Japan Move Whiteboard

Published by Greg on

Using this post as a whiteboard to plan the things I need to do for the move to Tokyo

Helpful overview articles:

Things Needing Research

  • If I need & how to get vaccination certificate (?? for Attorney)
  • Where will I live (?? for Relo folks)
  • When will I fly & how much luggage can I bring (?? for Relo folks)
  • Where will I work (?? for Andrew)
  • How to maintain US phone number
  • Japanese cell service
  • How I’ll be paid

{{< toc >}}

Tasks Before Greg Leaves America

Tasks After Greg Arrives in Japan

  • At Airport
    • Install Mobal sim card in phone
    • Clear immigration
      • Ensure a Date of Arrival is in your passport or you can’t drive
      • Get residence card from immigration officer
    • Open a bank account
      • Japan Post Bank has a tool for filling out the forms for a new account in English. Print in Japanese to take to the office with you
      • There are locations in Terminals 1 & 2 at Narita
    • Pick up Suica card
  • First Day
    • Register as a resident at the ward office
    • Pickup SIM card from Sakura Mobile
      • Need bank account and residence card first
      • Compare carriers here
  • First Week
  • First Month
    • Figure out where Reva and the pets will live
  • First Quarter
  • After 6 months
    • Open a bank account with more favorable terms (Most banks require foreigners to have resided in Japan for 6 months before opening an account)

Tasks Before Reva Leaves America

  • Stock up on things that are hard to get in Japan

Active Research Notes

Need a Short-Term Place to Live Immediately

Open Questions:

  • Can one of the relocation folks help me find immediate housing?
    • Will the total cost be cheaper than looking on my own? (~100-200k円 😬)
  • Will I be able to work from the office for the first few weeks?
  • Will I be allowed to work from public co-working spaces? (Yahoo Lodge, AWS Forge)

Notes:

  • tokyosharehouse.com is a search engine for share houses
  • Sakura House seems pretty solid
  • Maybe rent a normal 1K and just pay early termination fees if we need to?

Options Comparison

Hostel & Company Office or Co-Working Space

  • I stay in a hostel or capsule share house and work out of some co-working space
  • Example Property: https://nakano.guest-house-tokyo.com/index_en.html
  • Cost:
    • Monthly: 36,000円
    • Move-In: 10,000円
    • Refundable: 5,000円
    • Additional: 6,000円 (showers and laundry)
  • Pros:
    • Most flexible option
    • Furnished
  • Cons:
    • Probably the least comfortable option
  • Risks:
    • Might hate it and lose out on 5,000円
    • Will I be allowed to pair on client projects from a co-working space?

Sharehouse

  • A private room with shared kitchen and bath facilities. For some reason the sharehouses in eastern Tokyo are cheaper
  • Example Property: https://www.tiger-house.com/bukken.php?b_id=13
  • Cost:
    • Monthly: 65,000円
    • Move-In: 20,000円
    • Refundable: 20,000円
    • Additional: 6,000円 (showers and laundry)
  • Pros:
    • Forced socialization with housemates 🤷
    • Furnished
    • Cheaper
  • Cons:
    • Generally only able to reserve 10-30 days in advance, not guaranteed space will be available
    • Anecdotal reports that sharehouse-mates can be awful
  • Risks:
    • Anecdotal reports that Sharehouse internet is unreliable
    • Some Sharehouses charge an additional office fee if you WFH

Short Term 1R/K rental

  • A furnished rental, basically corporate housing
  • Central Tokyo
    • Example Property:
    • Cost:
      • Monthly: 円
      • Move-In: 円
      • Refundable: 円
  • Outer Tokyo
    • Example Property:
    • Cost:
      • Monthly: 円
      • Move-In: 円
      • Refundable: 円
  • Pros:
    • My own private space
    • Won’t need a co-working space
  • Cons:
    • More effort to go out an meet people

Long Term 1R/K rental

  • Central Tokyo
  • Outer Tokyo
  • Pros:
    • My own private space
    • Won’t need a co-working space
    • ★ If the location is good we can make our family housing search more flexible as we’ll have a crash-pad near central Tokyo
  • Cons:
    • If its not a good location we’re still locked in for (usually) 2 years
    • More effort to go out an meet people

Maybe Need a Short-Term Space to Work Immediately

  • I’ll be working remote so I need to ensure I have a space to work
  • Need good enough internet access for zoom
  • Am I allowed to work in a co-working space?
    • Yahoo Lodge and AWS Forge are free
    • WeWork is ~$600/mo
    • Ota Fablab has co-working ¥11,000/mo

Research Notes That I’m done with

Need a Japanese Cell Phone

Verdict: Mobal I’ll order a Mobal SIM card and have it shipped to Denver, that way I can swap my SIM during the flight and hit the ground running I’ll likely switch to a different provide after I’ve gotten a bit settled

Options Comparison

Rakuten Mobile

  • 3,300円/mo for unlimited data
  • 2,000円 activation fee
  • By far the best value for money.
  • Need to be at residence to verify identity when SIM card is delivered
  • Need a bank account / Japanese Credit Card to pay

Sakura Mobile

  • 4,378円/mo for 25Gb
  • 5,500円 activation fee
  • Very good English support
  • Offers airport sim card pickup
  • Pay with USD or Yen

Mobal

  • 4,378円/mo for 25Gb
  • 2,970円 activation fee
  • Very good English support
  • Offers airport sim card pickup or international shipping
  • Pay with PayPal, USD or Yen

Port US Phone number in case I need it from Japan

Verdict: Google Voice Not enough time (or motivation) to roll a solution on Twilio, and none of the other options come close in value for money, I don’t like being glued to Google but meh 🤷

Options Investigated:

  • Google Voice, Google 🙄, $20 1 time fee, full featured
  • Twilio, DIY cost based on usage, as feature-full as I make it 🤷
  • OpenPhone, $180/yr, full featured
  • Tossable Digits, $40/yr, voicemail; 25m/mo forwarding; unlimited texting
  • Park My Phone, $60/yr, voicemail; no forwarding; text message add on
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