Introduction

This post is going to be a little bit different from my usual blogging. I’ve compiled some useful information here for what it’s been like getting set-up in Japan, and I hope that this might some day prove useful to others. If you are reading this and have any questions, comments, corrections, or would like clarification, please post below and I will do my best to update this guide.

Here is some background on my situation. I’ve learned that I have somewhat unique circumstances, which have made some aspects easier, and others more difficult.

1. Country of origin: Canada
2. Work Situation: Working remotely for company in Canada, not officially working in Japan
3. Support: Japanese friend who could help translate, was willing to let me crash for a few weeks
4. Language skills: Conversational Japanese
5. Savings before travel: ~$20,000 CAD
6. Planned living arrangements: Live in Osaka for 1 year

My initial plan was to stay with my Japanese friend for about 2 weeks, and find an apartment to move into, and be fully set up within the first month. This did not exactly go as planned, though it was mostly due to some things taking longer than expected. The following sections are broken down in roughly the order I tried to tackle them in.

Working Holiday Visa

Getting the working holiday visa was the first thing to tackle. It is fairly straightforward as long as you carefully read the information provided on the official site.

Some important points worth noting:

• Working holiday visas for Canadians going to Japan are 6 month, and can be extended for 6 more months
• After you receive your visa, you have 1 year to start your stay in Japan
• You must register your residence card (在留カード) with the local city office within 2 weeks
• If you want to leave the country for any reason, you have to get a re-entry permit or you won’t be allowed back in

Other than that, I think the process is pretty straightforward. While I can’t say for certain, I think that a lot of the fields on the application form are just to ensure that you’ve done your research, and otherwise don’t mean a whole lot. Things such as the plane you are taking and the date of arrival, as well as your required Intended Schedule of activities. I rewrote that form on the spot at the embassy, since they didn’t like my ‘Staying in Osaka, working, occasional visits to tourist places’. I rewrote it with random dates and tourist locations and they were happy to accept it.

Residence Card

Upon entering Japan, you will have to wait in a separate line for processing of people who require a residence card. This was pretty fast and painless. It is your legal duty to have this residence card on your person AT ALL TIMES.

You will notice on the back there is a place for addresses. This will get filled in when you take your card to the local city/ward office (市役所 / 区役所) to register your address. Legally, you must do this in your first 2 weeks in Japan. While you are at the office, you should also probably apply for the national health insurance, unless you are already covered for a year with some kind of travel insurance. This is also a condition of having a working holiday visa. The insurance is fairly affordable, especially since it is based on how much money you made last year in Japan.

If you end up moving, after you move, you must go to the office where you registered and tell them that you are moving (and where you are moving to). You will get a form that you have to provide the new city office.

I was lucky to be staying with a friend, so it was fairly painless to register with his address initially. If you are on your own/staying at a hotel, things may be more difficult. However, if you have work in Japan, they will probably help you with these types of things.

You will also be given a form that contains a number that functions the same as a Social Insurance Number. This number will also be mailed on a paper card to the address you provided, and you can go back to the office to order a plastic photo version you can use for ID, though your residence card will probably suffice.

Some important things to know about filling out forms:

• Enter your name in the same order it is presented on your residence card (Last First Middle)
• You need to know how to write your full name in Katakana, as you will be required to do so
• You must write your full address in Kanji
• Even if you have a friend present, they cannot write on the form, you must do all the writing
• Some forms will allow for signatures, but some will require and Inkan/Hanko (see later section on this)
  • Get one ASAP, and bring it to any occasion where you might be filling out forms
  • If you don’t know if it is required, make sure to ask in advance
• Don’t count on the person helping you to be able to speak English, if you are unable to communicate in Japanese and don’t have a friend who will help translate, things may be very difficult.

Inkan / Hanko

You should probably get one of these made. Though you can find cheap ones at 100 yen shops, they are all common Japanese names. Many malls / stations will have a shop that can make them with your name in Katakana. I don’t believe it matters which name you use, I chose my first name. Expect a custom one to cost between 1,000 and 10,000 yen.

You will need to use these for creating a bank account, signing a lease, signing most contracts, accepting deliveries, or for many other ‘official’ matters where you would often expect to see a signature. Some companies will accept signatures, but it would probably be in your best interest to order one of these as soon as possible. Mine took several days to be completed, but there may be faster options. I recommend ordering one of these as soon as possible, as it is pretty easy to do, and not having one may cause you delays later.

You also have the option of registering a Inkan with the government, but this is generally only used for taking out mortgages, dealing with legal issues, etc., and you will almost definitely not need to do this.

Cell Phone

Getting a cell phone was one of the first things I tried to tackle out of the mutually required trifecta of Phone Number, Bank Account, and Address, where each of them sort of requires the other two. I decided to tackle this fairly early, as having a working cell phone and data plan is extremely useful for getting around and using maps.

One of the biggest factors here is: Do you have a cell phone (that works in Japan) that you want to use, or would you like to purchase a new phone? If you already have a cell phone, your options will be slightly more limited, as some of the carriers  (au and softbank) will probably not be compatible, whereas NTT Docomo and various related MVNOs will. If you are buying new, then you have a lot of options. Just be careful to not get into any contracts that will be longer than your stay.

