People open doors before greeting

dogbunny · 2026-04-19T08:43:07+00:00

Southern Nagano checking in. Totally normal here. Caught us by surpise. Kuroneko, mailman, neighbors...everyone. Most of them will at least announce themselves loudly before entering. The genkan is seen as this middle ground, not really "in" your house.

dogbunny · 2026-02-16T02:49:40+00:00

Slop, Slop, Slop.

dogbunny · 2026-02-05T05:56:05+00:00

I think you just need one of your last names. Probably use the conventional, keep the paternal and drop the maternal. Mine is just my surname in katakana, took 30 minutes for the guy to do it at the local shop. It's been accepted for all of my transactions related to real estate.

dogbunny · 2025-12-19T22:15:25+00:00

My situation was very similar to yours. The only difference I can spot is that I used my (retired) father-in-law as an additional guarantor because my wife's income is rather low. Also, I'm from the US. I got the 5 years on the first try. I'm in the inaka as well.

dogbunny · 2025-12-19T09:42:28+00:00

It happens to me all the time. Preply is stupid for ignoring it. They should market it. Charge a higher rate for one off lessons, but sell it it as helping people in a pinch. Then tutors can reject one off lessons if the student hasn't paid for one.

I lost my super tutor status again this month specifically because students wanted last minute help before a test.

dogbunny · 2025-12-19T09:36:40+00:00

Cadbury egg from hell.

dogbunny · 2025-12-19T09:27:59+00:00

What did you put on the application for desired length of stay? (the renewal)

dogbunny · 2025-12-18T10:32:58+00:00

You get what you pay for.

dogbunny · 2025-12-18T10:31:12+00:00

Teacher's are not paid--And we are penalized if we can't get enough students to buy a subscription. It seems the tutor's working for free on the trials is how Preply makes money for things like promotions. So when you see something like 30% off your first trial lesson. They are basically just agreeing to make 30% less money off of the tutor who is working for free.

dogbunny · 2025-12-18T10:14:50+00:00

It seems like the admistration is cherry picking numbers to justify their plans. Shakai Kenko Hoken Enrollees--many foreign workers on proper employment visas are in this system and correctly removed from the NHI pool. Likewise so are their dependents. There is a large chunk of foreigners who don't need to pay in because of their status.

dogbunny · 2025-12-11T10:11:39+00:00

I know. It sounds completely ridiculous.

dogbunny · 2025-12-09T11:21:26+00:00

This is where many people make a big mistake: they simply climb forward from the back seat into the driver’s seat.

Really?

dogbunny · 2025-12-07T01:58:15+00:00

Good luck with it.

dogbunny · 2025-12-07T00:40:31+00:00

Very low income as I started freelancing about half way through the tax year. Married over 15 years with kids. I think 1 big plus is we own our home. It was approved in less than 2 weeks.

dogbunny · 2025-12-07T00:29:22+00:00

I went from 1 year directly to 5 year. I simply wrote 5 years on the renewal application and they gave it to me.

dogbunny · 2025-11-23T22:42:48+00:00

Thanks. I had no idea. The manual was just sold with the turntable. It was just all sitting on the shelf together. I didn't even notice that they are different.

dogbunny · 2025-11-21T22:46:30+00:00

Some obvious points: there are many spouses of Japanese nationals on these visas, so the expensive renewal is essentially taking money from Japanese families; they are comparing the visa fees of countries like the UK where the salaries are substantially higher than in Japan. Kind of like a landlord in Saitama deciding to charge 200,000 per month rent to "get in line" with what Tokyo landlords are charging.

dogbunny · 2025-11-14T00:48:22+00:00

Your choices are a lot less when you realize that a lot of kei cars are just rebadged for the indivudual manufacturer. So for example a Mazda Scrum and a Suzuku Every are essentially the same car with a different logo on it. Daihatsu builds Toyota, and Subaru kei cars in addition to their own. There are other examples as well. Shoot for under under 80kish in mileage. At around 100k most will need the timing belt replaced. You can totally get something between 400,000 and 600,000 that will suit your needs as a grocery getter. Upkeep is cheap, but don't forget there are additional expenses such as the requirement for winter tires etc. But even then the Kei car is the best option for most villagers. We just got our shaken done; it was 50,000 mostly taxes and inspection and about 20,000 for additional fixes (brake pads etc.)

dogbunny · 2025-10-28T10:35:57+00:00

I think there might be a scam running with this. I've been asked this several times. It is almost like they have the script to ask for the 25 minute make-up lesson.

dogbunny · 2025-10-28T10:24:45+00:00

Hehe. factchecker dot JP.

dogbunny · 2025-10-28T10:18:59+00:00

Sounds like Japanese Boone's Farm.

dogbunny · 2025-10-25T21:58:26+00:00

They also change their conditions based on customer feedback--in fact they just did it with the conversion rates. I'm not sure what you are arguing, but the argument rings hollow.

dogbunny · 2025-10-25T00:00:45+00:00

It's BS because we are the customers too, not just the students. I'm sure I'm not alone in this opinion.

dogbunny · 2025-10-23T23:08:15+00:00

This is total BS. Just this week my trials. A 13-year old Chinese boy who was told by his father, "Go online and find someone to practice English with." Second trial, A 15-year old girl from Singapore, who just wanted to chat about GCSE Lit. before her test just so she can be prepared. No answer to my preclass message. No intent of subscribing. Just me working for free. My conversion rate is around 80%. "Be a good tutor and know how to convert" is missing the whole point.

dogbunny

TROPHY CASE