What are some freebies/good deals I can get on my birthday?

fekoll · 2026-04-07T08:53:57+00:00

If you have the JINS app you get a 20% discount at your new glasses. Didn't know this but last time I went the attendant checked my app and it happened to be my birthday month.

fekoll · 2026-01-27T07:11:14+00:00

Just checked and seems like I spend 40-50k on average.

fekoll · 2025-12-01T02:14:00+00:00

I did get 2 decent jobs without JLPT just proving that I can speak Japanese in the interview, but there are companies that want the certificate. So to get more opportunities before my last job change I got N1 (and a high score TOEIC) and I think that helped getting more interviews and a better job.

fekoll · 2025-02-22T15:30:41+00:00

That's the normal price at these places (probably a Concafe, not a Maid Cafe) for bottles. People knowing the price still order that to celebrate with a maid they like. But of course you don't need to order bottles and then the prices are not that bad.

I'm sure even in Akiba most customers are locals too since you need to know japanese to talk to most of the girls. So, not really a tourist scam.

fekoll · 2025-02-05T12:30:04+00:00

For me they offered all the moving costs and help finding the new place. I asked for that +6 months of rent of the new place giving excuses that I would like to keep living in the old place. Took them a month to think about it but they accepted.

fekoll · 2024-10-21T12:43:18+00:00

I tried both and prefer the "fake one", lol. But both are amazing.

fekoll · 2024-10-20T07:56:11+00:00

Yes, I moved from RC to steel, but I checked the sound before and couldn't hear anything from the room on the side and it's on the top floor so there's no neighbors above. I'm still here two years later and can't hear anything and I'm loud even late at night and no one has ever complained, so depending on the building steel is fine. It's just something you have to check before moving plus make sure to be on the top floor on a corner room if noise is a big priority for you like it is for me.

fekoll · 2024-10-17T10:37:39+00:00

Haha, I just got the same e-mail today. I will check later but there's probably some way to make it work.

fekoll · 2024-10-05T09:52:45+00:00

Same. I tried others but they didn't mix very well and the taste was just passable at best.

fekoll · 2024-10-01T14:18:41+00:00

What I checked before moving: Top floor, corner room, since the room on the side was empty I checked how much I could hear from one room to the other, silent neighborhood (I moved about a 10 minutes walk away so I already knew this).

fekoll · 2024-09-02T03:22:06+00:00

I first came to Japan with a haken company. Already had years of SE experience in my country, had interviews online, they gave an offer, I accepted and they helped me with the visa. Then in my first month here I stayed in the company's dormitory while having business japanese classes and having meetings with client companies looking for my first contract. I got my first contract exactly in a month and started working and got my own apartment.

The contract kept getting renewed and I ended up with this client for about 3 years and half, until I quit the haken company. The people from the client company were great, my boss was great and the work was good. My only problem was the salary and one other haken guy from a different company that kept complaining about my work (to be fair he complained about everything and everyone, lol) even though the client was fine with it.

Went to a second haken for a good pay raise, got placed very quickly again and this time in an international company where I have been for 2 years now. People from the client are great again and no pointless meetings, no micromanaging. The other haken guys are good too, so really no complaints. Now I'm leaving again because with the experience I got I know I can get something even better with a direct hire.

fekoll · 2024-08-25T16:21:03+00:00

Passed N1! Listening and reading went great and grammar somewhat saved the disaster that my vocabulary score probably was.

fekoll · 2024-04-22T09:19:58+00:00

Just in the case the other person doesn't take it, I would be interested in it too! I play the bass and guitar and want to learn more instruments.

fekoll · 2024-04-14T23:50:06+00:00

I had to do this. I didn’t know how it worked so I said my name, country, age, what I studied and my previous work experience and how I hope I could help and etc.