Generally you can get cell phone plans at a much cheaper rate than is available in Canada, though expect to see limitations on your call length (for instance, I have calls that are free up to 10 minutes, which was upgraded from 30 seconds). I have a slightly more detailed account of my experiences here, but I imagine the main concern may be with payments, as some companies may not like the idea of foreign credit cards. This brings us to the next topic:

Banking

A bank account is another important thing to get set up. Until you have a Japanese bank account, it’s useful to know that both 7-11 ATM’s and ゆうちょ (post office) ATM’s will accept Canadian debit and credit cards, though expect to get hit with some big fees per transaction, so it’s best to withdraw the maximum amount. Also be aware that bank branches are often open extremely limited hours, like 9 – 3. There are also fees associated with when you take money out of an ATM and it may be more expensive at night, or on weekends.

From my research it appears that Shinsei bank is the most foreigner friendly bank, with some services available in English, and no inkan is required, like most other banks. You will also require an address (the one registered on your residence card), and a phone number in order to create an account. I decided to go with UFJ, which is one of the largest banks in Japan, as they can be found everywhere. Another option I researched is ゆうちょ, which is a bank run by their post office. They offer no fees on incoming international money transfers, so it is a good option if you expect to be doing that a lot, plus they are also very common.

One thing to note about applying for a bank account. You must go to the branch nearest to your current address. I tried to sign up for an account at a branch near where I planned to move, but I was rejected and told to sign up at the branch close to my registered address. This is true for UFJ and ゆうちょ.

Another thing worth noting is that in Japan, is that almost all transactions are done in cash, and it’s not strange to see people walking around with large amounts of cash on their person. However, you are going to need to have a bank account to transfer money in and out of, as well as for setting up automatic payments. From your bank, expect to get a Cash Card (usable at ATMs to withdraw cash), possibly a Debit Card (used for transactions, mine is actually a Visa, but it withdraws from your account), and you can also have a Credit Card. The Credit Card may be difficult to come by unless you have a Japanese job, since you probably don’t have any credit history in Japan.

Real Estate

This is where things really started to go off the rails for me. As I mentioned, I don’t have a job in Japan. When I talked with the real estate agent at Century 21, he informed me that I would have difficulty renting from a normal company, as I don’t have a verifiable income source that they recognize. However, I was told that there is a company called UR which rents apartments and allows you to pay 1 year in advance.

The process for renting apartments if different than in Canada, as in Japan, you have a real estate agent show you different rooms in different buildings. Going with UR was a bit different from normal, and very expensive initially. If you end up renting normally, however, expect to pay around 5 months rent up front, which includes 1 month of actual rent, 1-2 months security deposit (probably refundable), 1 month fee that goes directly to the landlord, and I believe there might be another common fee as well.

Some of the surprising things about looking for apartments is that they can be had for very cheap. I was looking at some 2 bedroom (2DK) apartments that were relatively large for Japan standards which were ~35,000 yen per month, and smaller rooms got even cheaper. It wasn’t until I went to these places that I discovered that most of these cheap places were 1) Very old and 2) Didn’t have hot water anywhere except for the bathtub/shower, or a place to do laundry. I ended up taking a recently renovated room that cost a little more (~65,000 yen per month) which was very clean and had hot water and a laundry machine space available.

Another thing worth noting is that most of these apartments do not come with air conditioning/heating, fridge, any cooking appliance/surface, or washing machine. On top of the 1 years rent I had to pay up front + 2 months deposit (around 900,000), I still had to furnish the place and get appliances.

Rentals

Furniture and appliance rentals are very handy when you are staying for less then around 2 years. Not only is it cheaper, but you don’t have to worry about getting rid of them when you leave. I went with a company called Sarkland, and ended up renting a fridge, AC, TV, TV stand, curtains, a washing machine, and a gas burner unit for cooking. The delivery guys also installed everything, which is great, because I would have been totally clueless. I highly recommend looking into these guys.

Furniture

If you are thrifty, there are plenty of places to supplement the furniture you didn’t rent. So far I’ve mostly just ended up purchasing things from AEON, Two One Style, and Nitori, which offer fairly low price items like futons/beds, desks, chairs, etc. It’s been over a month since I landed in Japan, and I am just finishing the last of my set up. I will finally have the last of my furniture delivered in a couple days, which just about finishes off the savings I started with.

Bills

After moving into your apartment (or preferably, the day before), you need to contact the gas, water, and electricity companies in order to establish a new account. This was a fairly painless process, and it only required the gas technician to come by to turn on the gas line.

You will be sent bills which you can take to any convenience store to pay. You also have the option of setting up automatic withdrawal from your bank account or credit card. If you specify that you would like to do this when you contact them, you will be billed normally, but sent a form to apply for automatic payments.

Lastly,

That’s it for my guide for right now. It was a lot of information but I’d love to hear back from anyone who would like more details, or if you found this useful. This has been a big information dump, so I’m sure I left out some details, so please leave a comment if you find anything missing or incorrect. This is all based off of anecdotal experience, so if you had a different experience, please let me know.