Living in Japan
7 min read · Japan Hub
Moving to Japan means paperwork: the city hall visit, the bank account, the apartment contract, the trash schedule. This is the vocabulary that makes those first administrative weeks dramatically less stressful.
Week one is paperwork
Moving to Japan begins not with cherry blossoms but with a queue at the shiyakusho — city hall — where you'll register your address within fourteen days of arrival. Bring your zairyuu kaado (residence card), your patience, and the phrase juusho o henkou shitai desu ('I'd like to change my address'). The staff are almost unfailingly kind to fumbling newcomers; the system assumes you don't know it yet.
The apartment vocabulary nobody teaches
Japanese apartment hunting runs on words that don't appear in textbooks: yachin (rent), the mysterious key money you pay and never see again, and the guarantor system that makes a local contact priceless. Once you're in, gomidashi — taking out the trash — becomes a weekly puzzle of categories and color-coded bags. Ask your neighbors gomi wa nanyoubi desu ka ('what day is trash day?'); it's both essential information and a famously good icebreaker.
Building a life, one counter at a time
The bank account, the phone contract, the health insurance card — each one is a counter, a numbered ticket, and a form. The pattern is always the same: ginkou kouza o hirakitai desu ('I'd like to open a bank account'), a flurry of paperwork, ko ni sain shite kudasai ('please sign here'), and you walk out one notch more resident than tourist. Six months in, you'll be the one reassuring the next newcomer.
Words to pack
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Phrases you'll actually use
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住所を変更したいです
じゅうしょをへんこうしたいです
I would like to change my address.
銀行口座を開きたいです
ぎんこうこうざをひらきたいです
I'd like to open a bank account
ここにサインしてください
ここにサインしてください
Please sign here.
ゴミは何曜日ですか
ごみはなんようびですか
What day is trash day?
家賃はいくらですか
やちんはいくらですか
How much is the rent?
もう一度説明してください
もういちどせつめいしてください
Please explain once more