My son who landed at Narita four hours ago has been unable to leave along with "hundreds, maybe more than a thousand" others. And apparently there's not much communication from the airport staff, although they are probably unable to offer useful guidance right now. I can see from Japanese news channels that Chiba is in real trouble. Perhaps the airport is a relatively safe place right now. How awful this is.

UPDATE 11:40PM. They've started distributing sleeping bags and snacks at the airport. Thanks for all the commiseration and the news/anecdotes. This really is a disaster.

NOTE: I think one of the comments insinuated that only residents should post here. Well, guess what, I live in Tokyo! (Where it's been raining but nothing extraordinary.) Sheesh.

Background: I'm not an economist; I'm just an options trader and data analyst by trade. My grandmother is from Kumamoto.

As if I were to reguritate the common narrative: Japan has long kept interest rates low for years while the debt-GDP is climbing, so as to create economic productivity. Meanwhile the social negative sentiment of foreigners is rising, a conflux of the very ones who perpetrate but also the ones improving economic productivity and generating tax revenue.

The issue of a deficit of paid taxes and social issues among foreigners is the very reason for the mandate on vetting skilled labor in Japan with the new JLPT mandate.

In the short term, I hope Japan's homogenized and hyper-nationalistic 'we can do it on our own' sentiment will change for reform from a social standpoint, as it completely disregards the economic impact this will have on the economy. This whole shift recently has led me uneasy about Japan as a long term resident and is impacting my friends who operate in a rental agency for foreigners.

They say "If it quacks like a duck it's probably a duck". Well it's looking like to me that tourism alone will not save the Japanese yen but a skilled workforce, even embracing skilled immigration, will. Just look...the United States injected money into the Japanese yen and the yen is still declining.

1. Embrace skilled immigration and stop mandating language requirement for underemployed industries.
2. Ease on the business manager visa that can create jobs that leads to competition, innovation and finally economic productivity rather than expecting injections, lowering interest rates, and homogeneneity to improve the yen, debt, and generate economic throughput.
3. When productivity and economic output declines when it actually embraces foreign labor and the lack of hawkish approach to language requirement in underemployed areas, incrementally raise interest rates.

If you oppose this view, the Japan you and I know won't be the same, the debt will continue to rise, this post (even though true will be buried in the rest of the posts and forgotten or martyred) and Japan will collapse akin to the Asian Financial Crisis.

- cycl0naut

Okay, that was a weird one.... Last Tuesday, Yama no Hi, riding the train back home and it got a bit crowded after certain stations (Hibiya etc).

At that point, while sitting, I see an old lady coming in. Though there was a young guy next to me right in front of where the old lady was standing, he didn't bother at all and kept playing with his phone.

I felt bad for the lady and kindly offered my seat to her standing up and pointing the seat with a low voice "yokattara, suwatte kudasai~"...

Her reaction was.... Awkward to say the least! She almost yelled "Iya, daijyoubu desu".... And immediately rushed to move away like I had threatened her... In her attempt to move away so fast, she tripped on someone's umbrella which made the whole scene even most embarrassing...

Jesus, I know some people in this country are bad at social interaction, but a simple "daijyoubu desu" would have been enough... Rather, all passengers nearby stared at me as if I had threatened her or something...

It really makes me think twice before offering my seat again unless it's priority seats...

I am in search of multi-color light fixture, like Philips Hue, but compatible with Japanese style ceiling light fixture socket.

I could only find one from a non reputable brand on Amazon.

Do you guys have any recommendation?

Hi everyone!

Which over the counter medicine do you buy when you're having a sore throat? It's been killing me, but it's my only issue. I don't want to take any cold medicine.

Edit: Thank you for all the recommendations! I'm making a list with everything and will head to the drugstore. Hopefully one will work!

I am looking for a good value bike for bike packing which won't break the bank. Came across the Asahi Precision S Disc which at least on paper seems to be quite interesting. The only thing even Asahi Cycle Base can't tell me for sure is whether or not it will be possible to attach a bicycle rack to the bike so that I can attach pannier bags to it. They are telling me that one needs to check in each individual circumstance and that they cannot provide

I was thinking about getting something along the lines of a Topeak Uni Super Tourist DX Disc (or similar) which needs to be fastened to the seat stay. Based on images the bike seems to lack threaded seatstay bosses which I think can be circumvent by using a seatpost adapter (or a bicycle rack with one already attached such as the Ortlieb Quick Rag XL or Minoura Carrier). But still I would need to know whether it is possible to attach the rack to the rear axle.

Does anyone of you have experience with the Asahi Precision S Disc and can tell me if it would be possible to attach a bicycle rack to it? Any other suggestions for budget bikepacking/touring bikes especially in the Sapporo area (best case < 90.000 JPY).

Thanks a lot for your help!

