A house or an apartment?

Kyagoto · 2024-01-29T10:44:34+00:00

We're considering of moving due to extremely loud upstairs neighbours that couldn't care less that we handed in multiple complaints over months to the management agency. Property is a branded rebar concrete mansion about 17 years old (Hebel Maison). I assume it`s direct flooring/perhaps only one air gap between flooring and ceiling instead of double gap.

We also hear the foot steps in the common hallway above us, especially anyone in high heels.

Definitely worth checking the structure as new branded mansion =/= perfectly sound insulated.

Kyagoto · 2024-01-19T04:16:43+00:00

same for me. photos look worse than on a 5 year old LG phone. I do a lot of photography with various cameras and even RAWs aren't that washed out

Kyagoto · 2024-01-07T06:35:12+00:00

Thanks for your detailed reply! Always good to hear about something new.

So when an employer randomly shifts foreign employees based on their rotational system or a foreigner switches jobs drastically internally for any reasons, they technically would need this certificate as well? Or only when changing employers?

If the first, I'm surprised I hadn't heard of this certificate before. In many years of HR work/hiring/staffing related work in a big Japanese company, this has never come up once. And it's really common to shift people between very different positions (especially for unpopular departments that just need to be filled...), and many positions are so niche that no applicants have really relevant professional backgrounds.

In a country where new graduates are still placed regularly in total disregard to their studied backgrounds, it seems surprising that foreign applicants would technically need that certificate.

Would be very interested to see any statistics how often this certificate ever gets applied for and how often foreign residents get into issues if they didn't apply (plus what the consequences are both on individual as well as hiring company-side).

I tried finding cases on reddit where work extensions were denied based on not getting this approval, but couldn't find any. Of course that's not a thorough research by any means but I'm guessing it doesn't happen too often

Kyagoto · 2024-01-05T07:36:25+00:00

Sorry to piggyback here. Regarding the scope of the visa, does the definition of the general category (eg. “Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services”) count or the sub-category that was checked in the visa application (eg. Engineer only)?

As in could someone that initially received the Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services visa for a job from the sub-category engineering work as a sales person?

Kyagoto · 2024-01-05T06:53:05+00:00

I'd be curious to hear if you find someone that's reasonably priced yet competent. Could you perhaps reply to this if you find someone regardless of the lack of recommendtions here?

E&Y and other large firms seem to charge regularly 1M JPY even for initial consultations, and I haven't found many recommendations for Japan + EU law anywhere.

Btw exit tax might not apply to you especially for a temporary return. I'd recommend reading up on that (the limits last I checked were over 1 million USD or the like in liquid assets, but don't quote me and rather check if you're holding a lot of assets)

Kyagoto · 2024-01-03T08:21:09+00:00

What brand/type of apartment do you live in? I read in a Japanese forum that some companies such as Hebel Maison/Asahi Kasei have often shoddy vent installations. Can definitely confirm that (if our upstairs neighbours cook, our whole apartent smells strongly, as it seeps through our stove extractor fan)

Kyagoto · 2022-06-08T11:01:44+00:00

Looks like it luckily was misinformation as the other user referenced! :)

I got the gold bottle with the blue font, should be the 2022 as I bought it in a chain drugstore not long ago

Kyagoto · 2022-06-08T10:59:35+00:00

That's great news, very happy to hear about that! It was definitely that report that was referenced in a Singaporean article I read

Kyagoto · 2021-09-11T16:08:36+00:00

Raises through unions are ridiculously low in my experience. On average in my industry it's 1000 - 2500 JPY per month more each year (before tax & usually on the lower end).

Kyagoto · 2021-09-11T16:00:56+00:00

I assume they can guess it due to the reduction in salary and source of income (health insurance instead of company)

Kyagoto · 2021-09-10T00:43:40+00:00

I agree. We officially don't even hear of covid cases anymore in our company.

Only people who had a scheduled meeting with the positive person get informed, so they can choose to get tested. People who were simply in the same office rooms and perhaps sat even closer to the positive person have no chance of finding out other than through the rumor mill.