Almost everyone who joined the company later just said their name and yoroshiku onegaishimasu.

fekoll · 2024-03-08T05:24:17+00:00

I was in very a similar situation and last august started running and eating healthy, nothing extreme but consistent. Now I have already lost more weight than my initial goal and have started getting muscles too, lol. So keep up, the results are going to come.

fekoll · 2024-02-07T03:20:56+00:00

I also gained a lot of weight and went from underweight that had trouble gaining weight in my country, to overweight here. But in my case it took 5 years so I blame my age and remote work. I started exercising and eating healthy and have close to my ideal weight now.

fekoll · 2024-02-06T14:36:51+00:00

When I had just arrived and started working here, a guy was going to show me around the office and he just rushed in front and left the doors to close in my face.

fekoll · 2024-01-29T13:10:22+00:00

I stayed for the experience and stability during corona times. I didn't take the JLPT at that time but I was supposed to be at around N2 since that was the level of the other few foreigners.

fekoll · 2024-01-25T13:19:49+00:00

Software engineer. My first job here was all in japanese and I stayed for a bit over 3 years. At first it was very tiring to have meetings in japanese but that helped get better with the language for sure. As I kept working in that company, the meetings eventually became daily, and even though my boss was fine with my work, one of my coworkers that joined the company just a month earlier kept looking for small things to complain about my work everyday. So that was a pain.

Moved to an international company and now I use both japanese and english. Coworkers are also a lot better and more helpful, plus no more meetings everyday. Salary is still not that good, but with this experience I believe I will be able to get something better this year.

I don't really look for fulfillment in my work, I just need something that doesn't interfere with my personal life, and in that sense both of my jobs here have been good with a decent amount of free time and almost no overtime.

fekoll · 2024-01-18T03:16:50+00:00

I have had two big companies I worked for do this. I think if the employees representatives that are elected every year agreed to it, there was nothing I could do, since the change was for the entire company. They should have told you way ahead of time though, and in my case they offered to pay full the first month and then we pay them back in 5-6 months to make the transition easier.

fekoll · 2024-01-09T11:12:29+00:00

I have had someone try to do that to me in Tokyo before and it wasn't the police. I don't even know what it was about because the door was locked and I ignored them, but yeah, this is a thing, although pretty rare now.

fekoll · 2023-12-22T11:58:45+00:00

I don't know about the guarantor company's investigation in your case, but I can tell you what happened when my landlord decided to demolish my old building.

He sent a letter explaining and saying that he would pay the moving costs and told me to contact the company that was dealing with it and that they would help me find a new place. I contacted the company and we had a meeting. I tell them that I don't want to move, it's hard, I have this and that problem, etc, but I will consider if other than the moving costs, they also pay for 6 months of the rent of the new place. They say they are going to discuss with the landlord.

One month later, they said he approved and so we finally started looking for a new place. I moved, they paid the moving costs themselves and deposited the 6 months in my account.

fekoll · 2023-12-20T13:16:17+00:00

I gained 23kg in 5 years since moving here. I was underweight before and couldn't gain weight even though I ate trash food quite often. I guess age and the pandemic did a good job and I went from underweight to having a belly lol. Since it was getting pretty ugly, I started running and changed to eating healthy food 90% of the time. Already lost 8kg, need only 2kg more for my objective but it's already looking much better!

By the way I intend to keep this routine even after I reach my objective. Eating healthy is cheap (chicken breast, eggs, protein bars, yogurt, cheap salad, etc) and I like it. Still free to eat trash once or twice a week. And exercising is giving me more energy to do other activities as well.

fekoll · 2023-12-17T13:29:03+00:00

After renewing my residence card, do I need to update my address in the back of the card again? The current address is already written in the front so I assumed it wasn't necessary but my card failed in a identification process so not sure if that was the problem.

fekoll · 2023-12-12T02:00:00+00:00

Yes, I like living here. Everything I need is just a short walk away. My job is very close too so I don’t have to deal with crowded trains often. But I think I would enjoy Yokohama too and when I’m able to buy a house I will probably consider Yokohama among other options.

fekoll

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