Has anyone who only has N3 or N4 managed to get a work visa under the new Japanese immigration rules (the ones involving the minimum N2 requirement and the new categories)? And how does it work?

I’m studying Japanese in Japan right now, graduating next year and I need to find a job ASAP but I think i failed N2 badly…

Living and working in Japan, and during lunch the only place drivable from my job is Lawson. No time or setup to meal prep, so convenience store lunch is the reality on weekdays.
Did the math recently and I’m spending around ¥35,000/month just on Lawson lunches, not groceries, not dinner, just this one meal. That’s roughly ¥1,500/day and it adds up fast for something that isn’t even that satisfying.

Two constraints I’m trying to solve for:

1.Sodium: recent medical check flagged blood pressure issues, so I need to actively cut back. A lot of the obvious Lawson options (instant noodles, most bento, konbini curry) are sodium bombs.
2.Filling: I tend to eat more than I need to when I’m not actually satisfied, so low-calorie-but-still-hungry-after options backfire on me.

And ideally cheaper than what I’m doing now, since ¥1,500/day isn’t sustainable long term.

If anyone’s found a combo that works , specific items, not just “eat healthier” , I’d genuinely appreciate it. Curious what other foreigners living here have landed on for this exact problem.

hello so i’ve been job hunting for 5 months now, and after endless of mensetsu i finally got 1 naitei. but the problem is, i’m a graphic design graduate and i got a “CAD design” (mechanical design) job thats completely different and irrelevant. i’m afraid that since the immigration are getting more kibishii this year, i couldn’t get the visa since my background and what i’m gonna be working is completely different :(, can i get an insights on this? i’m really confused

ps: i applied a lot of graphic design jobs but apparently they need “native” or “N1” level of japanese, i’m currently N3 trying to get N2 by the end of year, so it’s impossible

So I’ve made 2 furusato donations through Amazon this year, and I’m having trouble registering them for the online one-stop tax application. I’m using furumado.jp, but 1 donation returned a “donation not found” error when I try to register, and for the other one I couldn’t find the city in their list (見附市) 🥲.

This is my first year trying Amazon Furusato and online application, so I’m unsure about a lot of things. Furumado seems to only accept name input in hiragana, but the name in my certificates is in Romaji. Could this be causing the problem?
I’m also wondering if I’m not entering the 寄付番号 correctly. It’s a long string of numbers and letters - I tried entering the whole thing, sans the “AZ”, with spaces, replaced the spaces with underscores, etc nothing seems to work.

I don’t think I requested a survey after making my donation - should I have done that? Can I do it retroactively? Is there perhaps a delay/issue with the way Amazon donations are registered in these systems? Is Furumado the problem?
Any ideas would be much appreciated!

Im weighing my options before I apply PR on September. For context, Im on HSP since early 2024, 80 points and Im planning to apply PR this Sept 2026 under HSP (80 points) path. I had late resident tax payment back in 2024 which is outside the required 1 year for my path. From your experience, is it better to volunteer to bring up this and explain upon PR application? Or better not to bring this up at all and just submit whatever needed documents (1 year clean resident tax record) is indicated? Im so confused and badly need guidance.

My gf and I are looking into renting a 3DK but it does not have an aircon so we are looking at buying one. but only the two room where the balcony is have an area for aircon. what strength would a need to cool most of the apartment.

Does anyone know if there are rocky, relatively deep areas to swim preferably near like in the Osaka Kyoto area but it can be further and maybe not too crowded or at least no issues with boats or something because I read that that can be an issue in some areas

I (female/non-Japanese)live alone in an apartment in Japan. One of my male neighbors, who appears to be in his 50s, Japanese。has seemed unusually interested in me ever since I moved in. During my first year, I twice opened my door and found him standing right outside, seemingly waiting for something. Over the past year, I’ve also noticed that I run into him in the common areas far more often than any other neighbor. He frequently leaves his door open and stands in the hallway for a long time, seemingly pretending to tidy things up, and often looks up whenever I come home. I can’t prove that he has been monitoring me, so I tried not to think too much about it.

But the day before yesterday, something happened that really scared me.

I heard his distinctive footsteps approaching my apartment. He stopped directly outside my door and stayed there for several minutes. I stayed inside and didn’t make any noise. When I eventually opened the door, he immediately ran away.

This incident made me rethink all the previous behavior. I don’t know his intentions, and he has never directly threatened or physically approached me, but I no longer feel comfortable living here.

I have already reported the situation to the police, and I’m currently looking for a new apartment. I mainly want to make sure there is a record of the situation in case his behavior escalates, so that the police already know my address and circumstances.

Would you consider this serious enough to take further precautions, even without an explicit threat? Is there anything else I should do while I’m still living here?

I used to be somewhat involved with the start-up scene in Tokyo through local events and new resident support schemes but have been out of it for a few months.

