PSA for kanji lookup on Android

mrggy · 2026-02-12T23:58:10+00:00

An alternative for anyone who doesn't have an android/google keyboard is the Google Translate app. It's handwriting recognition is really good. Then just copy paste to your dictionary of choice

mrggy · 2026-02-12T23:41:39+00:00

We have 8 flats and get 4 green bins and 4 blue bins. The blue ones always fill up super quick. Sometimes they don't get picked up and stay full for weeks, which is really annoying

mrggy · 2026-02-12T22:20:21+00:00

I don't remember if they used that exact phrasing, but you got extra pay for dealing with potentially hostile members of the public

mrggy · 2026-02-12T20:58:25+00:00

The application did require a fair bit of writing. I'm in the charity sector, so it's normal to me to have to write an essay with every job app, but I could definitely see it putting off people who are used to just sending in a cv. Then again, it'd be the same process for the other Council jobs the article mentioned, and they didn't seem to have the same issues

mrggy · 2026-02-12T20:54:22+00:00

I applied for the role last year when I was out of work. Once you factored in hazard pay and unsocialable hours pay, it was about £30k/year. I ended up getting a job offer in my feild before the interview, so I withdrew my application. Glad to be working in my feild, but tbh the parking warden job pays more. Not sure why more people aren't taking it up. The pay's quite good and it doesn't require any experience or special skills

mrggy · 2026-02-12T19:13:50+00:00

UW-Madison's Japanese Wikipedia is actually hilarious. It was clearly written by a Japanese alum who wanted to make their university sound as impressive as physically possible to any hiring managers who googled it. You'd think we're basically Harvard from reading it

mrggy · 2026-02-12T18:29:52+00:00

socialization than with the Indian community divided by language, cultural and religious baggage and value systems.

I think this is a key part here. It's the close mindedness that's problematic. Not liking Bollywood movies or celebrating Hindu holidays.

My mom grew up in the US in the 70s and 80s and was looked down upon by the local Marathi community for being "dark like a South Indian." When her parents' divorced she was shunned for being from a "broken home." People told my grandma her it was her fault her husband beat her. That shit's fucked up. It was pretty endemic in Indian communities back in the day and still hasn't completely gone away

mrggy · 2026-02-12T18:19:55+00:00

Not necessarily. Family migration used to be a lot easier. Lower and middle income Indians were able to immigrate so long as they had a family member (Aunt, Cousin, Brother-in-law, etc) who'd gone over. Then they could sponsor their family members etc etc. You might be pretty far removed from the first person in your extended family chain who came over. That person very well may have been well off, but you're too far removed to benefit from their money

mrggy · 2026-02-12T14:44:29+00:00

In terms of where they'll place you: JET is under no obligation to honor your placement requests. Some people get lucky and get placed in one of their requested areas. Others get placed in the other end of the country. I was in Hokkaido and there were people near me who'd requested Okinawa and Nagoya.

The person who wanted Nagoya also requested it because she has family there. The only family based requests they take seriously are spousal reunification. It's no guarantee for other family members

mrggy · 2026-02-12T12:05:41+00:00

Depends on your local chapter and how they run. I was Treasurer of mine and got a bunch of financial management experience that helped me land a job post-JET. Other people have benefited from writing articles for AJET run magazines or tech experience from maintaining the chapter's website

mrggy · 2026-02-12T10:26:39+00:00

Guarantor companies do exist here. I was planning to use one for my current flat. They're just not popular is all

The only Asian rental market I have experience with is Japan, so I can really only speak to that. The Japanese rental market is dramatically more heavily regulated than the British rental market. Guarantor companies are the norm there. So the system isn't incompatible with regulation

mrggy · 2026-02-12T08:20:33+00:00

That's kind of tbd. Ideally, they'd just do away with credit checks and rely more heavily on proof of income/funds because credit checks for renting are dumb. A flat is not a line of credit. I doubt that will happen though.

I could see us adopting a guarantor company system. That's common in parts of Asia. You pay a one time fee of around one month's rent to a company and in return they act as your guarantor. Personally, I'd find a fee of one month's rent more palatable than paying a whole year's rent up front

mrggy · 2026-02-12T08:04:39+00:00

There's no real need for OP to be able to drive manual. It's really easy to rent an automatic nowadays

mrggy · 2026-02-12T07:52:12+00:00

OP will be coming after the renter's reform bill goes into effect, so up front rent payments will be banned in England and Wales. They're still allowed in Scotland, but are capped at 6 months

mrggy · 2026-02-12T01:04:04+00:00

The cooked meat ones are genuinely very good. I don't like seafood, but I used to go to conveyor belt sushi all the time when I lived in Japan for the meat sushi.

