Being Cheap in Japan: Avoid "bill printing fees"

When looking at my latest e-bill from Softbank (my mobile phone provider), I saw a message about an impending change in the company's billing system. Apparently, all customers paying their bills a the local convenience store will be assessed an extra "printing fee" (hako-ryo 発行料) starting in a month or two. As it turns out, Softbank isn't the only company that has started penalizing customers who opt to pay the old fashioned way.

Why Do Many Japanese Bathrooms Not Have Hot Water?

I would have to say that one of my least favorite things about Japan is finishing up my business in a public rest room only to look down at the sink only to realize there is no hot water faucet. Sadly, this happens just about every day in Japan. And it probably wouldn't be so bad if I lived in a tropical paradise. However, I live in a place with negative God-know's-what temperatures and very little central heating.

As you can expect, washing hands in icy water only to go out into the cold is not very fun. Therefore, I decided to look at why Japanese public (and sometimes private) restrooms have an aversion to warm water.

Wheat Gluten Free Soy Sauce in Japan

I seem to know a fair number of people who are allergic to gluten or are trying to minimize it in their diets. More and more in Japan, I see stores and products sensitive to consumers with allergies, and gluten awareness seems to be slowly rising as well.

Soy sauce is a major condiment in cooking here, of course, and you might be surprised to learn that even though its primary ingredients are soybean and salt, it also includes roasted grain. That grain is often wheat.

So if you're looking for a gluten-free alternative for your cooking, here's one to consider: The company イチビキ (ichibiki) puts out a product called 小麦を使わない丸大豆しょうゆ (komugi wo tsukawanai marudaizu shouyu, "wheat-free whole soybean soy sauce") that is advertised as being as tasty as the real thing.

Koseki: The Japanese Family Registration

As our frequent readers may recall, not so long ago we covered opening up of the basic resident registry system to foreign residents. Until very recently, the so-called "residence register" (jumin-hyo 住民票) used by localities to provide public services and collect tax revenue has only been available to Japanese residents. However, even though foreigners are now able to get on their own address registry, they still can't get a "family registry" (koseki 戸籍). Let's take a look what a koseki actually is.

Saving Money in Japan: The Secondhand Shop

Revisiting a topic from the earlier days of AccessJ, one of the biggest money-saving tips we've found when getting settled in the country is the recycle shop (リサイクルショップ).

"Recycle shop" is the trendy, eco-culture term for a pawnbroker (質屋さん, shichiyasan) or secondhand store (中古品店, chuukohinten).

In the intervening decades since Japan's bubble and its Huxleyan buy-new culture, recycle shop franchises have sprung up and flourished around Japan like a nationwide plague of daisies. The first chain I became accustomed with was BOOKOFF, a secondhand dealer specializing in book, CD, movie, and game software. BOOKOFF and its associated stores, including mirthfully named HARDOFF (electronics hardware, musical instruments), are a decent way to save a buck on home entertainment. The chain has other associated stores as well, like OFFHOUSE, which deals in clothing and home interior.

Getting Married in Japan: Wedding Fairs

Now that you have proposed, gotten the all important parental OK, and started your search for wedding venues you can start experiencing "wedding fairs" (ウェディングフェア also known as "bridal fairs" ブライダルフェア) at your top venues.

However, since wedding places are all inclusive (meaning they handle everything from the service to the cake), the concept of a wedding fair is very different compared to the big convention types found in North America.

How to Write a Japanese Resume (1/6)

A couple of years ago, I shared the Japanese-style resume forms (履歴書, rirekisho) I've collected and used in my own job searches. As easy as the resume forms are to pick up at a convenience store in Japan, I found that it's actually kind of a pain to find good rirekisho document templates online. A lot of people visit that post, and I hope it serves as a helpful resource for bilingual job hunters.

However, I didn't talk much about how to actually write a Japanese resume. And the other day, a close friend of mine contacted me with a plethora of questions on the matter. To help him out, and to refresh my own memory on the subject, my next few posts will take a look at the format of the rirekisho:

Time to Get Your Japanese License Renewed!

So, I got one of these in the mail:

You can click on it to enlarge.

It's a post card you'll receive a couple months before your driver's license expires in Japan, which is coincidentally aligned with your birthday. So if you thought it might be a congratulatory message from your prefectural traffic safety association, I'm sorry to break the bad news.

Winter Tires and Chains in Japan

If you live in the mountains of Japan like I do, you probably have seen your local service stations fill up with lines of cars waiting to get their tires changed.

This winter tradition has always mistified me. Despite being from a part of the US with plenty of snow, I almost never see anyone change their tires seasonally. But then again we don't really have any mountains and dangerously curvey roads to speak of. Also, just about every other car has four wheel drive and roads are plowed regularly.

While you may be tempted to be a dare devil, investing in a good pair of "stud-less tires" is a good idea, especially if you live somewhere where snow accumulates.

Guile and Deceit in the Ranks of AKB48

The well-populated song and dance group AKB48 has been a pop culture staple in Japan for the past four or five years. Their creator, Yasushi Akimoto, kind of took the nation by storm with his idea to make a gigantic 48-girl pop performing group that could then be split into several subgroups to tour and perform live in multiple locations simultaneously, increasing accessibility to fans. Additionally, with 48 "varied" personalities, fans can choose and follow a member that they find specifically appealing. It was like everyone had completely forgotten about Hello! Project's Morning Musume.

Anyway, AKB48 holds a variety of annual televised events to popularize the group and give fans a sense of interaction. One of those events is a giant Rock-Paper-Scissors tournament held between all of the group's members in single-elimination matchups. The grand victor is awarded the lead spot on one of the group's CD singles released in the following year.

Kenmon: Drunk Driving Checkpoints in Japan

I am sure that you don't need a blog post to tell you that drinking and driving is an all around terrible idea no matter what country you live in. However, during these festival holiday times, many people may be tempted to try and test their luck after having a nip or two at the office holiday party.

However, before you decide to tempt fate keep in mind that the Japanese police are on their game when it comes to looking for drunk drivers on the road.

Being Cheap in Japan: Cheap kerosene

Just in case you have been taking a prolonged vacation in Okinawa or you are just generally not all that aware of your surroundings, we here at AccessJ would like to remind you that the Japanese winter is upon us. And with winter comes the inevitable realization (or re-realization) that Japanese houses are freezing.

One of the major heating sources in Japanese homes is kerosene (toyu 灯油) which is readily available at just about every gasoline stand. However, with the way oil prices are going these, a standard 18 liter tank of kerosene can be a bit of a pain in the wallet. Let's take a look at some pro tips for getting cheaper kerosene.