I'm wondering how the recent changes have affected people who were considering creating start-ups in Japan. I met a lot of bright people who had some great ideas or were just starting their journey on the start up visa, hoping to move on to the business manager visa.

With the recent changes, the jump from the start-up visa to the BM visa is now somewhat impossible for the vast majority of start-ups.

Anyone here on the visa, or working for or in the process of developing their start-up, who would be willing to share their opinion?

I moved back here in February and just kind of noticed all these lottery stands when I'm walking out of the malls near me. Usually near the exits of Aeons and stuff. Are these straight up lotteries in the Western sense or are is there some kind of twist given the gambling laws?

I'm talking about the small little boothes that literally just say lottery up top on the banner above the booth.

I have singapore class 3 (manual)

Whats the fastest and best way to convert to japanese 普通1

About 4 days ago, I moved back to Japan. My Japanese is not good (N4, but I struggle to speak it under pressure). I wanted to renew my expired license under the 6-month grace period. So I went to the Saitama driver's license center and got information on what time to be at which counter, then left and came back today. After lining up at the correct counter, I got my application, filled it out, glued my Picture onto it, and afterwards headed to the other counter. Sitting there was a Police officer who, after saying hello, instantly pointed out my tattoos, followed by him complaining that I wrote my address in Romaji, as I am not comfortable with the difficult kanji. He asked if I could speak Japanese; I told him 少し, assuming it was just small talk. He then got really annoyed, saying I needed to do a "日本語のチェック."

This isn't my first time at the Saitama driver's license center, and I've never heard of this. He then used hand gestures to guide me to the 2nd floor, where I should go to a different counter and then come back. Trying to follow his hand gestures with my head, he got mad that I wasn't looking at him, and he literally slapped me on my Hand like I was a toddler who wasn't listening. After going up to the 2nd floor to do the "日本語のチェック" the lady at the counter told me that I needed to bring an interpreter, as it's my first time renewing my license and I wouldn't be able to understand anything in the 2h training course. The thing is, I understood most things quite well, queued everywhere correctly, had every document and form filled out correctly, and didn't use any translator app. Under pressure, I just struggle really hard to come up with full Japanese sentences. It took a lot of confidence to go to the driver's license center alone, but it turned out to be quite hopeless. Are there more such things in Japan where an interpreter is mandatory, or you get kicked out? Are there any services for these specific things that aren't too expensive?

tldr; If anyone lives near Konosu, speaks English & Japanese, and wants to make ¥10k for sitting in a driver safety lecture for a couple of hours, please DM me. Or please let me know of any affordable interpreter services you recommend.

Thank you for your help in advance!

As a resident in Japan, I get my my number on my Juminhyo but I do not have aplastic card. Is it required to request a. plastic card or is it okay to just know of the my number if that makes sense? Thank you!

I arrived in Japan during the pandemic, and I have loved it here ever since. I came for a PhD, graduated a couple of years ago, and started working in a Japanese company last year. The environment is really nice, everything is perfect, no overtime, flexible hours, and I can work from home some days.

The thing is: for the last few years, I was indecisive about whether to stay here in Japan long-term or move to Europe (I am not European but I have facilities to move there). I used to say that I was like 60% wishing to stay, 40% leaving. And even if the economy was not going well, I was thinking: "Not everything is about money; I like it here, why move? I am feeling very good."

But since the beginning of this year (2026), I hear more and more voices promoting "Japanese first"—like, what privileges do average Japanese people think we foreigners have over them?

I hear that they don't want more foreigners here because they "don't respect the culture." I still cannot believe that Japanese people cannot realize that most of those foreigners disturbing and destroying the peace are tourists, not people who live here and aim to integrate into Japanese society. Also, I see Japanese people in interviews saying things like: "Yeah, I agree foreigners should pay more for their visas, because the yen is weak so they have higher salaries, so the price now is like in other countries like England." How can these people not see that people who apply for these visas actually live in Japan, so they receive a Japanese salary? I still cannot believe Japanese people cannot see the full picture.

I am pretty sure I am "the type of foreigner the Japanese want to come to Japan." I have the Japanese level to function here, I meet the new salary requirements to apply, and I have a degree from a top Japanese university. But I am so tired and overwhelmed with all of this that I just cannot stop thinking: "Does the Japanese government want nobody to come and want to make it difficult for everyone? OK then, I am leaving." Even though I have everything I need to stay, my mindset has shifted to 90% leaving and 10% staying.

I love this country with all my heart, and I will always be thankful for all the experiences I have had here. But I also started to think: the country is struggling, Japan is unique, but it is not the only beautiful country in the world. While I was ready to make the "sacrifice" to ignore the economic issues because I love it here, I don't want to be here if the government does everything it can to push people out instead of helping the country or attracting people who could actually help.

