Here’s a list of 5 things to note before moving to Tokyo, or Japan in general. If you are planning to move, do take these into consideration!
Jump ahead:
- General concept of internships in Japan
- Visa & Immigration clearance
- My-Number Card
- Apartment Rental
- Transportation
- Money Related Concerns
As an 18-year-old who has yet to graduate, without a good command of Japanese, and no income at all, I took up an internship offer lasting 6 months in Tokyo, Japan.
In Japan, internships are mostly unpaid with the general idea:
“You are here to learn from me, I am here to teach you. Since you are benefitting from learning from me in this workplace, why should we pay you? You are not contributing much either.”
So… here’s what I wish I knew before moving.
1. Visa, Immigration Clearance:
There are various types of Visa applications in Japan. Mine was done under the bracket of “Cultural Activities”, which means it is only a Single-entry visa. I cannot leave the country and re-enter throughout my stay in Japan.
As a foreigner, it is very troublesome and difficult to apply for the Visa without the help of an insider as we need a Certificate of Eligibility for Resident Status (COE) before we can actually apply for a Japanese Visa.
As the purpose of my stay was for an internship, the company that took me in helped with the COE application as it needs to be submitted to the Japanese government office. There are tons of documents to submit, and I had to mail physical copies of my supporting documents to the company in Japan, where they will then submit it to the Immigration office for processing.
To increase the success rate of your application, you should prepare some related documents such as past published reports, thesis, etc that you have done related to the field you will be working/ interning to boost your eligibility.
After the approval of your COE, you will need the physical hardcopy to apply for your Visa so your counterpart in Japan needs to mail it to you. This process of sending documents back and forth is tedious and takes a long time.
“With the additional time taken by the Immigration office to approve your COE, you should set a buffer of at least 1–2 months for the whole visa application process.”
Upon arrival in Japan with your completed Visa application, you will be ushered into another room, where an Immigration staff will take down some information about you and key into their system.
The staff will also hand you a residence card and an information booklet about the application process for Japan’s “My-Number card” which is similar to an Identification card. You might want to confirm where you’ll be staying throughout before making the move so you’ll have your address printed directly onto your card when you arrive (Saves you a lot of hassle…).
I did not confirm my address for my stay and had to visit the local municipal office to register my address after that (which was really troublesome and time-consuming!).
2. “My-Number card”:
This is an identification number card for every resident in the country. It is not necessary to apply for one if you do not wish to go through the hassle. However, it would facilitate convenience if you were to re-apply for a long term stay in Japan in the future.
The significance of this card is growing in Japan as they introduce new government initiatives for the residents. Some basic uses of this card include services at the bank such as applying for credit/debit cards, social security, taxation, disaster response, etc. I’ll link a website here for those who need more information regarding the application of the card.
Keep in mind that their local municipal offices in the various wards have little command of the English language.
The process is relatively simple where you are required to fill in a form, and the rest would largely be waiting for your turn and submitting the form. However, you would be asked a few questions upon submission of the application, so if you have zero command of the language, you might want to bring along someone who can translate for you.
After that, it’s just a long waiting game where they process your application and mail you your temporary card details as shown in the photo below. You’ll need to fill the form up, mail it back to them, and visit the office again to collect the physical card once it’s ready.
3. Short and Long term rental apartments:
Many landlords and real estate companies in Japan require a minimum lease of at least 1–2 years depending on the type of housing and where.
In addition, it is more difficult for foreigners to lease in Japan without the help of a local. Companies and landlords are afraid that foreigners might not be able to pay or decide to leave the country abruptly and not pay.
Rather than looking for an apartment, I would suggest renting a room in a shared-house or a bed in a dormitory. This would greatly increase your success rate in renting for durations of less than a year. It is also more cost-effective and the best option I had considering I had no income.
Furthermore, many rental rooms/apartments do not provide bedding and pillows, etc other than a bed. Don’t expect a relatively large or spacious room as housing in Tokyo is relatively small and packed compared to any of the houses you see in Europe or the US due to land constraints.
During my time in Tokyo, I managed to rent a room in a female-only shared house for ¥70,000/month. The room was only 7 sqm, which came with a single bed, and a hanging rack behind the bed. I could barely fit my luggage in as the interior had a pillar in the middle and I could not open my luggage fully.
Living out of my luggage has forced me to adopt the minimalistic lifestyle approach. My luggage was my closet and storage area in a sense. I only made use of the hanging rack to hang my daily wear for my internship as I had to save some space for hanging my wet clothes to dry.
Some of the realtors you can check out that are foreigner friendly will be linked here, as well as the company I checked out (Tulip):
4. Transportation:
There is usually a transport claim to reimburse you for your trips to and from your place if you are working for a Japanese company. The place I stayed in was only a station away from my workplace, so I walk to and from work daily.
Not only do I save on transport expenses, but I also get some exercise to start my day off! With the good weather during the fall/winter season in Tokyo, walking to and from work has been a great way to begin and end the day.
Another thing to note is the complex transport system in Japan. They have various types of trains that run on the same track and line that skips certain stops. They have regular trains, express trains, limited express trains, etc as well as different train service providers such as Tokyo Metro, JR, TOEI, etc.
Switching between train providers increases the cost of your trip so you might want to plan your trips beforehand whenever you go about exploring the city! The Japanese transport network could be very overwhelming at first, but once you get the hang of it, it will be quite easy and convenient to navigate around.
There are also certain passes that you can buy if you decide to travel more on particular days such as the 24, 48 or 72-hour metro passes which are more popular. However, depending on the pass, it might only cover stations or lines provided by the particular train service. For example, the 24, 48 or 72-hour metro passes are sold anywhere but can only be used on Tokyo Metro lines and stations.
My recommendation for getting around Tokyo would be to get your own transportation card. It saves you the time of purchasing tickets every time you want to travel. There are 2 types of cards mainly the PASMO (By Tokyo Metro) and SUICA (By JR).
Both cards can be used on any line and station, as well as outside of Tokyo. I would suggest just getting it from the station nearest to you since it doesn’t matter much whichever you use.
5. Money related issues:
Japan is still a relatively conservative and “Cash is King” society where people carry lots of cash around rather than pay with credit cards. Cards are still not widely accepted in Japan although this is improving and more shops are adopting this mode of payment (Although cards are generally accepted in malls).
It is quite difficult for foreigners to apply for credit cards from Japanese banks. This is because you’ll need a “Hanko”, and unless you are a long term resident in the country, you wouldn’t find the need to get one.
A “Hanko” is a Japanese stamp, with your initials on it, and is used for things like signing off deliveries, opening bank accounts, etc.
Hence, for cash withdrawal, you will need to do so with your own country’s bank cards from the ATMs that have the Cirrus sign on them if there is a need for you to withdraw cash.
ATMs are mostly located in the various bank branches, or sometimes outside. However, there are also many money exchange machines in more touristy areas, but the rates offered are not as high as at a money exchange counter. With that being said, money exchange counters are pretty difficult to find in Tokyo, unless you are in places like Shinjuku or Shibuya, etc.
This concludes my list of 5 things to note before moving to Tokyo! I genuinely wished someone gave me a heads up on these things to better prepare myself for my time in Japan. So with these information, I hope it helped some of you with your transition from your country to Japan, and all the best on your new journey and time in Japan! Thank you for your support as always!
(❁´◡`❁).