Japanese are pretty tolerant, understanding and have different standards for foreigners

It's the recency of the mask thing that throws a wrench into most comparisons. There are a lot of countries and societies that have long-established cultural norms that you should abide if you want to be a guest in their country. And if you're not comfortable with those norms, just don't go. There is a different universe where everyone in Japan has been universally masking at all times for hundreds of years, and in that universe you'd be a jerk if you went and didn't wear a mask. But even though some people occasionally wore masks when they were sick pre-COVID, the universal expectation of masking is only three years old, and it seems to be on the way out (slowly).

In light of that, I think it's reasonable for foreigners to visit the country and follow their own cultural standards around masks and lean on the grace/understanding of the Japanese people for a while.

> Impact Hub sounds really cool, but you’re supposed to attend one of their Open House events before you can apply for membership. I’ve got in touch about this, but not heard back after a few days.
Hadn’t seen that. I was just going to show up and talk to them. Curious how BLINK went 😄

Mind share how you found good accomodation?

🛬 tfiyzxzlgauqt just arrived in 🗼 Tokyo, #japan

🛬 zkdnkheg just arrived in 🗼 Tokyo, #japan

Ah yes.. bunch of Western dudes debating Asian stuff 😂 😂

coliving.com/s/Tokyo--Japan

i booked via Metro Residences

I’ll be in Kyoto April-May if anyone wants to meetup! I may pop over to Tokyo as well in May

🛬 lpdetduwjezfi just arrived in ⛩ Osaka, #japan

Metro residences for me as well

And Metro residences for me too. Haha.

So far (after 2 days in the place) I think it was a good choice.

Hi, everyone. Have any of you all been to to the Ogasawara or Ryukyu Islands? Thoughts?

How was the process U04FKK76KMH?

🛬 ivbrkedwadtke just arrived in 🇯🇵 Kyoto, #japan

🛬 pnwkqtwh just arrived in 🗼 Tokyo, #japan

Really simple for me.

Step 1 Select property (My one didn't have a virtual tour, only photos. I decided this was riskier, but it seems to work out fine).
Step 2 Simple online checkout process
Step 3 Some simple verification checks (answer questions, passport upload)
Step 4 A couple of weeks before receive details of check-in process (mine was all self-checkin).

Sorry I meant checkin. I already booked last month :)

Ah OK! For check-in they left my key in a postbox that can be opened using a combination code.

I received the code via email. They asked me to send them an email once I had access to the apartment.

Awesome! Thanks 🙂

for those that have recently arrived, are you doing the Visit Japan Web QR code? What's entry like? I did the QR in Dec and it took even longer than normal entry it seemed. Was a bit of a mess.

went in December, the QR system seemed to work for everyone but me and like 10 other people on the flight when I arrived, the app just loaded infinitely, dunno why. they made me fill out a condensed version of the same thing on paper and let me through, not a terrible experience by any means.

got very generic knowledge from podcasts, then googled „areas to live in tokyo” to have better context (busy vs residential etc) and also checked hoodmaps. for me it was mandatory to live in a quiet area, close to a park / river & gym + well connected with coworkings

Had that issue as well Lucy! I don’t speak Japanese so I decided to stay near Roppongi where there are more expats. I also needed to be central because gold’s gym is pretty much the only gym option and they’re mostly near the center.

I used it in December and January at Haneda. It was quick. Staff was waiting just after getting off the plane to check my website status. Starting January, the webpage no longer has a QR for the health check. The staff looks at the blue webpage and hand you an pink paper that notifies staff downstream that you're cleared. Just keep it in hand while you walk to passport check. It was quick to get the pink paper if you have a screenshot before you arrive. Connecting to wifi and logging in was about a minute longer.

Entered yesterday while passing thru on a layover. Was a breeze. Too easy.

I have some friends in Tokyo. I asked them for advice and (even after that) I struggled to figure out where to stay.

In the end I used criteria very specific to my needs (easy to reach my friends, easy to access a climbing wall, easy to access Shibuya and Shinjuku).

It sounds like Carl's approach might be a sensible one. From what I hear Roppongi is by far the easiest for foreigners to get around in. (But it is probably worth noting that it is also the area where you're most likely to get scammed - it's very unlikely to happen outside Roppongi :man-shrugging:)

Cool, thanks for the info guys!

Nakameguro, Ebisu, Shimokitazawa, Koenji, Kichijoji, Jiyugaoka, Daikanyama

Did you end up checking out blink?

🛬 mdwkzosm just arrived in Kanazawa Shi, #japan

I did. It seemed pretty nice and the staff were really friendly and welcoming. It was relatively quiet when I visited and they have a couple of phone booths you can take calls from.

They organise some events, but they didn't sound super relevant for me.

In the end, I decided it wasn't for me because of it's location (I'm not too near Roppongi and it's a bit of a walk from the station). However if you're staying in Roppongi, then it's probably a great option.

Thanks U04FKK76KMH!

🛬 pmvlcpla just arrived in Shirakawa Mura, #japan

By the way, thanks for the tip. I've ended up at Google Campus because of your response!

🛬 jkcowkrfcq just arrived in 🗼 Tokyo, #japan

🛬 njihmqfwqqpujrw just arrived in 🗼 Tokyo, #japan

🛬 srlbcofyxfsd just arrived in 🗼 Tokyo, #japan

🛬 oszkeoxfyqp just arrived in 🇯🇵 Sapporo, #japan

Just landed in Osaka a few days ago. Not enough workers, so customers/ immigration queues are really long, the Covid queue was much faster. My phone was dead so I used the laptop they had to get a Visit Japan QR code (I didn’t do it before my flight), then they looked over that and they glanced neg test result paper for 2 seconds and push you forward to the next queue.

the hearth is a great place

That’s the place I was talking about haha

i know, it’s the only place that fits the description, heh

How do you guys deal with a timezone difference? I have to align with European hours and it will make me finish my work around 2am 🤯 Are people staying that long in coworking spaces? Did anyone had/have that problem?

