RResidents in Japan

General Discussion Thread – 02 September 2025

  • September 1, 2025

Mid-week discussion thread time! Feel free to talk about what's on your mind, new experiences, recommendations, anything really.

by AutoModerator

5 comments

  1. Was in the southern hemisphere for the last week and I think my heat resistance has been reset to zero. 

    Been back for 12 hours and I’ve already broken and lost a suitcase wheel and forgot my hat on the train

  2. For the record, it takes less time to buy a car than an air conditioner in Japan [in person], based on recent experience.

  3. Got a hand written letter from the ward office that I overpaid my NHI (I always pay all the slips in one go at the ward office). A windfall of 770円. Just need to go back to the ward office to collect my fortune.

    Any ideas/investment opportunities/fun things I can do with this free cash?

  4. I’ve been in Japan for over 10 years and I’ve never owned a bicycle here. I’d like to change that but don’t really want to spend much more than 50,000 yen as I’m just interested in going out for leisurely bike rides in the local area every now and then. I have next to no experience or knowledge with bike brands or quality here. For those that do it, any recommendations you can make for possible bikes to look at?

  5. Have you transferred your health insurance card over to MyNumber Card? At the moment it is voluntary but pretty soon it will be compulsory to do so. Once done, you only need to carry your MyNumber card when going to the clinic or picking up a prescription from the pharmacy. You won’t get a physical health insurance card in the future.

    I went to the pharmacy yesterday and noticed they were doing a lot of conversions. I didn’t realise that it was so easy. I just put my MyNumber card into the scanner, looked at the camera and pressed OK and it was done in less than 5 minutes. I didn’t even need to remember my PIN number.

    I had hesitated doing it because I assumed it was complicated.

    Following on from Health Insurance will be the Zairyu Card and Driving Licence which will also be available on the MyNumber card. Apparently, autumn 2025 the Driving Licence information will be automatically available from My Number Cards. Zairyu Card integration will probably be in 2026.

Comments are closed.