JapanSimply is where I explain how everyday life in Japan works. It is written to help you understand things, not to advise you on your own situation.
I write about ordinary life, and about the subjects where getting a detail wrong can actually cost you something — renting, banking, taxes, salaries, insurance, visas, residency, work, and the ward office. The aim is to explain how these things generally work. It is not to tell you what to do.
Information Can Change
Rules, fees, procedures, opening hours and requirements change. They also differ between municipalities, companies and employers, and from one person’s circumstances to the next.
Where a figure, a rule or a procedure is likely to move, I try to say when the information was current. That is not a promise that it still is when you read it.
If something matters to a decision you are about to make, check it with the organization responsible for it.
Not Professional Advice
Nothing here is legal, tax, financial, immigration, medical, or any other kind of professional advice.
An article about a visa does not decide whether you qualify for one. An article about tax does not file your return. An article about renting does not replace your contract. An article about a medical subject does not diagnose or treat anything.
For anything with real consequences, use what you read here as a starting point, then speak to the official body or the qualified person. In Japan that is often the municipal office, the Immigration Services Agency, a gyōseishoshi (行政書士) — the licensed scrivener who prepares immigration paperwork — a zeirishi (税理士) for tax, or a doctor.
Personal Experience Is Not Universal
I write from Osaka, and after eight years I can still only really speak for my own corner of it. That experience is useful for showing what something looks like in practice. It is not a claim to speak for everyone in Japan.
Japan is not one place. Customs, expectations, prices, procedures and everyday experience vary by region, generation, household, workplace and person.
Where an article describes something I have seen or been told, take it as that, and no more.
Other Websites and Services
I link to government agencies, companies, organizations, publications and other websites when they are relevant to what I am explaining. I do not control those sites and I am not responsible for their content, their availability, or what they do later.
This site is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or speaking for any government body, company or institution it mentions, unless I say so plainly.
Advertising and Commercial Links
The site runs advertising, and it may occasionally use affiliate or other commercial links.
Advertising does not decide what gets published. If a commercial link or an affiliate arrangement is relevant to something I have linked, I will say so.
Accuracy and Corrections
I try to keep the information accurate, and to make clear what is fact and what is my own observation or interpretation. That does not mean every article is complete, current, or free of mistakes.
If you find something wrong or out of date, the Contact page is the way to tell me. Real corrections are welcome, and they get made.
The same goes when something is a fair interpretation rather than a settled fact. I would rather admit I am not sure than give you a confident answer I do not have.
In Short
The point is to help you understand something you did not understand before. This is not a government office, a professional adviser, a news service, or an authority on Japan.
Read it, use it as a starting point, check anything that matters against the current official information, and make your own call.
Last updated: October 2026.
