LIVING IN JAPAN
JLPT Seats Are Running Out as Japan Ties More Visas to Japanese Tests
Just as the government is adding Japanese-language requirements to certain visas, the twice-yearly JLPTs are getting seriously crowded.
foreigners
LIVING IN JAPAN
TRAVEL
What Happens If You Get Sick While Traveling in Japan?
Sick in Japan? Don't panic. Learn where tourists can get care, what it costs, and why travel insurance matters.
TRAVEL
How Much Japanese Do You REALLY Need to Know to Visit Japan?
This is a question most travelers to Japan want to know. The answer is less about memorizing vocab and more about how…
SOCIETY
Why These Special Edition Pokémon Goods Ask for Your Japan National ID
To fight scalpers, the Pokémon Company will use Japan's My Number national ID to verify buyers of its 30th-anniversary cards. Most Japanese…
RACE IN JAPAN
A Nepali Konbini Clerk Foiled a Scam in Japan, Even as Politicians Cast Foreigners as Threat
A 24-year-old Nepali convenience-store clerk in Kobe sensed an elderly customer was being scammed and stepped in.
SEX & NIGHTLIFE
Happening Bars: Can Foreigners Actually Get Into Japan’s Sex Clubs?
What are happening bars? What actually "happens" in one? And the bigger question as a foreigner in Japan: Will they even allow…
SOCIETY
Japan’s New Visa Rules Are Forcing Tokyo’s Immigrant-Run Restaurants to Close
The new capital requirement for the business manager visa is too high a hurdle for many legitimate, profitable, and law-abiding businesses.
INSIDER
Shibuya, Burning: How Japan’s Right Exploits the Information Void to Foster Hate
A Japanese nationalist started a fire in Shibuya Crossing and then fled the scene. Japan's right wing blamed the attack on...foreigners?