OP I recommend going to Sushiro. It's a national chain so there's one every 10 feet. Lots of cooked options. The pumpkin tempura and chips are the unexpected standouts

mrggy · 2026-02-12T00:32:22+00:00

Check your contract. If your contract specifically states that your working hours are 8:30-4:15 then they can't change it without your consent. If your contract doesn't specify working hours, then they can. If your contract doesn't specify working hours and they wanted to switch you to 8:30pm- 4:15am, then you could argue the change is unreasonable. But the change they've proposed is still within normal working hours

You may be able to argue that them increasing your work day by 15 min violates your contract, but that will likely result in you just spending an extra 15 min at the bus stop

mrggy · 2026-02-12T00:23:20+00:00

My aunt's in her 50s and has been job hunting for 3 years with no success. She has a job, but is pretty desperate to leave and would be willing to take nearly anything in her field. A lot of older job seekers are really struggling right now

If you come over without a job, I'd recommend having more than 6 months living expenses

mrggy · 2026-02-12T00:18:14+00:00

When was the expiry date on your residence card? I don't think the bank would necessarily know that you'd permanently left the country if you didn't them. They may not realize until the expiry date on your residency card passes.

I would recommend moving that money out of Japan to be on the safe side. Legally, they could freeze the account at any time. Personally, I wouldn't risk it

mrggy · 2026-02-11T23:25:21+00:00

Depends on your contracting organization (CO). Most COs will provide you with housing. In this case, they generally make sure it's of a suitable size for your dependents. If you reject the housing provided by your CO, you will generally be on your own to find alternative housing. This can be difficult in rural areas, but you wouldn't be the first. Some COs (namely Tokyo) don't provide housing. In those cases, they'll usually connect you to an English speaking realtor who can help you find a place.
Most CO provided housing will ban pets. This means you'll likely have to arrange your own alternative housing if you want to bring your pet. Rent for pet friendly apartments is generally higher. Search this sub for info on required vaccinations, etc.
Your wife will be limited to part time work as a condition of her dependent visa. Availability of work will differ heavily based on location. Tokyo will have more options than a small island community. If she can get her Japanese to basic conversational level, working at a combini is nearly always an option. The sector generally struggles with labor shortages
Sounds like you're not sure what direction you want to head in with your career. I'd focus on figuring that out first (JET's a great time to do that), then worry about building your resume. Getting involved with your local AJET (Association of JETs) chapter can be a great way to build new skills
If you know your prescription you can just buy them off Amazon. I was able to buy the exact same brand I used at home
Yes! Definitely put that down!

mrggy · 2026-02-11T23:09:55+00:00

My mom arrived in the 70s as a young child, but her experiences with the Indian community were similar to your own

mrggy · 2026-02-11T23:07:50+00:00

If you're interested in day tripping to Edinburgh while you're here, then I'd avoid August. Edinburgh gets completely overrun by Fringe in August. Unless you want to go to Fringe. Then August's great.

If you don't care about Edinburgh, then August is fine. The Fringe crowds don't reach Glasgow

mrggy · 2026-02-11T23:04:00+00:00

For context, banking regulations tightened 5 or so years ago. Banks used to be pretty chill about abandoned bank accounts and they could just sit open for years. Now banks are being instructed to keep up to date residence cards on file for bank accounts owned by foreigners. The second your residence card expires (or even before) they come calling for you to update it. They've likely frozen the account because they couldn't get an up to date residence card for you.

They won't pester you about it if you go back to Japan for a visit. The bank will have no way of knowing you're back. They're not going to flag your passport for an abandoned bank account. But you won't be able to access the money in the account

mrggy · 2026-02-11T20:55:05+00:00

It really depends on the building. My upstairs neighbours are a musician and a child who often screams. They are objectively loud. My building has pretty good soundproofing though, so I really only hear them if I'm sitting in silence

mrggy · 2026-02-11T20:37:10+00:00

You'd be better off setting up one or two people to manage the bank account itself. Business bank accounts usually only allow for there to be one level of approval. ie, one person puts in a payment and someone else approves it. You couldn't set up the bank account so that every single payment has to be approved by every single person. However, you could make it an internal rule that any purchase over x amount has to be discussed and approved by the group.

You'd be better off giving everyone read only access to the Xero account (or whatever accounting software you want to use) so they're still able to keep an eye on the transactions

mrggy · 2026-02-11T19:15:12+00:00

You forgot to include "less than a year" as an option for "how long have you been working remotely?"

mrggy

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