Asynchronous communication. Being Self employed. Work less hours.
Probably many with the problem 😂 but it’s your choice working for this timezone in your current timezone though

is there a way for you to negotiate hours? i will be working from japan with US & European timezone, but will agree to overlap 2-3h only. My plan is to do asynch work in the morning (focus time) and then at 10-11pm overlap with the team (only for crucial meetings)

hrzmgrxa I didn’t bring this topic yet after my fail when I was in US timezone (meetings ~3-5am) It was really messing up with my sleeping schedule + when they needed some urgent stuff to fix/reply I was sleeping… As a result I was waking up to the information that my tickets were reassigned. So I’m more careful with this nowadays

for me its working in the mornings and the nights, like 7-11 ish, and then from 21-23 ish, but also asynchronous communication and work less heheheh

This is why I'm just taking a vacay to come to Japan precisely.

gfzirodheiemdjpcb You down to go there some time this week? I think they are closed on Wednesday but I’m near namba eki so I can go most days of the week.

I have to overlap a few hours with US time zone so I usually sleep in, do some work during the afternoon, take a break / do stuff in the evening then log back on for a few hours around 12 AM. the daytime work hours I'll go to a cafe / coworking space, in the evening I'm mostly just taking calls anyway (whole point of having overlap in the first place) so I just take them from my apartment

hey thanks I didn’t know about the wealth visa - do you have any link? What can you do with it?

Basically yes

meh

To be precise, you can work OUTSIDE of Japan (so if you’re remote/ independent, you’re fine), but you can’t get a job with a Japanese firm inside Japan (not that you’d want to, tbh)

To UK timezone at least, it was fantastic. Do about an hour of work in the morning to read through yesterday's messages and organise your day, then enjoy a full morning and lunch, makes the day fantastic no matter what I do. Then I plug in around 1-2pm until 7-8pm or so you get everyone's morning but it feels you're ahead because you're presenting all the work you've done. Stay for a couple syncs and done! Off to dinner.

It helps a lot if you help the company put meetings together in the morning instead of throughout the day.

Yeah I’m down for that, I have a piece from one of their games that my daughter took with her last time we went that I need to return

I did the business manager visa once. It was a colossal pain in the ass and expensive. It might be better now but I would consider it a worst case option unless someone else is paying for it and knows how to do it

Got it thank you for the advice everyone

I was also looking into this point based immigration system. Technically with my current salary I would qualify for 80 points which would put me on the 1 year PR track which is pretty amazing

dvpjjrqio ➕ 1️⃣

Yeah the points based system was something I looked into when I lived there but the consequences are that generally people tend to “age out” of Japan after a while (unless they get married which you have spouse visa under and would be a different situation) but becoming a permanent resident (or staying too long) introduces tax liabilities

exit tax isn’t it

Where do people look for accommodation in Japan? Short stays or long?

Booking, Airbnb, Agoda etc. You can usually get a better rate for monthly so I'd book a few days and then ask for their monthly rate. For longer stays there's also foreigner-focused rental companies

I used MetroResidences. Relatively happy with the process/experience.

Hi Team, together with my wife we are visiting Japan for 5 weeks in March/April. We made a general itinerary but we are still figuring out a couple of painpoints - could you take a look and suggest changes? docs.google.com/document/d/1FOXyNTwfVv8W2LpDgj2f3eOFEIHoHqbNNxvrEthuK1s/edit#heading=h.yindkyhr5oltbr />
(itinerary + our interests/limitations etc under the link)

🛬 qrexwpcbdzohbey just arrived in 🗼 Tokyo, #japan

Apologies if this is a redundant question. I plan on spending three months in Japan starting in April. I’m a full time digital nomad, spending four weeks in each location. I originally planned a month in Tokyo, a month in Osaka, and a month in Kyoto. But after looking at the map and seeing how close Kyoto and Osaka are, I’m wondering if I can see enough of Kyoto on the weekends while I’m in Osaka. At which point how do I spend my three months? A month in Tokyo, a month in Osaka,and a month somewhere else? Or maybe even two months in Tokyo and a month in Osaka?

TLDR-How would you plan a three month trip to Japan starting in April if it’s your first time?

I would agree that a month in Kyoto or Osaka would be plenty of opportunity to see the other. My suggestion would be to do the month in Kyoto (because it’s so much more distinct and has more old stuff to explore).

For your third month, I’d recommend a distinct, more rural area. Hokkaido and Okinawa are the extremes, but you could have a great time in a medium sized city in Kyushu or Tohoku (maybe the latter if it’s getting towards summer).

I’ve given more rural areas some thought, a bit nervous about the language barrier. I’m studying Japanese now, and plan on taking Japanese classes while in Tokyo, but I imagine I’ll still be quite basic. I might look into it more though.

My advice is not to worry too much. Outside of Tokyo, “rural” is very relative. There are still plenty of English speakers in, say, prefecture capitals like Sendai, Morioka, Sapporo, that will still be closer to the countryside. And google translate bridges a lot of gaps now.

Have fun with the planning!

🛬 vpjlpplgrbvb just arrived in 🇯🇵 Yokohama, #japan

🛬 lgfsumf just arrived in ⛩ Osaka, #japan