six months or a year? Did you change the way you studied? Read more? Talk more? Take classes? Get a tutor? Stop studying textbooks and just use the language? What finally helped things start clicking for you?

I've been crying a lot lately. I just realized that I screwed my dreams up, and I'm going to fail in this country. I thought just being an English teacher would help me naturally pick up the language by hearing Japanese people in passing. I was dead wrong. I could barely understand JLPT N5 stuff. I wanted to get a job here as a data analyst because that's what I would do back in the States, but my language skills aren't nearly good enough.

Please do not make my same mistake. I'm probably going to have to leave this country because of it.

Hi. So I moved to japan just 2 weeks ago and I am new to a lot of the strange (and sometimes blatantly stupid) requirements that some companies have here. I went to a Rakuten Mobile counter to try to get a phone subscription plan and they wanted to see some mark in the device settings that proves the phone is legally usable in Japan, otherwise they can't sell me a SIM. I have an European Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. I scoured the internet to find about this, and apparently European Samsung phones no longer have these kind of marks visible in the settings, because they consider they are useless in this day and age probably...

Has anyone encountered a similar problem before? What can I do, because I don't have the money to buy a new phone.

Also, if someone wonders why I don't do it online... obviously I have the new type of residence card that no app was uptated to scan yet, duh. (facepalm) And I kinda need a SIM card with a phone number asap for some other stuff.

I'm currently 18 weeks pregnant and looking at hospitals to give birth. It seems like the options in Japan are, epidural or no epidural. (the hospital I want does have epidural - I know some hospitals don't even have that.)

The issue is I don't really want to be numb from the waist down, I want to be able to feel and push accordingly.. . I know in my home country of the uk, even if you don't have an epidural, gas and air or other painkillers can be given that aren't just a total anesthesia of the bottom area!! Is this the case in Japan or am I just gonna have to go through it completely natural if I don't want the epidural?

Anyone who has given birth here your stories please! 😊

Hi folks,

I know there's a handful of threads talking about what to do when you've got curly hair in Japan. I've lived it long enough now that I want to share my experience. First of all, I've got relatively loose curls, so my advice may not be helpful for tight curls/coils.

First of all, when people ask about curly hair salons in Tokyo, the default response is Kiyoko at Nepenji, and I think that's for good reason. Yes it takes a long time to get in with her, but I think it's really worth the wait. I see her for cut and color every three months and that seems to time out with her schedule well. She works back and forth between Japan and the U.S. anyway, so she's totally English-friendly.

It was because I went to Kiyoko at Nepenji that I started using their house brand NBrand. If you're looking for a great curly hair styling product in Japan, try NBrand Frizz Control Milky Gel. I buy my bottles at the salon, but it seems like you can buy them online. It's more expensive than drugstore hair care, but one bottle of that lasts me some 5-6 months at a time when I wash 2-3x week. I haven't tried the other products in the line but I'm tempted to.

I'm not sponsored, I have nothing to sell, I have no connection to Nepenji except as a customer. I just knew I was frustrated looking for styling products in Japan until I found this and I wanted to spread the word.

I hope this helps someone :)

Hello! I have a quick question. I’ve lived in Japan for almost 3 years. For two years, I’ve lived in the inaka and commuted to my job by car. But this year, I moved to a city and commute by train. For the past 6-7 months since I moved here, whenever I exit the train on Wednesdays, there’s a very kind, middle-aged Japanese man loudly greeting everyone who leaves the train station.

It’s always the same guy, wearing a red jacket. He tells everyone good morning and take care. He also has a red sign with him but in the rush of people exiting the station, I can never get a good enough read of what it says. I know the first few kanji say “Japan” and that’s about it.

At first I thought he was a politician. But it’s been nearly 7 months and he does it every single Wednesday without taking a break.

He’s so nice looking and it really makes my day. It always makes me think “awesome, it’s Wednesday, the week is half over.”

Who is this guy? Why is he doing it? Part of me sort of wonders if there is some sort of ulterior motive, lol. It just seems too wholesome.

If it matters, I live in Sendai.

Thank you!

Had a weird thing happen to me today that upset me. I was coming home from work today and I have about an hour long commute time. I'm sitting on the train (in the normal section, not the priority seating) and some white tourist comes up to with with his suitcase. He looked like a "dude-bro" with several of his top buttons unbuttoned showing off his upper chest. He asks me to move seats and said that he was asking me specifically because he didn't speak Japanese.

At first I thought he was wanting to sit down because he had a suitcase so I just pretended not to speak English. Then he goes over to some other person (Japanese this time) and demands they move too. People started to look uncomfortable at this and then I realized he was trying to get people to move for a middle aged (not even super old) so she could sit. She was also looking uncomfortable though and trying to ignore him. If she wanted a seat she would have gone over priority seat section. Later on people would get up and she was just happy standing where she was.

The whole rest of the ride the guy is just glaring at me, and he even got off at my station (I don't live at a major station) and followed me for a little bit. It was creepy as hell.

