12 steps of relocating to Japan: The land of papers and processes

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It’s been 4 painful weeks since I relocated to Tokyo for my new job, and I would like to share every details of this nightmare so that hopefully I can save at least a few people from this horrible headache.

 

Basically, here are a few things you need to keep in mind before we begin.

 

1. Everything will be in Japanese, so please make sure to learn at least how to read the Japanese alphabet. Otherwise, you will need someone to help you the whole time.
2. All procedures will take more time than expected, so expect delays.
3. If anything is not in the manual, it cannot be done.
4. You will re-enjoy the good old system of paper mail (I confirm this is NOT email, but a physically touchable paper you send through post office, which takes days and weeks to arrive), and also fax machine.

 

Keeping the above in mind, let me begin.

 

1. COE: your employer will issue the COE, which is short for ‘Certificate of Eligibility’. Please keep in mind that this is definitely NOT work visa, but a previous step for getting the work visa. After you get COE, you need to take this to the Japanese embassy office in your country, and apply for work visa. COE will also arrive to you by mail (NOT the email, but the paper mail), so expect this to take at least a few weeks.

 

2. Work visa: After you get the COE, you can take the original document with your passport and go to Japanese embassy office in your country to apply for work visa. If you go in the morning, it will take about 1.5 days to get it. If not, it will take about 2 days. (In my case, the visa came out 2 days before my departure to Japan, so make sure this doesn’t happen to you)

 

3. Arrival + Residence card (Zairyu-cado): When you arrive at the airport, you need to show certain documents to the custom. They will go through your documents and issue you a residence card on the spot. (by the way, this is the part where you will begin to face massive amount of Japanese language, so please be prepared. Nobody will understand the word ‘residence card’ ever, so please get used to the term ‘zai-ryu-ca-do’ which is Japanese for residence card.

 

4. Getting the address on Zai-Ryu-ca-do: This is an EXTREMELY important step, because without the local address, you cannot do anything in Japan. Anything here includes making phone, getting home, credit card, bank account, everything you can imagine. If you say that you will stay at a temporary residence, they will put ‘Not determined’ on the address section. DO NOT LET THIS HAPPEN. Most likely you will stay at a long-term residence (not hotel, because hotel will be too expensive to stay for 2-3 weeks), so just make sure you have your residence’s address and put that address in the card. I made a terrible mistake of not doing this, and this gave me ridiculous amount of pain and rejection for the next 2 weeks.

 

5. Getting the prepaid phone: Without the local address, you cannot get the local phone. But, WITHOUT THE LOCAL PHONE, YOU CANNOT GET THE HOUSE. I felt like I was stuck in some kind of wonderland here, but soon I realized the way out of this loop is to get a prepaid phone in Japan. You can use this prepaid number to apply for house, and with the house, you can get the smartphone. Therefore, THIS IS THE FIRST KEY TO YOUR SURVIVAL. In Japan, there are 3-4 telecom companies, which are NTT Docomo, Softbank, AU, and Y-mobile. Among these companies, ONLY SOFTBANK has the prepaid phones. Also, ONLY ROPPONGI STORE SELLS THEM. (Roppongi is a name of a place in Tokyo, which is known for having lots of foreigners) I found this out by hard way, by visiting around 10 Softbank stores to face a very kind and polite rejection of ‘we don’t sell prepaid phones here’. The best way is to get a prepaid number in the airport right after your arrival, but if the flight arrives after 9pm, go to Roppongi store. It is right here. https://www.google.co.jp/maps/place/%E3%82%BD%E3%83%95%E3%83%88%E3%83%90%E3%83%B3%E3%82%AF%E5%85%AD%E6%9C%AC%E6%9C%A8/@35.6632165,139.7287337,16z/data=!4m5!1m2!2m1!1sroppongi+softbank!3m1!1s0x0000000000000000:0x649d66d4957a8153?hl=en

 

6. Getting the stamp (Han-ko): In Asia, there is a culture of having a personal stamp to use for official documents. This works just like the signature in Western culture. You need to get this in order to get a house and other bunch of stuff. はんこ(pronounced Han-Ko) is how you write ‘stamp’ in Japanese, so you can use this word to search for any stamp maker in the city via Google maps. You can have your last name in English, and this will take about 1~2 hours to make. The cost should be USD 20~30 in most cases.

