Water Leak in Japanese Rental Apartment: Advice for Renters

Cupboard water leak

This article contains the long and arduous process of fixing the water leak caused by the upstairs tenant of my apartment complex. In a nutshell, a hole in the hot water pipe in the floor above my apartment room caused water damage to a portion of my room’s interior in addition to a few personal items. A claim was filed and covered by the management company’s corporate insurance which included compensation for personal item damage (and hotel accomodation during water repairs). As I was 0% at fault there was no cost to me out-of-pocket.

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Japan Highly Skilled Professional to PR Process and Necessary Documents

van parked beside the road near handrail and ocean

Edit (October 12, 2022) : Fixed typos. Added some small details in required documents section.

Edit (August 4, 2021) : I have received my PR card. Updating documents required and all sections after and including “During Processing”.

Edit (April 14, 2021) : Added additional documents required for PR submission (self, proxy/agent). Filled in “Submitting Your Documents” section. Fixed typos. My PR application is currently still being processed.

Legal Disclaimer : The contents of this article do not constitute legal advice, are not intended to be a substitute for legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. You should seek legal advice or other professional advice in relation to any particular matters you or your organization may have.

This guide outlines my experiences transitioning from an HSP (HSFP) Visa to Japan’s permanent residency. I have lived in Tokyo, Japan since March 2014, starting out with an Engineer Working Visa before transitioning to HSP Visa (90+ points) in April 2019. One who maintains their 80+ points after a year of holding the HSP visa will be given the opportunity to apply for Japan’s permanent residency.

The permanent residence application process may vary from individual to individual, so please do go through the “Before You Read Further” section to understand my situation and background before going through the prepared documents and process. However, one thing you should know before this is that I worked with Deloitte to process my application, and there may be documents which may NOT actually be necessary but were provided for the sake of fortifying my application or just as a just-in-case. The permanent residency application requires so much of your personal information it will be like taking off all your clothes and showing them your bare naked body… the government will give a VERY thorough screening of your situation and background so it is best to provide them with as much transparency and info as possible to reduce delays to your application.

That’s it for the disclaimer… so let’s get right into it!

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Opening A Rakuten Bank Account

 

Disclaimer (2020-06-03): The first half of the guide (first page of registration) has now been updated to the latest version. The second section about Credit Card information has been left as-is since its UI has been left nearly the same since two years ago. Ignore the sudden jump in numbering as I have only updated the first half of the guide. That said, if there are any discrepancies please do let me know in the comments section!

Introduction

Rakuten Bank is an online service that aims to provide various banking services to customers. Those who use or subscribe to various Rakuten services will often enjoy additional benefits for their banking needs. Just like with Rakuten Card, there are no physical offices you can go to so everything is managed online instead. Having an account with Rakuten is recommended if you heavily use things such as Card, Securities, Edy, or Super Points. In any case, you can read about a non-exhaustive list of advantages and disadvantages below:

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Driving in Taiwan With Japanese Driver’s License

van parked beside the road near handrail and ocean
Photo by gya den on Pexels.com

Visiting Taiwan and want to drive but forgot to apply for an International Driver’s Permit? If you have a Japanese driver’s license then it is possible for you to drive in Taiwan without having to transfer your license to Taiwan D/L or needing an International Driver’s Permit (IDP). On top of that, unlike IDPs which requires one to process before embarkation, those who are too late (already in Taiwan) are still able to process the necessary documents to drive – and it will be available to use immediately.

Read on for details, procedures, precautions, and other important information regarding driving in Taiwan with a Japanese D/L.

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Applying For Rakuten Card

Disclaimer: This is a guide I have migrated from a previous website I managed. The site was created in 2016 and so contents in this guide may be stale. I will update it with additional information when I have some time to do so (or if there is an immediate demand for it…!) Introduction Rakuten … Read more