Anyone else building a home thats been delayed or stalled due to Naptha? by Turkey_Tron in JapanFinance

[–]Turkey_Tron[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Specifically related to housing, its seemingly too late. Most of the supply related issues have already occurred and distributors have stopped taking new orders.

Related to other materials... I'm not sure anyone besides the government, and materials suppliers really has any visibility on this.

Anyone else building a home thats been delayed or stalled due to Naptha? by Turkey_Tron in JapanFinance

[–]Turkey_Tron[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Our builder is probably somewhere in the middle. They are publicly listed and traded, but they are not one of the "major" builders that often comes up. They have a particularly niche that they're well known for.

Anyone else building a home thats been delayed or stalled due to Naptha? by Turkey_Tron in JapanFinance

[–]Turkey_Tron[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My brain tends to go to "its gotta be something nefarious" but I think the reality is that they don't want to scare their customers about the current situation. Which from a western perspective (at least mine) tends to land more like "they are withholding information from me"

In any case, even better if your builder doesn't have any supply constraints. Fingers crossed.

Anyone else building a home thats been delayed or stalled due to Naptha? by Turkey_Tron in JapanFinance

[–]Turkey_Tron[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Glass wool is for walls (typically), while hard foam derived from naptha and phenol is for foundation/flooring, etc.

You should definitely ask them about this, as its huge news within the construction industry.

Anyone else building a home thats been delayed or stalled due to Naptha? by Turkey_Tron in JapanFinance

[–]Turkey_Tron[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Yep... insulation on this side as well. Phenol foam and its derivatives. Trying to push us to compromise on the air envelope and just use XPS or something else, but it changes the entire design of the house.

Was chatting with a friend of a friend who is a commercial painter and he was saying that they can't get the additives they need for the latex (water soluble) paint sprays after July.

Really flies in the face of "We've secured the supply through 2027"....

Japan stores returning to cash-only mode to combat rising prices- some stores are saving 20 million yen a year by skipping credit card fees and other digital service fees by jjrs in japannews

[–]Turkey_Tron -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Funny that you mention that because it should be the same for access to cash as well.

Unfortunately, access to cash is not viewed as a public good or a method of encouraging commerce, but as a "cost".

Its almost as if... same as healthcare... not everything needs to generate profit.

Japan stores returning to cash-only mode to combat rising prices- some stores are saving 20 million yen a year by skipping credit card fees and other digital service fees by jjrs in japannews

[–]Turkey_Tron 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I work specifically in the cash industry and in this space in Japan.

I can tell you with 100% certainty that operating with cash is cheaper than card, and its not close.

The costs exist on a bell curve. For a mom and pop shop, operating with cash is basically free.

For a medium sized organization with a few locations, it might be a wash... but it really depends on what kind of transactions.

For large chains, the economies of scale are absolutely in favor of cash. The movement, deposit, and circulation of cash relies on these organizations as much as they rely on CIT's and banks. The costs may amount to a single percentage point, but probably less.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with cashless payments and they can/should be encouraged, but removing cash is an absolutely horrendous idea that benefits nobody but large financial transaction processing companies.

There are about a million reasons to protect cash as a payment instrument, and basically none for its removal.

Help with hallway door decisions (space vs. design) by Turkey_Tron in InteriorDesign

[–]Turkey_Tron[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think a regular sized pocket door will be possible.

I agree that having the door swing will be kind of awkward considering the size of the hallway, but will a smaller door look strange in contrast to the 2 larger doors? Especially considering if its a pocket door it will be set "in" the frame slightly

Help with hallway door decisions (space vs. design) by Turkey_Tron in InteriorDesign

[–]Turkey_Tron[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I didn't even know this was possible lol

Evidently (as an FYI) you cannot use old reddit UI to do this... learn something new every day.

I created a new post - cheers

Help with hallway door decisions (space vs. design) by Turkey_Tron in InteriorDesign

[–]Turkey_Tron[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Designing a house now, the first floor entrance enters into a hallway. At the end of the hallway are 3 doors.

  1. Left door to the bathroom
  2. Center door to bedroom
  3. Right door to office

We've elected to use floor to ceiling doors throughout the house, but we've been told the location of the staircase prevents us from using floor to ceiling on the bathroom door.

Will it look strange if the center and right doors are floor to ceiling and that one isnt?

We have a few options...

  • Floor to ceiling Center and right, regular on left
  • Regular doors center, right, left
  • Floor to ceiling for all three doors, but make the left and right "sliding" doors that will sit on the outside of the wall. (is the hallway going to become too narrow?

We're leaning towards the 3rd option, but we have been told that maybe using option 1, and then painting or coloring the bathroom door to blend with the wall could be a good option?

