Me too, but we have a teacher - long term resident, fluent j-speaker, married to Japanese, kids etc - who needed to change something to do with his mortgage at a j-bank. The *only* form of ID they...

We have also been told ("we" as in the HR dept of an international school in Tokyo) that you do not have to replace an expired ARC until you need to renew your visa - info from immigration and also...

The approach we've taken with our son, now 8 and fully, and happily, bilingual was for me to speak English, j-wife to speak Japanese when they're alone and when we're all together it's generally...

Looks like I was wrong about lager, by the way - interesting info here...
http://www.wikihow.com/Cook-With-Beer

Don't use a can of Asahi Super Dry (or Kirin/Sapporo/Suntory equivalent), I think that will not be good!

You need a non-carbonated beer, not lager - try going to a decent off-license/liquor store...

I agree - I work for a private school and we are on a scheme called shigaku kyosai, it's independent of national health insurance but works in exactly the same way and is essentially a version of NHI...

Spring and autumn are definitely better times to come than summer. In May watch out for the golden week holiday at the beginning, again airfares are higher (though that tends to be for Japanese going...

Just my tuppence worth...

Don't come in August, it's too damn hot, too damn humid and the flight prices are at their highest.

Wait until October, it's cooler, you might get the start of the...

I'd recommend Kawaguchi, one stop over the Arakawa river into Saitama (don't believe all that da-saitama crap). 25 minutes direct to Tokyo station or change at Akabane for Shinjuku, cheaper than...

Good luck with the move back to the US. With all your pension related questions I think you'd be much better off getting (probably paying for) some proper professional advice. 14 years' of...

When something about your visa changes you have to inform the authorities - it used to be that you did averything apart from renewals at the ward office but now the only change they care about is...

Lots of good advice on this thread http://forum.gaijinpot.com/showthread.php?61369-Permanent-Residency-from-start-to-finish-(good-and-bad)

It started a long time ago (2008) but people are still...

I would agree that it's pretty unlikely to get PR if you're on your first 1 year spouse visa, but as it's free to apply you may as well give it a try (you only pay the 8,000 fee after PR is...

To begin with let's avoid the confusing British system (and I'm British) where public schools are private!

A private school is a fee-paying school e.g. it's not free to go there. A public school...

Depends what you mean - they can come as a married couple (Japan cannot say they are not married) but one of the partners will not be able to get a dependent visa (as would be possible for a...

4 out of 10, but 3 of those were lucky guesses :)

OP

If you need a copy of the Labour Standards Law with Japanese & English, use this link: http://www.jil.go.jp/english/laborinfo/library/documents/laborstandardsact_amendment2008.pdf

Could be...

Hi

One place you could look is at this group on facebook http://en-gb.facebook.com/pages/Tokyo-International-Parents-Pals-TIPP/251119461623298

They have regular meet-ups and events, not sure if...

If you're talking dollars or sterling then maybe yes

Iraqi dinar? Probably not

Agree with Majestic, immigration aren't really that bothered about the nuts & bolts of your contract, just that you have one, it guarantees to pay you a wage and that the company who gave it to you...

Ikea Japan?

They have 200x200 quilt covers etc

http://www.ikea.com/jp/en/catalog/categories/departments/Textiles/10680/

That's not a lot to go on, better to quote parts you're unsure of and see what the consensus is. That said, if the wages aren't great, that's your choice. 2 year contract - longer than 'usual' but...

I understand your point, but the government/immigration say that an ARC can be used in lieu of a passport whilst these organisations are saying that it cannot. As since1990 said, are they allowed to...

More of an FYI to everyone...

We checked with immigration several times regarding the validity of the ARC vs the new card as form of identification - every time immigration said the 2 cards are...

As usual with immigration it's case-by-case.

We had 18 new staff arriving in the summer, all after the July 9th changeover. We applied for 5-year visas/periods of stay for everyone and all expcet...