 

7. Getting the stamp registered: After getting the stamp, you need to go to ward office and register your stamp. But of course, like any other step, you will face the irony of ‘you need to address to register your stamp, but you need a stamp to get a house’. So what I did was, once you get the initial document of your house, just use the stamp without registration, and register right after you get the house approval from the real estate agency. Registering will take about an hour, and they will issue a ‘stamp registration card’ which looks like a credit card of some sort. This will also cost you a few dollars. Ward office is in every district, but they also have branches all over the cities so make sure to find the one close to your office your house. (otherwise, this is another 30~40-minute trip)

 

8. Getting the house: Actually, this step should start around step 3, which means it is better to find a house or at least an area to live before you actually get to Japan. There are many real estate agencies, but I recommend Able (http://www.able.co.jp) as they are big and they have many branches to help you. If you specify your conditions, they will come up with around 10 recommendations and take you around with their car. A few things to watch out here is: Tatami (Japanese traditional flooring) is not recommended as it may smell a little weird, having a garbage disposal system within the apartment will save you tons of trouble, you need permission for having any kind of pet, and most importantly, IF YOU DON’T SPEAK JAPANESE, YOU MIGHT GET REJECTED BY THE LANDLORD. So make sure you can speak at least a few words, so that you can impress them. Once you find an English speaking real estate agent, he/she will take care of most things.

 

9. Paying for house contract: In Japan, you usually have to pay for 3 months rental in the beginning, so make sure you have enough cash. 1 month rental is a deposit, and 1 month rental is for the first/last month. Also, there is this thing called ‘Rei-Kin’, which is a pocket money you need to pay to the landlord. You cannot get this back, and this is usually 1 month fee. If you decide to move in during off-season (maybe during summer/winter break of schools), then there are ‘No-Reikin’ promotions quite often. If you are lucky, you might not need to pay for this. Oh, and the management fee is excluded from the monthly fee, so make sure you also check the management fee amount. By the way, from finding the house to moving in usually takes more than 2 weeks, so you might want to book at least 2 weeks on your temporary residence. In my case, I moved into a new home at the end of 2^nd week, which was considered to be impossibly quick.

 

10. Getting a smartphone: If you got to this stage, I encourage you to have a beer and pat yourself on the back, because you have done a lot already. If you have your house and your stamp, you can go to the telecom store and make the phone easily. To ensure a smooth process, I recommend you to go to the Roppongi store (the same store you went to make the prepaid phone) because they always have employees who can speak great English. This will also take about an hour, sometimes could be even two hours depending on situations.

 

11. Getting a furniture: Most houses in Japan are unfurnished, meaning you need to buy them from the store yourself. I tried to buy a bed and carry it myself, but it took me less than 2 seconds to realize that this was a stupid idea. What you can do is to go to the furniture store and order directly to your home. (and of course, please keep in mind that NOBODY in the store will speak English, so prepare yourself somehow) I recommend Nitori (https://www.nitori-net.jp/store/ja/ec) as they have relatively cheap but good quality furniture. IKEA is also in Japan, but it is really far away from downtown Tokyo, so I suggest you go to Nitori. One other thing to keep in mind is that ‘Houses in Japan are super small’. What I strongly suggest is that you always bring a measuring tape, and measure your room size in detail, and buy the appropriate furniture accordingly. Otherwise, your pretty furniture might not go into your room!

 

12. Credit card, bank account, internet connection, etc: I am on week 5 but still haven’t finished the rest of the processes here. But I suppose this is where you just need to be patient and just wait for them to send you the mail. You will not face any rejection, as now you have three most important elements of Japan life: House, phone, stamp. So be patient and apply for these things. I don’t have any specific recommendation in terms of which bank or internet company might be better for you or foreigners in general.

 

 

Hope this helps. (Actually, this WILL help you) Once you go through these painful steps in the beginning, great things are waiting for you. Kind people, great quality/variety food, endless entertainment, crazy toys.. all for you to enjoy. Welcome to Japan!