Reporting illegal immigrants

Many people try to use this website to report people who they believe are working or living in Japan illegally. Instead of reporting it here, you should use the official government channels. The Immigration Department has a web form where you can give details of suspected overstayers. The website is in Japanese. If you don’t read […]

Posted on: 19 May 2013 | 9:55 pm

Cheap accommodation in Yokohama

The Mainichi Daily News has an interesting article on Cheap accommodation in Yokohama. There is a lot of inexpensive accommodation in the Kotobuki district of Yokohama’s Naka-ku, and it’s being promoted as a good place for foreigners to stay. “Since June, about 70 foreign visitors from 15 countries including Sweden, Italy and Malaysia have stayed […]

Posted on: 25 September 2005 | 7:38 pm

Japan ranked 11th in Human Development

Japan has dropped from ninth place to 11th place in the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI). The HDI ranks 177 countries according to the health, education and living standards of the people who live there. The top ten countries in the list are mostly the rich northern and western European countries, with Australia and […]

Posted on: 12 September 2005 | 2:25 am

Japan’s population is shrinking

Japan’s population is starting to decline. The population in both May and June this year was less than the same months last year — that’s the first time since World War II that this has happened in consecutive months. Overall, Japan’s population fell by about 30,000 during the first six months of this year, thanks […]

Posted on: 29 August 2005 | 7:49 pm

Immigration Information Center

The Japanese Ministry of Justice’s Immigration Information Center is the best place to call for all immigration related issues. It’s located in Tokyo inside the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau, but you can call them from anywhere in Japan (or, presumably, from outside Japan). The staff there speak a variety of foreign languages. Their phone number […]

Posted on: 29 August 2005 | 7:27 am

Dependent Visa

There has been some discussion in the Visa eligibility section about whether you are allowed to work if you have a dependent visa. The answer is that you can, but only if you apply for permission and get a work permit. It’s a bit confusing, because the Ministry of Foreign Affaris website (under Types and […]

Posted on: 27 August 2005 | 12:27 am

Japanese government publishing laws in English

The Japanese government is planning to translate more of its laws into English. They will publish English translations of more than 200 laws over the next three years. The new translations will be informative only — the original Japanese text will be the legally binding one. But the translations should be helpful to non-Japanese speakers […]

Posted on: 14 August 2005 | 8:13 pm

Tokyo still most expensive city

Tokyo is still the world’s most expensive city to live in, according to the latest Economist Intelligence Unit Worldwide Cost of Living survey. However, Osaka is no longer in second place on the list; it has been replaced by Oslo in Norway. One of the survey’s editors said that this is probably because Japan has […]

Posted on: 9 August 2005 | 10:12 pm

Bank account in Tokyo

I wanted to open a bank account when I first moved to Tokyo. It turned out to be quite difficult: most banks required evidence of a long stay in Japan, such as a working visa or at least an alien card. I had high hopes for Shinsei Bank, since they were the most modern of […]

Posted on: 3 August 2005 | 7:33 am

Budget Travel Hints

The Japan National Tourist Organisation has a useful little page of Budget Travel Hints. There’s a list of prices of common things in Japan, and information on dining out, transporation and accommodation. Like many countries, Japan can be an expensive place to visit if you don’t plan ahead, however there are a wide variety of […]

Posted on: 2 August 2005 | 11:39 pm