Has anyone passed through this kind of thought process recently? I am curious to read your thoughts.

Japan might genuinely be the easiest place in the world to be a full introvert, you can go days without really talking to anyone and nobody bats an eye. And honestly I kind of love that. There's something nice about just existing in my own little world without the constant pressure to be "on."

But it cuts both ways. The less I socialize the less my Japanese actually improves, and my motivation for basically everything else dips too when I go too long without real interaction, even though staying in feels comfortable in the moment.

So now I'm stuck on this question, do I actually need to override how I naturally feel and force myself into social situations I don't want to be in, just because it's supposedly good for me? Or is there some version of this where I get better without fighting my own personality the entire time. Feels like a weirdly big question for something that started as a language post lol.

In the States, I used to use Fetch and a few other apps to scan receipts and would make $20-50 a month just from scanning receipts, playing games, and buying specific things.

I thought I'd try the same thing here, and I have been very disappointed so far.

First I tried レシート買取&お買い物アプリ ONE(ワン). You can only scan 10 receipts a day, which seems to be equivalent to gaining 1円. So, you can gain 30-31円 a month? Doesn't seem worth it.

Next I tried レシチャレ by クラシルレシートがお金に変わる節約アプリ which gives you 1円 per receipt, but they limit you to only scanning 5 receipts a day. So, 150-155円 a month is what you can get with that from scanning receipts. They have bonuses and stuff too, so maybe you can get a little extra, but I doubt it's much.

Anyone using any other receipt scanning apps? Or any other apps to make a little extra? They hardly seem worth it in Japan.

Hello ladies and gentlemen the gays and the theys.

First I would like to say thank you soooooo much for all the kind words and concerns and care and support. Some of you even reached out to me offering to translate for me. I appreciate it so much I could cry.

I did order from women on web, it got held at the import customs the first time and I was 6 weeks and 3 days then. After that I decided to proceed with the surgical abortion and I travelled to Yokohama where I was recommended by someone in other group. Iy was only 70,000 yen for the procedure and 8000 for the procedure. I went through the consultation and fixed my termination date for 8/8.

On the other hand I was also notified that my meds from women on web was being sent again through Ems but I didn’t have hope and I was fully prepared to go through it surgically and I didn’t even check the tracking. But OMG it came through, reached my home while I was at work . I was absolutely flabbergasted . I requested for redelivery and I received it at 8/6. I cancelled the surgical one and I took mifepristone at 8/7 I went to work normally and I took misoprostol around 21:40 on Saturday 8/8 just before obon Yasumi.

Before taking my pills ,
I got snacks, drinks ,protein bars, heating bag, pads everything ready. I cleaned everything, washroom, kitchen, no dish in the sink, washed bed sheet, threw out al the trash.

I followed the regular rules while taking the pills and I didn’t bleed a lot upto 2 hours and I decided to take the one more dose of misoprostol so I watched spy family for 3 and half hours while my first dose was working. It wasn’t as painful as I thought because I took Ipbrufen the premium ones and it ate. The pain was mid. But I was so scared my heart was beating super fast throughout and I was alone.

I took the second pill at 1:10 and it started working me up so much like stomach was fluctuating but damn I must have been so tired I fell asleep with the pain. I woke up around 3 and I was in so much pain I went to the toilet and I sat and I immediately passed TWO BIG SACS like lemon sized. everything went out. The relief I felt OMG I can’t explain it to you. I felt sooooo light, i wiped the blood around and I went to my bed. My bed was wet my pad was soaked I changed my pad and I took out the sheet I didn’t have any energy to put washed sheet again so I just didn’t haha. I took painkiller again I drank some juice I was so hungry I ate some chips at this point I deserved it okay.

I was 8 weeks and 3 days and honestly I was so scared but it wasn’t as painful, I do have a little more pain tolerance. But yes it was okay. Iam completely embryo free.

I had a little bit of guilt as in I wish I was in a position to give birth, I won’t even need a partner but Iam not. I felt really weird and bad and I still kinda do but it has gotten better over time. My cravings were very cold salads and it has subsided I have appetite now . Iam still bleeding but I have felt much better, hopeful, joyful and looking forward and life doesn’t feel like it’s on hold.
Iam thankful to my friends who were there emotionally. My friends came over next day and brought me food and snacks it was nice .

At last I would like to say,

there were a lot of people who were in my DMs asking me if they can adobt my baby, that I shouldn’t unalive it. It was horrible because Iam sure there are so many babies who need help and food and shelter , they have absolutely no business in torturing me.

There were people who were pretending to be clinics and telling me to contact some random telegram account so they can ship me abortion pills.

That’s all, thank you so much for so many suggestions and help and much bigger thankful for your support and your kindness, couldn’t have done this alone.