Tag Archives: living abroad

Finding an Apartment in Japan as a Student

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It can be a cumbersome task for foreign students to find apartments in Japan, because of some major differences in the language limitation and renting systems. Also there is a factor as to how the Japanese view a foreigner, because they usually base their relationships upon trust.

If you are coming to study at a university, then you may ask the university officials to arrange a living space for you in the student dormitory. The rent is comparatively cheaper and you have the ease to get along with other students from various nationalities.

It also gives you an easy way to interact among the Japanese students and communities. However, an early enrollment into the student dormitory can be convenient.

There are many housing companies that offer furnished apartments based on rental system to foreign students. However, as a matter of fact, these apartments are highly expensive and will cost you too much if you plan to stay for long. Contrarily, the apartments from the residential housing schemes are also far too expensive to live for a longer period. There is a lot of cash-in-front required to arrange a private housing in Japan.

While you are looking into getting an inexpensive place to live, do not go for cheap places either. These will save you money, but will bring in many other issues that might be costly to you. For example, you will have to spend extra money to get warm water during the winters. You might also have to share toilet and kitchen with other tenants as there are only one each located outside the building.

In addition to monthly rent, you should also expect to pay off monthly maintenance charges, environment cleaning fee, utility fee etc. These costs are clearly mentioned on the fliers so you should look into then with detail before deciding.

There are several things you should take notice of; some of these are described below.

  • Key Money: Reikin is an amount of money which is usually given to the landlord (ooyasan) as a gift. The amount may vary but usually it is equal to a month’s rent. Shikikin is another amount which prevents you from disappearing from the house without prior notice, whereas Tesuuryou is an amount payable to the housing agent, if you hire any.
  • Maximum Length of Stay: Usually, all rental housing schemes ask you to mention a minimum period of your stay. If you breach the contract afterwards, it might result in a penalty. If you plan to reside for less than a year, then inform the ooyasan early.
  • Room furniture: Generally, apartments do not contain any furniture, but you will be given some equipment, such as gas stove, common washing machine, an air conditioner and maybe an internet connection.
  • Miscellaneous items: There are several other matters, such as fire insurance, gas usage, neighbors, room size and type. These directly link to the housing agent and the homeowner.

The last thing to keep in mind as a foreigner is that people mostly do not prefer to rent out to foreign students. You might come across some fliers that clear mention their reservations about foreign students. Just hire a housing agent and ask for moderately priced rental location with basic utilities.

About the author of this contributed article:
Andrew has been travelling to Japan as a student a few years ago. Andrew is now distributing sushi conveyor belt and sushi maker

How to sell everything, move to Japan, and keep a U.S. address

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You’ve decided to let go and move overseas. It’s time to sell as much as you can, if not everything! I sold stuff at a flea market, in the newspaper, using Craigslist, and on eBay, and I had a garage sale. I donated some household items and clothing, and the rest of my stuff I just gave away for free. These methods helped me get rid of everything I owned in the U.S.

But what about staying in contact with your home country? You know… a phone number, voice mail, and a mailing address? Sure you can use your parents address or another family members address and this would be the most affordable way, but sometimes it feels good not to have to rely on anybody to get things done. Here are some steps on how to make it happen on your own terms.

  1. Get a new address first using a 3rd party service. You could use the service Mailboxes Etc, but it’s not convenient. I recommend an online service such as Earth Class Mail. They’ll email you, scan your mail, even forward things to you. It’s important to do this first because once you decide where you’ll be getting your mail you need to get a notarized copy of USPS Form 1583 to authorize the service to receive mail on your behalf. Get this done at a notary or your local bank. But watch those fee totals! You’ll be paying a monthly fee + scanning fees + mail forwarding fees. Last year I spent a more than $1200 USD on this service. This year I’m estimated to spend about $800.
  2. Keep one credit card with a small limit. This is my recommendation so you can shop online more securely. You don’t want to become a victim of fraud where somebody drains your Bank Debit Card and you have to fight with your bank (while in Japan) about how to get your money back. You can check your credit score free at Credit Karma and they also can recommend credit cards based on your score.
  3. Get a bank account you want to keep for a long time or forever that offers nice online banking and minimal fees. You’ll need this to pay bills that may come up, etc. I have a checking account but I also bank with Capital One for savings (high yield money market account) and the cheapest withdrawals. I also just got a Charles Schwab savings account. They told me they don’t charge a conversion fee and reimburse ATM fees worldwide. I also signed up with mint.com to track all of my bank accounts from one login.
  4. Get a PayPal account and tie it to your bank account and any credit card you need to. Sometimes it’s a convenient solution to paying people or to buy products, but you should consider getting it even though you might not use it. I can access Paypal on my iPhone!
  5. I run my business online (from my ‘virtual office’ aka laptop) so I also have a fax number. I got a free fax number from j2.com so I can receive faxes. I also then use a  send-only service like Green Fax to send outgoing faxes using my email.
  6. More than 90 days before moving, renew your driving license for the longest time possible. This way you can use it to get an International Driving License, and when you return home it might still be valid. Why 90 days? Well sometimes if you have the proper visa it can be transferred to a Japanese license. Please don’t ask me about this, I have no idea how to do this or the rules because I use the subway. On a side note – make sure your passport is current!
  7. Secure your internet connection. When you do online banking, work, and even Facebook it’s a good idea to use a VPN. I use proXPN’s VPN service on my laptop and my iPhone. proXPN works great in Japan and gives me a dynamic USA IP address. They do offer a limited free version, but I pay for the premium membership for unlimited speed and server locations. Before using a VPN I’ve gotten locked out of my PayPal account a handful of times and my regular bank account. And wow, it is a pain to get the accounts verified and re-verified when you need your money asap. I’ve even had to verify orders I make in America or the UK over the phone because my IP was coming from Japan or wait for mail to be delivered and scanned. The benefit of using a VPN service is you’ll be able to encrypt your internet connection at home, at an internet cafe, wifi hotspot, and even on your smart phone. We’re talking serious business here… 2048 bit VPN encryption for my laptop and 128 bit for my iPhone at the same time (it’s basically 2 accounts for the price of one)! ProXPN let’s me choose the server I connect to each time (USA, UK, Singapre, Netherlands…) I’ve also been able to use geographically restricted sites like Hulu and U.S. network TV and even listen to Pandora online.
  8. Secure your laptop. Most likely you’ll have everything on your laptop (banking, contact info, important documents, photos, etc) and it’s stuff you can’t afford to lose. It’s a good idea to sign up for LogMeIn (even the free account) in case you lose your laptop or it gets stolen. I used to use 2GB of free online storage with DropBox and treat it as “My Documents” but then I switched to SugarSync that offers 5GB of free storage and multiple folder backup, then I back everything up using Carbonite in case my hard drive crashes.
  9. Get a phone number. One that you can receive calls to and originates from your home country. I recommend doing this through Skype. It’s a solid VOIP company and I haven’t had any problems over the last 3+ years. For $60 a year you’ll have a number your friends and family can call to talk to you, leave voice mails, and you can use it to call phones for an unlimited amount of to the US and Canada. If you’re from another country then visit their site for more details on what they offer. I can use Skype on my iPhone! So that’s an added bonus.

