Life in Japan

The stories that happened between university and work — the ones that never fit the main chronology. The expensive lessons: nenkin, tuition, payslips. And the ordinary ones: commuting, visa paperwork, and cooking dinner in a student apartment.

The Full Series

1. Nenkin: the Bill That Waited Five Years
   Kevin never registered for nenkin in 5 years as a student in Japan. His company asked for the number when he started work — and in his first working year, he paid double.
2. Tuition Fee Exemption: Being Paid Doesn't Mean Studying for Free
   NIMS-GRA pays you a salary, but it doesn't pay your tuition. Kevin spent 5 years applying for 授業料免除 every semester — the 50% cut that decided holiday or bento.
3. Salary Deductions in Japan: the Surprise Isn't on the First Payslip
   Kevin's first Japanese payslip held no surprises — the NIMS Junior Researcher years had trained him. The raise was the surprise: monthly deductions jumped from ~¥50,000 to almost ¥70,000.
4. Starting NISA as a Student in Japan: the Honest Version
   Kevin started NISA investing while still a PhD student in Japan — drawn by NEW NISA's tax-free growth and a belief in consistency. The honest part: the investments often doubled as his emergency fund.
5. Buying a Used Car in Japan as a Foreigner
   Tsukuba is a great place to live, but the transportation isn't always convenient. Kevin shares how he found a ¥160,000 used kei car through a Facebook group — and why it became 'pay and drive'.
6. The Real Cost of Owning a Car in Japan (and Why Tokyo Ended It)
   ¥160,000 was only the price of the car itself. Kevin breaks down the real monthly cost of owning a kei car in Japan — and why moving to Tokyo made the same car stop making sense.
7. A Kei Car Road Trip to Wakayama: Celebrating the Doctoral Defense
   After the final doctoral defense, Kevin, his wife, and a close friend drove 600+ km from Tsukuba to Arida, Wakayama, in a ¥160,000 kei car — the farthest that car ever went.
8. Same Line, Different Leagues: Rush Hour on the Odakyū Line
   Two commutes, one identical train line. Kevin explains why riding toward Tokyo and away from Tokyo on the Odakyū line felt like two completely different worlds.
9. A 3-Month Visa: In Japan, But Not Yet "Real"
   Arriving in Japan on a 3-month researcher visa means no residence card — no apartment lease, no phone number, no bank account. Including a salary handed over as cash in an envelope.
10. The Pandemic Didn't Change My Routine — Because That Was Already My Routine
    When the COVID emergency was declared, Kevin's daily life barely changed: wake up, go to NIMS, go home. What vanished was the campus life he'd imagined — plus the bento discount sticker trick.
11. What Japan Gave a Foreign Student During the Pandemic
    A ¥100,000 government cash payment, additional university support, and a refreshingly simple vaccination process — as a foreign resident, Kevin was treated the same as everyone else.
12. ¥686 of Octopus: A Saturday at Tsuchiura Fish Market
    One Saturday in November 2022, Kevin bought 266 grams of octopus at the Tsuchiura fish market for ¥686 and spent the afternoon turning it into takoyaki in a student apartment in Tsukuba.
13. From "You Cannot Rent" to a Company-Paid Move: Renting in Japan, 2020–2025
    Five years of housing in Japan, from a shared apartment I was not legally able to rent, to a 3K in Tsukuba for ¥37,000 a month, to a move where the company paid the deposit.
14. Your My Number Card Doesn't Renew With Your Residence Card
    A foreign resident's My Number Card expiry follows their period of stay — but renewing your residence card does not move it forward. What the ward office told me, and which date actually binds.
15. On a Highly Skilled Professional Visa, Changing Jobs Means Re-Applying
    On a 技人国 visa, changing jobs is an online notification. On Highly Skilled Professional, it is a full change-of-status application — because your points have to be recalculated.
16. The PhD Research Proposal I Never Carried Out
    The hardest document in my doctoral application was the research proposal. I never carried out a single line of it — and my actual PhD topic arrived by accident, months later.
17. Ten JLPT Exams, Two Certificates
    I have sat the JLPT ten times and passed twice, and here is every score. Four exams to clear N3, N2 failed in Indonesia and passed in Japan, and three failed N1 attempts.

The series is still being lived — new stories will appear on this page.