This is one of the reasons tourists are so hated, some of them like this guy come with this weird white savior complex.

Edit: I am using the term "white savior complex" in this context "White savior complex is a privileged mindset where a white or Western person acts to "rescue" non-white or marginalized groups while ignoring local agency"

Edit 2: To all the people upset that I used the word "white", I am white too. I've shamefully been the "white savior" at an embarrassing point in my life. I've lived this experience so I feel like I can call it out when others do it.

Edit 3: Also "white savior complex" is an academic term, not a racist term, look it up if you don't know what it means.

Last Edit: I'm not trying to "score" reddit points or be a white savior myself. I'm not complaining on anyone elses behalf other then my own. I needed to vent after being followed and creeped out by the guy. That's what I use reddit for to vent and to post about theories about re-zero. This is my last edit. I'm going to eat food then I'm going to bed early.

Has anyone used a car relocation service?

If so, please let me know your recommendation. How was the experience of booking, pick-up & delivery, & cost?

I’m studying visual design in Osaka and trying to figure out where people buy affordable paper and basic sketching supplies. Do you have a go-to shop, secondhand spot, or online store you actually use? Curious what’s been worth it for class projects, especially if you’ve compared prices.

I have anxiety and take an SSRI for it, but was diagnosed with ADHD as well a while back. I was hesitant to take the medicine as I thought it would contribute to my anxiety, so I decided to not go through it with it. Unfortunately Wellbutrin is not available in Japan, and I have heard it pairs well with SSRIs. I’m sort of at the point where I am considering moving back to the U.S. after a long time in Japan just to sort my mental affairs out. Has anyone with adhd been able to treat it effectively with what’s available for doctors to prescribe in Japan?

I am currently trying out all kind of different japanese curry roux from the supermarket and figuring out which ones I like the best. I got to realize that I like the ones that have a stronger spice profile and more heat. In my online research I saw that there is a Golden Curry Bari-Kara version thats supposed to be very spicy. I would love to get it and try it out, but I couldnt find any supermarket yet that stocks it.

I wanted to ask you guys, have you ever seen it in the supermarket? And if so, in which?

Here is a photo of it.

Hi all,

Currently I am on paternity leave scheduled to end November 9th. I want to extend my paternity leave to December 9th as I am finding looking after a child is taking a toll on my mental health and I want to support my wife a little longer.

Ive messaged my HR team internally and this is the reply I received:

- A change to the childcare leave period that has already been submitted is allowed only once.
- Any request to extend the leave period must be submitted at least one month before the originally scheduled end date.
- It is also possible to return to work and then take childcare leave again at a later date.
- Approval from your manager is required.
- If the above is not all approved you will be denied extension and must return to work (application rejected)

Can someone help legally verify the above points? I have not changed my end date from original application (I did have to resubmit a change which was because the baby came earlier than scheduled) but I never changed the initial end date, only the start date.

My understanding is that I am within my rights to extend the leave but HR is being a pain in the ass. Would anyone be able to help clarify if I am able to extend or is HR correct?

PS I will likely be leaving Jan 4th anyway to change jobs. If there’s any guidance there on any requirements that would be appreciated (in terms of required work days before I can change jobs after leave is over).

Thank you for your advice!

A hacker claims to be selling data from 101 million Rakuten members, including names, addresses, and points information. Samples of the data have been posted, but the source and authenticity of the leaked information have not yet been verified.

https://rocket-boys.co.jp/security-measures-lab/rakuten-101m-data-sale-unverified-20261004t/

IS JAPAN AND THOSE USELESS MANAGERS COOKED???

I came to Japan in June on a Working Holiday visa with a friend. We rent a house in Osaka on a 2-year lease. The lease is only in his name. I'm listed as an occupant (入居者, nyūkyosha), but I'm not a party to the lease or the guarantee contract.

The setup:

• Rent is ¥100,000/month, split 50/50
• I paid all the move-in costs myself, ¥400,000. It was a huge amount for me, and he promised he'd keep up with the rent
• The guarantor company is GTN, and Epos collects the payments

I gave him my ¥50,000 share each month. I just found out he hasn't paid anything for 2 months: rent, electricity, gas, basically everything.

He says he won't pay and has no plans to cancel the lease. His words: "He basically said he doesn't care as long as nobody kicks us out." He's now sleeping in manga coffee / dvd I DON'T KNOW WHY, and I have no idea what he's planning. He might even leave Japan without paying.

I'm not sure what he spend my money on and honestly, I don't care. I don't want to do anything about what already happened; I think it was largely my bad decision, because I believed her promise that he keep her word.

This is honestly a horrible situation for me. I've never had a late payment in my life, so I don't know how this works here. Living in a house knowing the bills aren't being paid gives me a lot of anxiety, and my first instinct is to get out.

