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88 articles
Garbage rules are set by each city: check your city's English guide and collection days the week you move in. Keep noise down, especially at night, and follow your rental contract. On trains, keep quiet and avoid phone calls. At work, be on time and report early. After-work drinking is optional, and you can say no politely.
A month-by-month guide to Japan's seasons and festivals: New Year shrine visits, cherry blossom viewing, Golden Week, summer matsuri and Obon, fireworks and autumn leaves, with official dates and simple festival manners.
How to use a Japanese hot spring (onsen) or public bathhouse (sento) step by step: what to bring, washing before you enter, towels, safety, tattoo policies and the official guidance, and Tokyo's sento price.
A practical guide to Japanese gift customs: omiyage souvenirs for co-workers, gifts when you visit someone's home, seasonal gifts, wrapping, giving and receiving, and gifts that fit halal or vegetarian diets.
How Japan celebrates the New Year: year-end cleaning, toshikoshi soba, temple bells, the first shrine visit, osechi food, New Year cards and gifts, plus which offices, banks and services close and when.
What to expect at a Japanese workplace: seniority and hierarchy, the basics of keigo (polite language), meetings and decisions, reporting, working hours and overtime limits under the law, paid leave, and leaving on time.
Practical advice for Muslims living and working in Japan: your legal rights, asking for prayer time at work, Ramadan and Eid, finding mosques and halal food, drinking parties, onsen, and respectful conversations with colleagues.
As of 7 November 2026, foreign nationals can buy land and buildings in Japan. Since 5 October 2026, every new individual owner must give their nationality at registration, and a bill to tighten rules on land important for national security is under discussion in the Diet. Budget for brokerage, registration tax, acquisition tax and yearly fixed asset tax.
Indicative, checked 7 November 2026 (official 2023 survey): in 2023 the average rent paid by renting households in Osaka City was ¥61,704 a month, from ¥47,270 in Taisho ward to ¥77,502 in Tennoji. That is about a third less than Tokyo's 23 wards. The median commute in the Kinki area was 34.8 minutes, ten minutes shorter than in the Kanto area.
Indicative, checked 7 November 2026 (official 2023 survey): in 2023 the average rent paid by renting households in Nagoya was ¥59,224 a month, from ¥41,983 in Minato ward to ¥71,613 in Naka ward. The median commute in the Chukyo area was 28.4 minutes, much shorter than Tokyo or Osaka. Check where your workplace is first: it may be outside the city.
Indicative, checked 7 November 2026 (official 2023 survey): in 2023 the average rent paid by renting households in Fukuoka City was ¥56,424 a month, from ¥49,704 in Jonan ward to ¥64,382 in Chuo ward. The median commute in the Kitakyushu–Fukuoka area was 26.5 minutes, among the shortest of Japan's big city areas in the survey.
Indicative, checked 7 November 2026 (official 2023 survey): in 2023 the average rent paid by renting households in Tokyo's 23 wards was ¥93,579 a month, from ¥65,958 in Adachi to ¥192,525 in Minato. Cities just outside, such as Kawaguchi, Funabashi and Matsudo, were close to the cheaper outer wards. Rent per tatami falls with distance from the centre, but the typical commute gets longer.
