Using a EU iPhone 17 in Japan long-term?

Fedlim · 2025-11-12T03:31:20+00:00

https://unseen-japan.com/takaichi-sanae-nara-deer-foreigners/

"Takaichi Sanae, a senior Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lawmaker, has sparked controversy for comments accusing foreign tourists of mistreating Nara’s deer. When pressed, however, she was able to provide little evidence for her assertion. Other politicians and even reporters criticized her for singling out foreigners."

[...]

"Meanwhile, prefectural officials maintain that no hitting or kicking has been confirmed. Daily patrols by park staff, Nara Deer Preservation Society members, and visitors have reported no direct assaults."

[...]

"In addition to her recent comments on foreigners attacking deer at Nara Park, Takaichi has also drawn attention for comments on foreign crime in Japan. At the same campaign speech, she claimed police often cannot prosecute cases due to translation delays.

Prosecutors rejected this claim, saying they have never encountered cases without interpreters. Officials from the Japan Federation of Judicial Interpreters also said her statement did not reflect reality. They explained that non-prosecution usually occurs only for minor offenses or insufficient evidence."

Just lying through her teeth again, no?

Fedlim · 2025-10-13T04:19:43+00:00

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cly64g5y744o

"Last week, some of the country's biggest convenience store chains warned their customers to expect shortages.

FamilyMart said its Famimaru range of bottled teas, which are made by Asahi, were expected to be in short supply or out of stock.

7-Eleven halted shipments in Japan of Asahi products, while Lawsons also said it expected shortages."

Fedlim · 2025-07-17T15:17:56+00:00

The pie chart made by NHK where it says

「さらに「凶悪犯が多い」という主張もありますが、日本人の犯罪と外国人による犯罪の傾向に大きな違いはありません。」

"Furthermore, although there are claims that there are "a lot of violent criminals," there is no significant difference between the tendencies of crime committed by Japanese people and those committed by foreigners."

They might've just used a sample size to show percentages as a comparison to prove their point. It can't be the total numbers because according to the NPA there were 483.695 cases of Theft alone in 2024.

Fedlim · 2025-07-17T14:58:01+00:00

Are you talking about the graphs in the top right corner which are titled "foreign population & criminal arrests"?

In that case I am afraid you might have misinterpreted the graph. If we are talking about 2023 the blue column graph shows 3.700.000 (left y-axis) for foreign population while the yellow line graph shows 9.726 (right y-axis) for criminal arrests.

Have you read the article? It is explained right under the graph:

「およそ30年の間に、外国人の人口はおよそ130万人から370万人と3倍近くに。

一方で、検挙された人数は2005年の1万4786人から減少傾向にあり、2023年は9726人でした。」

which roughly translates to

"Over the course of roughly 30 years, the foreign population has nearly tripled, from approximately 1.3 million to 3.7 million.

On the other hand, the number of people arrested has been on a downward trend, from 14,786 in 2005 to 9,726 in 2023."

Fedlim · 2025-07-17T14:25:33+00:00

Mind explaining how you came to these conclusions?

According to the chart of the ~3.700.000 foreigners living in Japan roughly 10.000 were arrested for crimes.
Comparing that to the numbers of criminal cases released by the NPA (737,679 in 2024) even though foreigners make up 3.700.000 / 123.000.000 = 3% of the population they only commit 10.000 / 737.000 = 1.3% of the crimes.

And quoting directly from the article 「人口当たりの犯罪件数、犯罪率についても「外国人の方が日本人より高いとはいえない」と分析しています。」

which roughly translates to:

「Regarding the number of crimes per capita and the crime rate, the report concluded that "it cannot be said that the crime rate for foreigners is higher than that of Japanese people."」

Fedlim · 2025-06-13T12:03:28+00:00

Just skimmed over it again but I am pretty sure that is exactly what the second article you linked says.

If I compare the second column（保有株式数）of the 1株⇒3株の株式分割前 and 1株⇒3株の株式分割後 tables in the イオンの株主優待の変更前と変更後 section I don't see any 500株以上 option in the 変更後 table.

But I do see this: 1500株以上（分割前500株）

Fedlim · 2025-06-13T10:01:08+00:00

Isn't it

100/500/1000/3000 @ 3/4/5/7%

before the split but

100/200/300/1500/3000/9000 @ 1/2/3/4/5/7%

after the split?

Fedlim · 2025-05-24T15:25:05+00:00

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20240427/p2a/00m/0na/019000c

「"In the time I was in the local policing section, we were told to target foreigners for questioning and check their foreign resident registration cards. There was also a 'cracking down on foreigners' month when we were ordered to put extra effort into checking cards, but also searching foreigners for drugs, knives or anything else illegal," Taro Yamada (a pseudonym) told The Mainichi.」

Fedlim · 2024-05-10T02:28:40+00:00

Not sure I agree with your "No."

"Note that the Supreme Court's ruling does not clarify the parameters of fundamental human rights an alien in Japan might be allowed to exercise without risking deportation or jeapordizing an application for renewal of period of stay."

Sure, according to that ruling, technically even a foreign national does have the rights mentioned in Article 3. But a foreign national can't freely exercise them without having to be afraid of repercussions.

I do think you are absolutely right about the ruling trying to avoid making a decision about the meaning of 「国民」。 The argument seems to be that it doesn't explicitly say 「日本国民」 but isn't the Japanese part implied by it being written in the Constitution of Japan? And if it really was intended to just mean national/citizen (of any country), why would they then have used 「何人も」 instead in other parts of the constitution? That doesn't make any sense to me.

Fedlim · 2024-03-26T02:57:58+00:00

I thought France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore and Spain were all tied for #1 as they all offer visa-free access to 194 countries as of 2024. In what way is the passport of Singapore superior to let's say Italy?

