Living in Japan

Essential information and guidance for international students living in Japan.

Important Procedures

Resident Registration

After getting Resident Card at the airport, you must register your address within 14 days at the municipal office in your neighborhood. If you move, you should notify the municipal office of the change of your address.

National Health Insurance

Please follow procedures for the National Health Insurance Service in the city where you registered. As foreigner, every student is required to apply for health insurance in order to receive the same medical treatment as Japanese.
All students must be enrolled in the national health insurance service. If one has a national health insurance card, he or she need to pay only 30% of the medical fee. Even though the insurance contribution varies according to city one lives, new comers pay about 1,500 Yen per a month.

Useful Information

Introducing Japan

Food

Sushi, sashimi, ramen, noodles, gyudon

Amusement Parks

Disneyland, Ueno Zoo, Fuji-Q Highland, Nikko Edomura, Mother Farm, Odaiba

Matsuri (Festivals)

Ueno Summer Matsuri, Asakusa Festival, Asakusa Samba Festival

Hot Springs (around Kanto Area)

Hakone, Izu, Atami, Kamokawa, Kusatsu, Kanjanji

100 Yen Shops

The Daiso, Can Do, Seria

Vending machines

Drinks, snacks, ice-cream, cigarettes

Convenience Stores

7-Eleven, Lawson, FamilyMart, Sankus, Ministop, etc.

PASMO, SUICA

PASMO

You may use this card for train, bus, subway in the Japanese Kanto Area, Yamanasi ken, Sizuoka Ken, Osaka (Kinki Area), Nagoya (Doukai Area), Hukuoka (Kyushu Area), Sapporo (Hokkaido), (except for several company, or route, area) Pasmo is a prepaid e-money card and shopping. There are two kinds of cards.

SUICA

The Suica is a prepaid e-money card and used for ticketing for train. When one owns Suica, he or she does not need to buy a ticket from a vending machine. One just need to touch Suica to the ticket gate. Suica can be used on JR East lines in the Tokyo metropolitan area as well as subways, buses and the Tokyo Monorail that connects Haneda Airport and Tokyo. In addition to the Tokyo area, Suica can be used for certain transportation systems in the Sendai and Niigata, Hokkaido, Tokai, West Japan and Kyushu areas. The card is also increasingly being accepted as a form of electronic money for purchases at stores especially within train stations.

Bicycle

In Japan, bicycles are classified as a light vehicle in the traffic law. If you do not obey the traffic rules, this is considerd as traffic violation, punishable (in some cases) by a fine
One can ride his or her bicycle on the sidewalk if there is a sign that says bicycles are permitted
One must ride bicycle on the left side of the road
Pedestrians should be given priority on the sidewalk, Go slow on the shoulder of a road.
Observe the traffic rules.

Drunk driving (violators may be imprisoned for five years or less or fined 1,000,000Yen or less)

No passengers (violators may be fined 20,000Yen or less)

Advance side by side is not permitted (Violators may be fined 20,000Yen or less)

Turn on the front light of your bicycle when it is dim or dark outside (Violator may be fined 50,000 Yen or less)

※ Reference book: Surete

Daily Necessities

(Price may vary)

Products	Unit	Price
Rice	5kg	1500円
Water	2L	110円
Milk	2L	300円
Egg	1 pack	300円
Bread	1	200円
Cabbage	1	200円
Pork	100g	250円
Cup noodle	1	300円
Hamburger	1	100円
Notebook	1	110円
Japan style Beef Meal	1 meal	350円
Toilet paper	12 rolls	300円
Shampoo	500mL	400円
Bowl	1	110円

Post Office Service

1. Undeliverable item notice

(it may vary according to the location)

Recipient's name
Sender's name
Delivery date
Deadline of the storage
Tracking number

2. Request for Re-delivery

It is possible to request delivery again by phone, on website, through postal service or FAX when one could not get the postal matter due to absence. One also can receive his or her postal matter at the post office with the storage notification postcard.

Processes

Put information enter postal code, tracking number, arrival date and etc..
What to enter in information of the delivery: expected delivery date, expected delivery time, postal code, address, and phone number
Confirm the entry
Complete the apllication

3. Postal Service

One of the representative delivery service is postal delivery service by Japanese postal service company. Total of length, width and heights should be within 1.7m. The weight must be up to 30 kg.
Statement of COD (collect on delivery)

Destination: Enter the destination
Sender: Enter your address
Arrival notification: When the package arrives, one will get the message of safe arrival. If you want this service, make a circle at the section of necessity
Delivery date when it hopes you need not do anything if you do not want this service.
Enter expected time when you wish to get the package
Item You need to write the item not specifically but roughly... Make a check the section of fragile according to the kinds of the items.

Changing Address

From July 9th of 2012, the system of Basic Resident Registration Card applies to foreigners. All foreigners must fill the form of the residence record at the local office. According to the system of resident registration, all residents including all foreigners should notify address change and new address to the local government office.

Precaution

When you notify the local government office of the address change you will have certification of moving out When you move to different district, you should do the local government office of the a moving-in notification within 14days with the certification of the moving out.
When you move within the same district, you should notify address change at the local government office.
When you move to foreign countries, you should notify the local government office of the moving out.
When you notify address change, you should go with one of these, residential card, certificate of alien registration, or certificate of permanent resident.

Embassy for Each Countries

Please refer to the website link below for each country's embassy if one needs some help related to his or her country embassy in Japan.

Visit MOFA's page

Hospitals

When one should visit hospital due to health issues, he or she must submit health insurance card and resident card. These are the hospitals one can find around our school.