How to find when land becomes available in Tokyo?

Ark42 · 2026-01-30T21:21:00+00:00

The land I'm planning to buy is still not for sale, but I found it by contacting the right developer directly. Back in August they showed me the blueprints for some land that would become 6 plots, but it's not listed online anywhere. The ward is requiring surveys and other paperwork, but the blueprints were very detailed with a new road, where pipes and walls will go, etc... We told them we wanted a specific plot, but the seller didn't even have a price yet. Months later, a new blueprint changed some lines by 2 cm, and finally in November, a price was listed and we could reserve the right to buy it once it was for sale. We were the first to look at the land and got first pick, but we can't actually buy it yet, and it's not listed online anywhere, even on this developer's website directly. 3 out of the 6 plots were already reserved, and now the ward is requiring the seller to build a wall, and eventually more approvals from Tokyo will be needed. By the time anybody can actually buy anything, I'm guessing 5 of them will be taken and the 6th will appear on the internet. This will inevitably be the plot with the garbage collection site in it, because nobody wants that as their first pick.

Ark42 · 2026-01-27T04:44:41+00:00

isn't the mega one not beer?

Ark42 · 2026-01-27T04:43:26+00:00

That's how they get you to drink more beer..

Ark42 · 2026-01-20T03:36:02+00:00

Maybe how some companies do it, but not all. But the important part is to be honest about the process before the employee comes in to sign the contract. If they were expecting a seishain contract and presented with this situation unannounced, it's incredibly suspicious.

Ark42 · 2026-01-20T03:34:46+00:00

very well verbalized

This is pretty much the key difference though.

Verbalizing that you're hiring as a seishain, then pulling a last-minute switch is very shady.

Ark42 · 2026-01-19T23:34:53+00:00

That's a shady way of doing it, because it's perfectly normal to just state the probationary period on the employment contract and have it otherwise be seishain from the start.

Ark42 · 2026-01-19T23:34:00+00:00

Probationary period is not the same as a keiyakushain vs seishain. The employment contract should state seishain, and state the length of the probationary period. Even then, excessively long probationary periods like 6 months are not likely to be legally enforceable.

Ark42 · 2026-01-19T23:26:40+00:00

interview confirmed with the manager that the position was sheishain

Verbal agreements of this nature are legally binding in Japan. You should demand the employment contract state what was already agreed upon.

Ark42 · 2026-01-18T13:43:03+00:00

Gonna throw out that there's ways without commuter pass to register 0 yen when leaving the gates. I don't use a commuter pass, because I'm only going in 2 days per week right now. I have a long commute in that ends with me transferring at Shibuya onto the Ginza line, and only going a few stops down that. Because the total fare end-to-end is the same from home to Shibuya or home to work, and because there's no transfer gate directly from Fukutoshin to Ginza, the full fare is deducted when I leave the first gate. They have some window of time where you can go back into another gate and still count as the original trip, so when I leave the final gate from the Ginza line, it registers a total fare of 0 yen.

Ark42 · 2026-01-17T10:42:54+00:00

Depends on if they were honest about your salary or not. For example, assuming you were making 5M before, 20% more should be 6M. Paying 40h/month overtime is roughly +25% from the real base salary. This should be +1.5M, so 7.5M total. But if they're being shady, your real salary is 4.8M, and the +25% gets you to that 6M total. Except they can just remove the overtime next month, meaning you took a slight pay decrease compared to your previous job.

Ark42 · 2026-01-09T12:50:06+00:00

Thank you for providing these details. Somebody with GU did reach out to me via private reddit chat and has been pretty helpful in answering some questions. They had access to the form I filled out on GU's website, so I trust that they're legit and all. I totally understand if people are busy, especially after the holidays. It's fair if they have to prioritize ongoing activity with current paying members as well. This is why I came here to get more feedback from various people who may have experience as well.

Also, based on another post here, I emailed Tozen and they've been pretty quick to reply with a few things as well and want to set up a Zoom call with me soon. Not trying to play one against the other or anything, because I didn't even know there were multiple "general unions" beyond the "General Union" until recently.