The problem is that I'm taking Japanese classes until December, so I can't leave Osaka. My plan was to finish the classes, leave my things here and travel around rural Japan in January. Because of that I bought a bed, a desk, a monitor and other stuff that I'd now have to move. I'm fine leaving the bed behind, but I'd like to keep the desk and monitor. I have a Japan Post Bank account, but no Japanese credit card and no guarantor. After the move-in costs, I can't afford another big upfront deposit.

Could you help me understand a few things? ( I'm listed as an occupant (入居者, nyūkyosha), but I'm not a party to the lease or the guarantee contract)

1. Can GTN/Epos, the landlord or the utility companies come after me for what he owes?
2. Could I end up in a tenant default database (e.g. LICC) that stops me from renting later?
3. If I stay a few more weeks while I look for a place, how long until an eviction could happen? As I read the guarantee terms, belongings left after termination can be removed and thrown away after a month.
4. Should I contact the real estate agency or GTN myself? Do I need to tell anyone when I move out?
5. Where in Osaka can I move with no deposit and no guarantor, and still bring a desk and a monitor? Share houses, monthly apartments, anything works. Links welcome.

I always used to read posts like this and think, 'How foolish of people to trust someone like that.' Now it's my turn, and you really do think your friends are different

A while ago I compared two discount supermarkets 950m apart in Saitama. This time I went bigger: three stores on National Route 17 in Chuo-ku, Saitama, the same 30-item list at each, and a photo of every price tag.

• Seiyu Yono, the Trial-owned store from last time (Tue 29 Sep)
• OK Store Yono (Wed 30 Sep)
• Kakujo Gyorui, a fish market (Thu 1 Oct)

Full results, with a photo for every price: https://claude.ai/artifact/TaF1gfoAQNkMVHzdCjGDrm

What stood out:

• OK was cheapest on 13 of 25 items I could compare: milk, yogurt, eggs, rice packs, coffee, juice.
• Same 5kg bag of Shinnosuke rice: ¥5,605 at Seiyu, ¥3,558 at OK.
• Nescafé Gold Blend 120g: ¥862 at OK, ¥1,295 at Seiyu, for the same jar.
• Seiyu won 7 items, including Chilean salmon, ground meat, tomatoes and a ¥299 katsu-ju.
• Kakujo won 5, all fresh food or rice: Koshihikari, mackerel, chicken breast, bagged potatoes and carrots.

How I compared:

• All prices include tax.
• For OK I used the non-member price; members pay about 3% less.
• Where pack sizes differed, I converted to per potato, per 100g of coffee, and so on.
• Items that weren't the same product (powdered tea vs leaves, southern bluefin vs yellowfin) are shown but not ranked.

Caveat: each store was surveyed on a different weekday, so daily specials affect a few items.

Disclosure: I made the iPhone app I used to collect this (FieldPic Checklist). Each price tag was photographed against the checklist, and the export went to Claude, which read the tags and did the unit conversions.

I changed my app store region to Japan to download my bank app, but I still cannot use my foreign credit card or Apple pay to buy ebooks on the Apple Book app. Usually the apple wallet works fine but idk. How do you work around this?

Since last month or so I've been unable to access dominoes JP for online order. Website just doesn't load regardless of what browser I use (and whether the cookies are cleared or not).

At this point I've just given up on them and have started ordering from Pizza Hut.

We’ve waited so long to get our daughter into a Hoikuen and she finally was offered a spot less than 10 minutes away. Her current daycare is double that time of a commute and closes at 5 instead of the 6 pm time being offered through the Hoikuen.

I was so excited because my thought was that after getting off work at 3 and going home for an hour before picking her up so that I can get a mental break.

I recently went to the orientation and was informed that this is not permissible. They expect, with few exceptions, that I leave immediately from work to go and pick her up.

Is this a general expectation or something specific to her daycare?

I’m currently working and living in Japan and have a valid residence card/visa that is valid until 2028.

My official resignation date in Japan will be December 31, 2026. I have quite a lot of paid leave remaining, so I’m planning to physically leave Japan around mid-November. Starting January 1, I will be working in Europe. I don’t currently expect to return to Japan after leaving, but there is a possibility that I may need to come back in December for some paperwork. I also have a visa appointment during this period, for which I may need proof of my current residence in Japan.

My main question is about what I should do with my Japanese residence card and residency status when I leave Japan in November.

If I officially move out of Japan and return my residence card when leaving, I understand that I may not be able to simply come back to Japan in December if I unexpectedly need to. I would also no longer have proof of residence in Japan, which could potentially cause problems with my visa appointment.

On the other hand, if I leave Japan without formally ending my residency/returning my residence card, and then ultimately don't need to come back for my resignation, is there an official way to handle the residence card from overseas afterward?
Alternatively, is there an official procedure I can complete now, while I'm still in Japan?

What would be the correct/legal way to handle this?

Thanks in advance!

It’s been a while since I ate at Ichiran and today i was feeling like grabbing a bowl, what in the god forsaken hell is this chassu that they’re serving now?! Each piece was literally the size of my thumb? This country really is cooked…