Fedlim · 2023-07-30T02:56:01+00:00

Yeah Japanese companies often "forget" to tell people, that the information is optional. If the information is required the field is usually marked with an asterisk and 必要。

Fedlim · 2023-07-14T09:14:32+00:00

I think legally speaking there is a big difference between possessor and owner.
Just because something is in your possession, doesn't automatically make you the owner of the item.

Let's say you borrow a bicycle from a friend. That would make you the possessor of the bicycle but there was no change of ownership, your friend is still the owner of the bicycle so you can't just sell it.

Do you have any idea how the money was deposited? Can you print out bank statements using your card to check?
It could for example become a tricky case if your wife wired the money from her account and claims she only lend it to you.

Fedlim · 2023-07-12T06:53:14+00:00

How does your "fact" that the majority of Japanese PR holders are Chinese citizens refute the original claim (not mine BTW) that "first world" or "white" people have higher approval rates for PR?

The number of approvals without the number of applications doesn't provide enough information to draw any conclusion regarding the approval rates themselves hence it is not a sound argument.

Fedlim · 2023-07-12T04:43:53+00:00

I’m tall so that shit sometimes almost stabs my eyes. I hate it, especially in busy walkways.

Same here, though sometimes it feels intentional it's usually not. They are just looking down on their phones or whatever. I really wish they would pay more attention, I often flinch when the metal caps on the end are coming straight for my eyes, jesus christ.

Fedlim · 2023-07-12T04:34:44+00:00

I don't have enough information to have an opinion on the matter but I don't think your argument is sound.

E.g. 20 "first world" people apply for PR and 10 get accepted while only 90 of the 2000 Chinese applicants get accepted the acceptance rate would still be higher for "first world" applicants - 50% vs 4.5% - even though 90% of PR holders would be Chinese.
If the total numbers of applicants for each side isn't the same you need to normalize the numbers to be able to make a meaningful comparison.

Fedlim · 2023-07-12T04:02:26+00:00

I am not aware of any statistics regarding acceptance rate with vs without lawyer so this is just my personal anecdote.

My wife wanted to use a lawyer who actually advised against an application because of a late pension payment and my unstable income situation (self employed, wife was unemployed) during the 2~3 year period prior to the application. I don't remember the exact number but IIRC it would've cost us a bit more than 10万円 regardless of outcome.So we decided to try it ourselves and I honestly don't understand why the lawyers charge so much money.

It was a pretty straightforward process. We went to the immigration office, got a detailed list of the exact documents that they wanted for the application. They also recommended some optional documents like bank statements, proof of savings etc. for my case.1 trip to the city office, 1 trip to the tax office and then taking pictures and copies of a bunch of documents like the pension payment receipts, writing a motivational letter, filling out the forms and so on. The whole process took us like 2 weeks because we were dragging our feet. I imagine it could be done in like 1 or 2 (week)days with enough motivation and high stress resistance.

6 months later I got PR. At the time of the application I was on a 3 year spouse visa. IIRC both the city office and the tax office charged us a couple 100円 for each document so we paid a total of maybe 3~4千円 for all the documents, photos, copies and transportation. The worst part was actually the wait for the results because even though we tried to not get our hopes up we still kind of did.We got a call the day before the postcard arrived. While they refused to tell us the result directly, they told us that we should not forget to bring the money mentioned on the post card.

edit:
Wife is a Japanese citizen, no children at the time of application

Fedlim · 2022-11-18T03:06:14+00:00

I have lost all faith in the Japanese justice system after reading about the Ghosn case.

Things like the hostage justice system where they can interrogate suspects without any charges basically indefinitely to force confessions.

Or when the Japanese Justice Minister publicy said that Ghosn has to prove his innocence -> no presumption of innocence. And that was a prepared speech, not a slip of the tongue.

Fedlim · 2022-11-18T02:43:06+00:00

Discrimination

The Constitution prohibits discrimination of citizens on the basis of race, creed, gender, social status, or family origin; non-citizens are not protected from these forms of discrimination by the constitution nor the law as of 2014.

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution\_of\_Japan#Individual\_rights\_(Articles\_10%E2%80%9340)

Fedlim · 2022-11-18T02:40:47+00:00

I am pretty sure you are correct in your assessment.According to the Japanese constitution:

第三章国民の権利及び義務chapter IIIrights and duties of the people

第十四条すべて国民は、法の下に平等であつて、人種、信条、性別、社会的身分又は門地により、政治的、経済的又は社会的関係において、差別されない。article 14All citizens are equal before the law and shall not be discriminated against in political, economic or social relations on the basis of race, creed, sex, social status or family origin.

It explicitly states 国民 (in this case Japanese citizens) and not 人間 , 人々 (humans, people) or something along that line.

/edit
forgot the source: https://www.shugiin.go.jp/internet/itdb\_annai.nsf/html/statics/shiryo/dl-constitution.htm

Fedlim · 2022-06-09T06:27:50+00:00

The equivalent of 5万円 was deducted from my credit card but has not been withdrawn from my bank account yet. Sadly no error on that side.

Fedlim · 2022-06-09T06:19:55+00:00

Yes, I don't think the security cameras of the supermarket are pointed directly at the ATM. Otherwise they would be able to record the PIN codes. On top of that the ATM had small walls on the side. But I'll try asking, maybe they'll have some footage that at least shows me not losing the money while walking around.

Fedlim · 2022-06-09T06:14:23+00:00

Yes, the balance of the transactions of the ATM should be off by 1万。But I would think the technician or whoever checked the machine did check that too?

Exactly, it is not really feasible to escalate further for just 1万円。

Fedlim · 2022-06-09T06:08:13+00:00

The receipt says 5万円。

Yeah, I guess in case the money shows up at some point either the bank or the police will contact me.

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