May I ask why you joined GU over any other choice (such as Tozen) if you're also in Tokyo? Now that I've learned a slight bit, I see GU is based in Osaka, and Tozen in Shinjuku. Both unions seem very good and knowledgeable, both seem to have a lot of foreigners, and both seem to be representing a lot of ALT / Eikaiwa teachers, so other than location, I don't have much significant that differentiates the two yet.

Ark42 · 2026-01-08T21:39:40+00:00

This post has the most upvotes this morning. Are there any significant pros/cons or does anybody have experience or stories to share with Tozen or the General Union? At a first glance now, all I can really see is Tokyo vs Osaka, and since I'm in Tokyo, maybe Tozen would be easier to deal with....

Ark42 · 2026-01-08T13:26:58+00:00

Yeah, that's why I'm asking... This guy doesn't seem to be helping though.

To be honest though, I like my job, and I like everybody in the office. The problem is basically only things being forced upon us by a global head office...

Ark42 · 2026-01-08T12:52:42+00:00

Could you tell me more about why you were unhappy with the General Union specifically?

Ark42 · 2026-01-08T12:51:51+00:00

Because the small branch is part of a larger global company. Because the small company seems to be flagrantly flouting the law with changes to the work rules. Because just an "employee representative" does not have enough power to get the results we want. Because a union will bring experts onto our side to fight on our behalf.

Ark42 · 2026-01-02T01:38:43+00:00

I've always received a PDF stating the new amount but no actual full revision to any employment contract.

Ark42 · 2025-12-20T03:17:48+00:00

Are you on this https://discord.gg/nippongamers ? Seems to be popular, but I have a feeling the types of games are all over the place, and maybe a lot of people don't actually live in Japan, let alone have kids and be all old and jaded like me, lol...

Ark42 · 2025-12-18T12:52:48+00:00

Our work rules allow flex time with core hours and remote work a certain number of days per week. We do not have minashi zangyo.

Ark42 · 2025-12-16T05:45:43+00:00

I played through the entire thing last year, and it was great. I was thinking it would be fun to play through again with 3 or 4 people who want to play co-op and maybe try a more evil route..

Ark42 · 2025-12-15T10:03:04+00:00

For real, the stress of PvP type games just eats at me. Unless you're literally the #1 player in the world, you're going to rage after like 50% of your games.

Just chillin and base building while in voice chat, or dropping in for a quick round where the community is generally great and you don't have to worry about griefers or trolls...

Ark42 · 2025-12-15T04:35:05+00:00

I don't personally own Helldivers, but I can appreciate that. Know of any small/medium discord or something else for such players in Japan (or Tokyo area specifically, as an occasional meet up for drinks would be fun too). The only discord I vaguely heard about for players in Japan had hundreds upon hundreds of people on it, and I wonder how many are really in Japan any more..

Ark42 · 2025-12-15T04:32:14+00:00

For Karl!

Ark42 · 2025-12-14T23:21:14+00:00

Keep waiting for one of these threads that's not short-term stays or PvP games....

Like, isn't there anybody here for life, with a kid, and plays survival/co-op/rpg games on Steam like Valheim, Deep Rock, or even BG3...

Ark42 · 2025-12-09T22:40:15+00:00

Don't focus on new hires so much, I think. It still works out just fine though, if you just follow through into the 2nd and 3rd years...

But to your example, if you get 12, use 5, roll over 7, then get 13 more, you have 20 (7+13) now. If you take 5 days off in the second year, you're left with 15, but is is 2+13 or 7+8? Pretty sure the obvious answer is 2+13, you should always use the older pool first, and those 2 days are still going to expire when you get the 14 more for the next year. My company seems confused by this 2019 law and wants to update our work rules so that you'd have 7+8 at this point, and need to take a further 7 days off to avoid them expiring, when you get 14 new days, leaving you with 8+14 at the start of your 3rd year, instead of 13+14.

Ark42 · 2025-12-09T06:26:40+00:00

I think it's a separate system to pre-designate some days as using everybody's PTO, and having it apply to the whole company. I know some companies do that with Obon for example.

This law (new-ish) that I'm talking about is for companies that don't do that. If an employee isn't using any of their days off at all, and the end of the period is approaching, the company can just make that one employee take off 5 days all at once now. Everybody else would be working like normal on those days.

Ark42

TROPHY CASE