#ward-office

Japanese rubbish sorting is a part-time job you never applied for, complete with a fourteen-page laminated manual and an obaasan stationed to judge your every yoghurt pot. Welcome to the gomi station, where guessing wrong gets you publicly shamed.

The juuminhyo, Japan's residential certificate, is required for nearly every adult transaction, costs ¥300, and expires almost the moment it's printed. A field report on proving you exist in Japan, three days too late.