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Moving
and Getting Settled in Japan
Moving to Japan and establishing a life
here isn't easy. Even Japanese people returning from
abroad struggle to readjust. I would advise anyone to have a
tangible, realistic plan plus enough cash to get through until you
have a stable job and place to live. If you are coming with an organization
or to work in a specific company,
then communicate carefully in advance. How will you get from the airport to
your first destination? Will someone meet you? If you
don't speak Japanese or already know the transportation system, have someone meet you or provide very detailed instructions. Once
you have your feet on the ground, know how and when will you get your Alien Registration Card and arrange for
National Health Insurance (if needed). Unless your housing is
being provided, you will almost certainly need urgent help in this
area. Get all the help that you can, because you'll need it.
People who help you may have to invest significant time and money.
They'll understand this better than you, but they may have a hard
time saying "no." Consider the strength of your relationship
before you through yourself in someone's arms.
Packing
Don't over pack. Of course,
you should use every square inch of space that you can, and you'll
never have enough space. That's a rule of life, I think.
But don't be tempted to go out and buy tons of extra stuff "because
everything is so expensive in Japan." It's true that things
are more expensive here, but you will learn to find things at
reasonable prices (and get used to the high prices) in time.
After you've lived here
for a couple of months and start to learn where to shop, you'll
regret bringing that suitcase full of chocolate bars, or whatever.
If you have extra space and want to use
it, here are a few suggestions. First, think about what
special things will provide a touch of home.
During the first few months, you'll probably be craving some kind of
comfort food or familiar smells around the house. Even if you can buy that special something here
in Japan, it may take awhile to figure out where. So bring
bring a enough to get you through the first couple of months.
Some things that we wanted and couldn't
easily find at first: spices for non-Asian cooking, good
popcorn (we found cheap popcorn at a 100 Yen Store and microwave
popcorn at various places, including Costco), hot cocoa, herb tea, decaf coffee
(still very hard to find, and impossible to order in most coffee
shops) and jello (pretty widely available overall, but jello is a
taste of home for many people, and it's easy to jack and make).
It's easy to find Hershey's bars and other chocolate items here at a
reasonable price, but if you have some special type of candy or
chocolate you may want to bring some along. Note: Items in bold are still tricky for
us to find.
You should also bring vitamins (if you use them) and
medicine (especially common cold medicine, aspirin/Tylenol, and
children's medications). Also, if you're tall (over six feet)
and want to ride a bicycle in Japan, consider buying one in the US
and bringing it with you on the plane. You can buy large
bicycles in Japan but only at special dealers and at high prices.
One place to buy a big bicycle is at the REI store at Grandberry
Mall in Yokohama.
Big bicycles in Japan? Snyders
pretzels? At Grandberry Mall in Yokohama
Arriving At The Airport (Narita)
When you arrive at the airport,
you should ideally have someone meet you there with a car (this is
especially true if you are flying into Narita, which is located
about two hours by train or car outside of Tokyo. If that's
not possible, have someone meet you and go with you on the train.
In that case, or if the car is too small, you can choose from
various delivery services at the airport. They will deliver
your luggage to any address in the Tokyo area the next day for a very reasonable cost.
You should be able to find someone who speaks English who can help
you out. By the way, when you fly out of the country, you can
also deliver bags TO the airport (even several days in advance).
Whatever you do, don't try to carry all your bags on the train
unless you are truly desperate.
You will most likely be changing trains, going up and down stairs,
possibly even crossing streets, etc.
(For a
helpful guide to Narita Airport click here for information from TokyoWithKids.com)
Alien Registration Card
You need an Alien Registration Card if you are
planning to stay more than 90 days in Japan. If you want to
take pictures in advance, the pictures are similar to passport
photos, except they should measure 4.5 cm by 3.5 cm. You'll need
your Alien Registration Card to rent an apartment and
establish your basic services (banking, phone, etc.). To
register, go to the local ward office (like a city hall) where you
live.