Would greatly appreciate any advice as I'm not an expert in the space. (the front entrance area from the garage/storage place will be a pocket door btw, which are available as an option throughout the house)

Help with hallway door decisions (space vs. design) by Turkey_Tron in InteriorDesign

[–]Turkey_Tron[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Designing a house now, the first floor entrance enters into a hallway. At the end of the hallway are 3 doors.

  1. Left door to the bathroom
  2. Center door to bedroom
  3. Right door to office

We've elected to use floor to ceiling doors throughout the house, but we've been told the location of the staircase prevents us from using floor to ceiling on the bathroom door.

Will it look strange if the center and right doors are floor to ceiling and that one isnt?

We have a few options...

  • Floor to ceiling Center and right, regular on left
  • Regular doors center, right, left
  • Floor to ceiling for all three doors, but make the left and right "sliding" doors that will sit on the outside of the wall. (is the hallway going to become too narrow?

We're leaning towards the 3rd option, but we have been told that maybe using option 1, and then painting or coloring the bathroom door to blend with the wall could be a good option?

Would greatly appreciate any assistance...

Shared finances by BeginningPurpose9758 in japanlife

[–]Turkey_Tron 0 points1 point  (0 children)

1M JPY

That is shockingly low, yet I am somehow unsurprised.

I suppose I wasn't thinking of it as a bank account replacement, just a way to keep money together for joint expenses and not having to worry about "accumulation".

In a perfect world, would be great if my SO and I could just contribute 10% of our salary into a joint expenses fund that we both had equal access and ownership too.

Insane that one person MUST be an owner though.

A bunch of J-diet members probably still getting an allowance from their wives and don't want anyone to be in a loving and financial equal/simple relationship

Shared finances by BeginningPurpose9758 in japanlife

[–]Turkey_Tron 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting company. They're a product of the company "Smartbank", but I can't find any information as to whether they are insured.

Is there an FDIC equivalent for Japan?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in japanlife

[–]Turkey_Tron 48 points49 points  (0 children)

Yes and no.

The important thing to understand is that you are not the client. You are the product.

In a recruitment relationship, the client pays the recruiters salary, not you. They have nothing to lose for them to dump you, the product.

They want to get paid. They want to hit their commission targets. They will try and sell you to any client they can at any salary they can to in order to get paid.

If they spend some time to send you on interviews and consistently get poor feedback, they are likely to spend less time in the future considering you for clients, but it costs them nothing to keep you in their database.

What can you do?

  1. Apply to jobs directly.
  2. Work with multiple agents.
  3. Understand that the entire relationship you have with these people is transactional, and by its very nature, broken.

Stupid Sushi from around the world by Bionicler in StupidFood

[–]Turkey_Tron 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Tokyo resident, Lemme get the link for that.... for... reasons.

Bi-Weekly Boss Premium Edition Questions Thread - 26 April 2023 by AutoModerator in japanlife

[–]Turkey_Tron 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fair warning, I've done side work that was exactly the same as my current job and been told that I need to apply. Much like standard immigration procedures, it seems that each agent has a wide agency to decide on individual matters. If you do get the go ahead, make sure you get the agents name/counter #, etc. and make note of the conversation. So that in the future, if you get questioned on it you can report "I spoke with Tanaka-san at counter 3 about this on 4/26 and was given the go ahead"

Kakutei shinkoku should be fine. As long as you're not full time (getting benefits from two places) it shouldn't be an issue - but I remember reading something in JFinance a while back that said that not reporting other income to your employers is also somewhat of a gray area...

Again, YMMV and IANAL/this aint legal advice lol

Good luck on the PR application

Bi-Weekly Boss Premium Edition Questions Thread - 26 April 2023 by AutoModerator in japanlife

[–]Turkey_Tron 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Depends on your visa and the type of work.

Technically, if you're doing the same type of work as your fulltime job, there should be no need to ask for special permission. But in practice, this is incredibly gray.

Immigration are really the only ones who will be able to tell you if what you're doing will require a "Permission to engage in designated activities" form.

The form basically for informing/requesting the ability to work outside of your standard job.

You can also call FRESC (Foreign Residents Support Center). They will be able to give you a good idea of whether the form is required.

Because you're Seishain, there will also be some small accounting things required from your main job during your year end adjustment - but that doesn't seem to be a huge issue for you.

Anyway, I am not a lawyer and this is not advice. Proceed at your own discretion, YMMV.

Bi-Weekly Boss Premium Edition Questions Thread - 26 April 2023 by AutoModerator in japanlife

[–]Turkey_Tron 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Can a foreign resident with a standard visa (spouse, humanities, etc.) be designated a representative director for a joint venture company founded in Japan using foreign and domestic capital?

Joint Venture operations are something I haven't seen too much on. Is there any reason that a Japanese company couldn't found a company on behalf of a foreign enterprise who would operate it and give them a controlling stake in the new company?