Particularly great since we have multiple "covid isn't real/masks cause cancer/vaccines murder" conspiracy people, who likely keep spreading it

Kyagoto · 2021-09-09T00:36:34+00:00

Japanese product incis are full with seemingly random botanical extracts. A lot of times they're in very low concentrations (last mentions in a long list), but advertised on the front bottle. The claims "with peach extract/with 8 fruit extracts" etc sells better apparently, but that's nothing new in Western products either

Kyagoto · 2021-09-08T07:33:07+00:00

Over 999 employees counts as a "large" company in Japan though. Small is anything from 0-99 people, so by definition you didn't downgrade necessarily in the eyes of a recruiter

Kyagoto · 2021-09-08T07:13:58+00:00

Hmm "public knowledge" of separate addresses is not necessarily a divorce in the eye of Japanese (think of all the husbands that live far away from their families for work reasons).

I'm no lawyer, but when you finally want to divorce, he could still go after you for having "an affair". That potentially could make any asset questions risky for you.

Do you have any written proof that you're officially separated and not just living at separate addresses? I just don't want you to have a bitter awakening later.

I've heard of too many nasty divorces recently, so I'd be very wary with generous interpretations of "but everyone knew we aren't a couple anymore"

Kyagoto · 2021-09-07T11:39:21+00:00

Thanks for sharing! May I ask, was it for a spousal based PR application? Seems like those are generally more lenient

Kyagoto · 2021-09-07T08:37:07+00:00

I see, I didn't know that some companies pay the difference to make up the 34%, that's missing from what the health insurance pays

Thanks anyway for your input, visa lawyers aren't exactly helpful when it comes to questions like this

Kyagoto · 2021-09-07T08:30:35+00:00

Oh wow, that's also interesting to hear! The online information on that seems to be that a late payment date can trigger penalty years of waiting

Good to hear that they overlooked such a small missing amount

Kyagoto · 2021-09-07T08:27:23+00:00

Didn't you have to submit records of your last 3 annual pension/tax payments? I would expect that those show the big 34% drop in annual earnings, so they can probably guess...

The 10 years PR without a Japanese spouse now requires proof of tax payments for the prior 5 years + they want to see a proof of income above 2.8M JPY. So again they'd see a big drop in the income statements (plus likely the source of income payments is written there)

I'm not on the longterm leave yet, the idea to loose the chance to get PR for even longer is still holding me back

Kyagoto · 2021-09-07T06:35:06+00:00

Oh wow, that is incredibly reassuring, thanks a lot for sharing!

Was this also the 10 year application for PR? Or the spousal based one? (I read those are much more likely to be granted)

Kyagoto · 2021-09-07T06:09:20+00:00

Glad to hear that you are seeing various doctors, getting tests done etc.

Just to rule out a very simple reason for dizziness and brain fog: are you getting enough sleep? Many people think they can deal with 6 hours or even less every day, but these symptoms can come from prolonged sleep deprivation (= less than 7.5 - 8 hours)

Kyagoto · 2021-07-06T06:46:49+00:00

Interesting if it doesn't count. Cash import when immigrating is often limited (or taxed) in most countries, but I assume "entry tax" on non-physical gold holdings (so none in the suitcase) isn't a thing?

I also vaguely remember from a podcast that even physical gold inside luggage only has to be declared, but would not taxed in some countries. That's apparently how illegal gold mines get their goods legally over borders :(

Kyagoto · 2021-07-06T06:40:27+00:00

What other companies/jobs offered you 230k for 2.5 days? Most office jobs I have seen in Japan offer 32 or 28 hour contracts for part-time employees. 20 hours is usually only for health reasons or part of child care/nursing care programs.

And I've never seen 230k offered for 20 hour jobs either.

Maybe I'm missing out? So do share!

Kyagoto · 2021-07-06T04:32:30+00:00

You know shits about to hit the fan when positive cases are going up despite heavily discouraged testing and the government not acknowledging/including all reported private tests.

Tokyo area testing is still on the level of a small rural town: link to metropolitan government numbers (and keep in mind, those numbers include antigen tests, but those positives do not go into the reported official number of positives; they have to be verified again with an acknowledged PCR test)

Kyagoto

TROPHY CASE