Here's the tricky part. You will need to wait for a couple of
weeks to get the card, but in the meantime you may have trouble
finding housing and arranging important services. You won't
even be able to get a cell phone, unless you use one of the
expensive temporary services for tourists (you can get a phone card,
though, and use this at payphones that are always nearby). If you are coming as
a student or with an organization, they should have a plan for your transition.
But don't assume that. Your local city hall should have some
people who can speak English. Otherwise, I don't know if there are any
special services for foreigners in this regard. My wife (who is Japanese) took me to the local town hall.
She also had to fill out some paperwork to re-establish her residency. We both applied for national health insurance on
the same visit, which was processed in just a few days. It was very
easy with her help, but I didn't speak Japanese then and wouldn't have wanted to
go through that on my own.
Money
Make sure that you bring, or have easy
access to, enough money for the initial transition. I read
elsewhere that a single person should bring a minimum of $5000 just
for the first month. If you are coming as a family, make that
at least $7000. You will have to pay $3000-$4000 in advance to
rent housing, and the rest will be for furnishings and food until
your first paycheck comes. If you
bring cash, you can exchange some of it into Yen when you arrive at
the airport. Only change enough for your immediate needs
(transportation, food, etc. for a couple of days). I don't recommend that you bring
a huge sum in cash unless you have to, because the exchange rate for
cash isn't as good. Rather, I suggest that you keep money in
the bank in your own country and use a Japanese ATM machine to
withdraw cash in Yen. You will need a debit card with a Visa
or Mastercard logo (or you can use a credit card, but then you'll
have to pay the cash advance fees). Using a debit card gives you the best exchange rate
and, unlike international wire transfers, there are no fees (except
for any fees charged by your bank for using an out-of-network ATM,
etc.).
Recently, Japan has been converting its entire system of Post Office
ATM machines to work with international Visa/Mastercard credit and
debit cards. For more information,
read my information about "Using Credit and Debit Cards in
Japan".
Housing
If you need to find your
own housing, then be prepared to work hard at it.
In most cases, you either need to speak Japanese well or have a
Japanese speaking person who can spend parts of several days helping
you out. On a positive note, real estate (and rental) prices
are coming down in Japan, so you can live
more cheaply than you could in the past. Here's the basic process
with some tips: 1.
Choose where to live. I have no idea how you'll make
decisions on where to live. You may think that everyplace is
basically the same (it's all Japan, right?). But one thing
that makes Japan interesting is that you'll find big differences.
Even within the city of Tokyo, one train station area may feel like
a country, farming town lacking in basic services while the very
next train station features a modern mall with all the amenities.
This is one contrast. Some cities look very clean and nice,
while others are busy and downright ugly. You can live in a
place with convenient transportation options, or in a (usually
cheaper) place where you have to use a car or ride the bus to go
anywhere. (See my notes below on "Basic
Transportation Options in Japan").
2. Determine how much space you need, including the number of rooms
and approximate square meters. Our apartment is 67 square
meters (just over 600 square feet). That's considered small in the USA
(and just about anywhere where there is space to build). But
it's bigger than average here.
Another way to measure space is in the number of Tatami mats that
fit in each room. A big room
would be 10 or more Tatami mats in size. A typical bedroom has
6 Tatamis, but some have only 4 Tatamis (about 8 feet by 8 feet, I think).
Typical "Mansion" Style Apartments
3. Choose whether to focus
on finding a house, "mansion," or apartment. A "mansion" is
basically a nicer, usually newer apartment building (usually built
better than apartment buildings, too). The cost is basically
highest for a house, then mansion, then apartments. We chose
to look mainly at houses (very, very small ones) and mansions.
The various types of
housing are all listed
with codes that describe the number and types of rooms.
More rooms does not always mean bigger. I am more concerned
with the number of square meters and the size of the rooms.
Our mansion is 67 square meters (around 700 square feet), which is
fairly large on average here but small compared with housing in the
USA. Some of those square meters are wasted on the stairwell,
so it's really smaller than that. It's nice to have the
kitchen part of the DK
(dining/kitchen) separated from the dining space.