And there you have – those are my tips for moving overseas and living in Japan or a another country abroad while still having a presence in the United States. It’s all about living a location independent lifestyle! If I think of anything else I’ll update this blog entry. If you have any useful tips please post them in the comments section.

  1. Get a phone number. I recommend doing this through Skype. It’s a solid VOIP company and I haven’t had any problems over the last 3 years. For $60 a year you’ll have a number your friends and family can call to talk to you, leave voice mails, and you can use it to call phones for an unlimited amount of to the US and Canada. If you’re from another country then visit their site for more details. I can use Skype on my iPhone! So that’s an added bonus.

Cheap calls from Japan to America

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When you’re living abroad, keeping in touch with your friends and family doesn’t have to be expensive. Instead of using calling cards, I recommend Skype for calling international from Japan, it’s a life saver! It’s cheap, light weight, and works on any PC with a mic and headphones or headset. This is a great service for Expats and people traveling abroad.

How much does it cost?

$60 a year is what I pay ($5/mo!) for “Unlimited Country“. You can also choose to pay monthly for $5.95.

Photo courtesy of {link:http://www.flickr.com/photos/theshadowknows/2995004692/}lamont_cranston{/link}

Photo courtesy of {link:http://www.flickr.com/photos/theshadowknows/2995004692/}lamont_cranston{/link}

What do I get for $60 a year?

  • 1 US phone number (add additional numbers for a fee, great for separating personal life and business)
  • Unlimited calls to USA and Canada landlines and mobiles
  • Voicemail – works even if I’m offline
  • Send SMS – but I can’t receive them
  • Call Forwarding – I can forward calls to my mobile or other phone for a small fee
  • Caller ID – I can control what displays on other people’s phones when I call them
  • Skype to Go – This is great! I get 1 land-line number in Japan that I can call. This number connects to 1 contact which can be changed weekly. Great for doing business on the go, using it as an emergency number, or calling anybody. I use it to call my brother in American when I’m traveling.
  • Free Skype to Skype – This is basically calling and chatting with another PC user.

I use my notebook PC, headphones I already own, and a microphone I bought for 1000 yen at Bic Camera.

And now, the story of how I discovered Skype…

When I first moved to Japan it was a huge deal because I was going to be doing business in America while living abroad, so I brought my Vonage router and phone with me on the plane to keep in touch with clients, friends, and family. It was pretty bulky, and I’d rate the sound quality a 6/10. It was great for a while because I had a working US phone number in Japan with unlimited calling which seemed insanely cool, but it came a price… roughly $40 a month. Then one day something terrible happened, my Vonage router stopped working! I freaked out and needed to find a fast solution. I remember my wife used Skype for free Skype-to-Skype chatting from the US to Japan, and I saw how cheap the phone service was. For the cost of 6 weeks of Vonage, I could have an entire year of Skype? It seemed to good to be true, but I need a phone fast so I signed up. Then I logged into Vonage and redirect the phone numbers to my new Skype number.

I’ve been using Skype for about 9 months now. I’d rate the Skype sound quality a 9/10. I experience poor sound only when I’ve been using my notebook a lot and things are running slow. A quick reboot fixes the problem. It’s great that I can use it almost anywhere as long as I have an Internet connection. And now they’ve released an iPod Touch / iPhone application so I can use Skype on my iPod Touch anywhere I can get a wifi connection such as my home, or even Seattle’s Best Coffee in Tenjin. It’s not available for the 3G wireless network, but if it was I’d get a  free iPhone in Japan for sure.

For a cheap monthly or yearly fee you can call unlimited to the U.S or Canada from Japan, even to Korea from Japan, or your originating country if it’s listed on the Skype website. International calls are pretty affordable too. Skype gets my vote for one of the best tools to make your life abroad easier.

I’m bored, do you have questions?

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If you have any questions I’d love to try to tackle them. Maybe they’re about Japan, maybe about living in some other country other than your own. Whatever’s on your mind, feel free to send them my way through my contact form.

Some questions people have asked include… how did I learn Hiragana? How do you make friends, find a job, contact friends and family, get around without knowing Japanese, buy clothes that fit, money, food, health, taxes, bugs, boredom, and so on. By the way I will write up something about Hiragana soon.