Twelve survival rules for the long-term foreign resident. Read the Manifesto for the philosophy. Follow these to stay alive in the meantime.
None of this is legal advice. All of it is field-tested by a sufficiently irritated long-term resident. Apply with judgement.
It is your passport in the country where you also live. Lose it, and the consequences will be administrative and infinite.
Pick your battles. This is not one of them. Buy the small wooden cylinder. Move on.
Sumimasen will do 90% of your social work. Learn to say it in three different tones.
Not because they don't deserve it. Because the social cost will compound for years.
Yes, in 2026. Yes, even at the airport. Yes, ¥10,000 minimum. Trust us.
Survival reading. The other 2,000 can wait.
When the visa renewal goes sideways, you will need someone to sign a piece of paper at midnight.
If it is empty, it is yours. Refusing is not politeness; it is invisibility.
Then photocopy the photocopies. The bureaucracy demands the redundancy. Feed it.
It will take three visits and a small spiritual journey, but the alternative is worse.
The phone is where the dragons live. Get a friend who slays them. Buy them dinner.
Tokyo is not Japan. Tokyo is a service Japan provides to itself. Get on the train. Go further than you planned.