Sometimes the kitchen (sink, stove, etc.) takes up one wall of the
dining room. If you want a living space where you can relax
(especially as a family), you may be happier with an L (living room)
that measures 10 Tatamis or more.
2DK - 2 rooms plus a dining/kitchen
3DK - 3 rooms plus a dining/kitchen
4DK - rooms plus a dining/kitchen
2LDK - 3 rooms, a living room, plus a dining/kitchen
3LDK - 3 rooms, a living room, plus a dining/kitchen
S - extra storage space
You can see our 2LDK by clicking
here.
4. Visit local realtors. Virtually
all rentals are handled by realtors. Once you know that town
where you will live, go to the nearest train station. You will
find local realtor's offices located on the main streets right
around the station. You can most likely visit them one by one
on foot. The offices are easily identifiable by the postings
they all have in their windows (see the picture above). At the
realtors office, you can look at the available apartments (sometimes
they'll have stacks of them on sheets of paper). Again, it
helps to know approximately what you're looking for. (We
wanted at 3LDK or 2DK with at least 60 square meters of space within
a 15 minute walk of the train station.)
5. Choose an place and fill out a rental
application. But don't breathe easy yet. The owner will
need to approve you (not just the application, but YOU).
Many owners will not rent to foreigners. Aside from any prejudices
the owner may have, there are practical reasons for this: foreigners
often don't speak the language, understand unspoken rules about how
you treat an apartment (e.g., they may wear shoes inside, put
pictures and posters on the walls, make loud noises, put their trash
out on the wrong days, misunderstand the rental process, be upset
about not getting their full deposit back, etc.). Technically,
it's illegal to discriminate against foreigners in housing, but
owners don't need to explain why they turn people down. I won't go into whether or
not you should get upset about this. It may be your first
experience of culture shock. Just be aware that it may happen.
In addition, you will probably be asked to provide a "guarantor."
That's kind of like a co-signer on a loan. The best thing is
to have a Japanese guarantor, if you can find one. Don't
despair. Japanese people also have to find guarantors when
they rent or make other kinds of transactions. If you have a
Japanese friend he or she may be willing to help in this way.
As I said above, you need help if you want to find housing.
6. If all goes well, you will be
approved. Don't count on getting approved the first time
though. Next you will establish a date to move in and pay a
substantial amount of money up front. Generally, your advance
payment will be 3 to 5 times the amount of one month's rent.
So if you're monthly rent was the equivalent of $800, you'd need to
pay up to $4000 in advance just to move in. You may get some
of that back later, but don't count on it. If you want to
understand what all the advance money is for, ask your Japanese
friend. Don't get angry about the injustice of it all and
blame the realtor; that's the way it is. Considering all the
time and expense of moving, it's a good incentive to choose a place
where you will be happy to live for a long time.
6. The realtor should be able to help
you by providing phone numbers to call to set up gas and
electricity. Plus see my other section about setting up
phone services.
7. It's customary, and you are
expected, to visit your neighbors (one or two doors on either side
of you if you live in an apartment building), greet them, and give
them simple gifts. Get your Japanese friend to help you with
this, too, if you can. Japan is a gift giving culture, and the
giving and receiving of gifts is one way the people maintain
relationships. You may want to bring some simple gifts from
your home country for this and other gift giving occasions.
Hints: More than
90 percent of gifts are food items, usually neatly packaged regional
food items. If you are coming from the USA you may want to bring
some relatively lightweight, packable food finger foods (nuts, etc.)
or special sauces/salsa. Also keep in mind that "4" is
considered a bad number (it's pronounced like "death"), so gifts are
NEVER given in sets of four (but one item or sets of five items are
common).
Insurance
National Health Insurance is relatively cheap, and I believe it's
available for most long term residents, including students. You can inquire about
this at the City Hall where you sign up for your Alien Registration Card.
The cost of National Health Insurance is based on how much money you
make. During our first year, the cost was extremely low
because they didn't have any record of what we were earning (we
didn't hide anything, that's just the way it was). After the
first year, the cost for health insurance and other local taxes you
may have to pay may increase. However, the cost is still quite
low compared with costs in the USA. |
