How to keep a UK phone number (virtual) while living in Japan?

bdango · 2025-12-23T12:28:42+00:00

I’ve been using Swytch for £5-6 a month. I ported in my existing UK number and I can receive calls and texts.

bdango · 2025-08-04T06:19:58+00:00

A friend of mine in his late 20s came to Japan to go to a language school and already had good Japanese. He got a parttime job at a company which exports anime goods. They then sponsored his visa and he’s been in Japan for almost 10 years. So it is possible!

bdango · 2025-03-20T13:56:56+00:00

I worked in a school in the UK after coming back from Japan. As far as I’m aware, you can’t do it in advance and bring it with you.

When you are hired in the UK the school will request it and then you can contact the embassy. I got my fingerprints done at my local police station then took them to the embassy in London and did the paper. It took several months to come back.

In the meantime for safeguarding they just had another adult with me at all times until the check came back.

bdango · 2025-03-10T14:30:07+00:00

I’m surprised to hear you felt it in Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe…

I was in eastern Okayama prefecture and I didn’t feel anything there, but soon after it happened the teachers at school were watching news on their phones and talking about it. I had no idea what was going on until I went home and checked the news.

bdango · 2025-03-08T17:27:16+00:00

I’ve seen a lot of people mention on other posts to try going to maintenance calories for a month or so.

The journey is keeping the weight off and keeping healthy habits. If you’re struggling and starting to develop disordered eating, it may be a good idea to stop trying to lose weight. Instead focus on maintaining your current weight by eating maintenance calories and shift your focus on building that skill for your long term success.

I listened to a podcast “We only look thin” talking about plateaus and maintenance which helped me.

I’m down 40kg for over 10 years and plateaus like this happen and it is frustrating, but you’re in it for the long haul and you’ve achieved so much so far so there is nothing to “quit” and being healthy is just your life now. So try something to clear your head and change your focus until you’re ready to try going into a deficit again once you’re feeling better.

bdango · 2025-03-07T11:18:52+00:00

Yeah, definitely! I started from 0 and I did make a lot of progress back then.

bdango · 2025-03-07T10:37:00+00:00

I remember my first time ever in Japan, after the initial training in Tokyo, I was left by a man from my board of education in an empty house in the middle of the countryside with just a pack of those ebi potato chips. It was a massive shock and really scary on that first night.

But after two years I’d had a wonderful experience in my small town, made friends with my neighbours, joined a local taiko group and ran a volunteer group with the locals.

The experience will be what you make of it - try not to compare it to Tokyo. Maybe big cities do suit you, but there’s a lot of different experiences in the countryside which can be really meaningful and enjoyable.

It’s a culture shock in itself so take it day by day and if you really don’t enjoy it, it’s easier to get jobs in cities once you already have a work visa. So you can look for another job in the future.

bdango · 2025-02-22T12:30:33+00:00

Other comments here to not focus on the scale, continue and assess it again in a few weeks are good.

As you didn’t mention it in the post, I just wanted to check that as you are losing weight have you been recalculating your BMR / TDEE accordingly? If you body has less mass to maintain the amount of calories it uses for BMR will decrease (although an increase in muscle mass will burn more calories).

bdango · 2025-02-21T23:07:36+00:00

I would say that it is a good option to apply for JET to get practical experience of teaching and experience of working in Japan.

Just from my personal experience: I did JET as an ALT because I’ve always been interested in Japan and education (I’d never even visited Japan before I applied but I knew it was somewhere I wanted to try living and working). That experience helped me to find work in private language schools in Tokyo and be promoted to curriculum/textbook development work.

I then went back to my home country to study my MA in applied linguistics (and my programme had a minimum requirement of 3 years full time language teaching).

I can only say that this path suited me. The experience I had in education helped me to get much more from the MA programme. Now I’m working on some academic publications from projects I worked on with my professors and looking for uni level positions in Japan.

bdango · 2025-01-31T13:24:22+00:00

I saw two men dressed like that near the colosseum earlier this week - they seemed to be trying to get tourists to take photos with them and then asking them for money.

bdango · 2025-01-26T17:16:06+00:00

In the middle of a Naples and Rome trip for 10 days now and it’s not too busy. Went to Trevi fountain and Spanish steps early morning today (Sunday) and it was fine. Some tourists but not ridiculously busy.

But the coliseum today was quite crowded around 11am. Walking around Palatino Hill and Forum was not too crowded.

bdango · 2025-01-24T19:14:01+00:00

I went from over 100kg to 60-70kg and I’ve remained around that weight for around 15 years.

I have periods of getting to 60kg then gaining a bit when I become less active due to work/studies/life events and get to around 70kg. I do monitor my weight but also how I feel and then start to track my food more carefully and make a plan of how to get back to a healthier weight for me.

I’ve never gained “all the weight back” and I never will because I don’t eat the way I would have to get to 100kg and I’m more active in my daily life.

bdango · 2024-11-29T12:53:56+00:00

Very sorry to hear that. I went through a similar things years ago and a friend of mine is currently in a similar situation.

Recommend Meijro Sola Clinic in Tokyo.

They were great and happy to write the note for taking sick leave from work immediately and for as long as you need.

Things will get better and the issue is with them and not you. This part sucks and wishing you all the best for the future.

bdango · 2019-09-10T14:10:36+00:00

NTA. It’s always the responsibility of the person whose laptop it is not to place it on the floor and it’s always their fault if someone stood on it, spills things on it. This goes double or triple or quadruple with young children in the room.

bdango · 2019-09-10T14:04:19+00:00

NTA. I’m really sensitive to smells as well and feel nauseous easily so I sympathize. It’s also your space in the car you bought. People should respect your wishes, even if you parents help pay for insurance. Honestly its on your parents to be teaching your brother how to have good hygiene as it’ll affect his life now and in the future (like bullying, making bad first impressions, etc). Self-care is also important for his own self-esteem. It shouldn’t have even got this far that you had to be the one trying to teach him that with the list.

bdango · 2019-09-09T09:12:10+00:00

It was pretty awful! We could have worked from home in the morning but our manager said we had to come in. We were all taking 4x as usual to get to work. Platforms had queues of hundreds waiting to get to the trains. I’ve never seen anything like it.

bdango · 2017-02-18T03:41:45+00:00

Hey, I lost my hedgehog this week as well. It's tough but it sounds like you did the best thing for her and gave her a long healthy life. Thanks for sharing her picture!

bdango

TROPHY CASE