Jump to  Filing your Final Tax Return Albert Einstein once said: "The hardest thing in the world to understand is the Income Tax." Welcome to Adulting 101. As adults and contributing members of society, we all will, eventually, have to deal with taxes. Dealing with taxes even in your native language can be very challenging, imagine doing this in Japan, in Japanese. *cue nosebleed Before we jump into the steps of filing your Final Tax Return, let's go ahead and explain some of the words you will be encountering while you deal with this. 源泉徴収 (Gensen Choshu) - Withholding Tax Gensen Choshu(源泉徴収) is the process where your employer estimates how much income tax you will need to pay and will withhold that amount from your monthly salary. In other words, withholding tax. Your monthly payslip will show how much tax you paid and since this is just an estimated amount, there are instances where you either over or underpay your taxes. Whether you overpaid or underpaid your taxes w

Living in Japan, even as an exchange student or as a language student means that you have to know how to conduct yourself in society. Manners are required anywhere in the world and the same is true in Japan. You've probably heard the saying "when in Rome, do as the Romans do", well, "when in Japan, do as the Japanese do." The concept of  "Omoiyari" If you go to Google Translate and type this in, you'll get "consideration" as its translation. But the Japanese concept of "omoiyari" is more than just that. The full definition of "omoiyari" is the consideration towards others by imagining oneself in another person's position and act accordingly with their point of view. This is the actual reason why the Japanese people exude an aura of politeness. People will go out of their way to avoid causing inconvenience or discomfort. Building on the concept of "Omoiyari", let's go through a few things to keep in m

Welcome to Japan! You finally did it! You went through the long process of applying to be a Japanese language student , came up with the funding to pay for the initial payments , and you have finally boarded that plane to study and work in Japan. Now, get ready to face your first challenge. How much will you be earning and spending as a Japanese language student? When you're a student, chances are, you don't have much spending money because you only work part-time. Your main focus is to study and thus, you are only allowed to work 28 hours. But this also means you have to work with a budget to avoid mishaps like having to eat instant ramen for 2 weeks because you blew your money on something trivial. Here's a preview as to how much I earned and spent as a Japanese language student. Part-Time Job Salary Money matters I studied in Oarai, Ibaraki. Much like other countries, the minimum wage will vary from place to place, and since Oarai is a little seaside town, the minimum wa

 In my previous post , I described the process of coming to Japan as a Japanese language student. Now that you have an idea of the " How  to? ", let's now talk about the "How much?" Will this be enough? Education, no matter where you are in the world, is expensive. Even more so when you are aiming to study abroad. Studying in Europe averages about 20,000 USD in tuition fees, plus about 4,000 USD for living costs (food, utilities, phone, transportation, etc) per semester. Studying in Japan is no different.  In a glance, let me give you a simple breakdown as to how much you will need to initially prepare to come to study in Japan. Tuition Fees Yearly, language school tuition fees alone will cost about 700,000 yen. The cost will vary from school to school and the length of the program you choose. Take note that this amount does not include dormitory fees yet. Depending on where you decide to study in Japan, costs do vary from place to place, as well as the size of

On our third day in Japan, we started with our very first part-time job or arubaito (アルバイト). When you come to Japan to study, you will be allowed to work for 28 hours a week to help with your day to day expenses (rent, utilities, food, etc.) At the time, the hourly rate for part-timers in Ibaraki was 800 yen per hour. One good thing about working as a part-timer in Japan is the fact that everyone is paid the same rate. They don't look at age, gender, or nationality. Across the board, the minimum wage is the same. Update: As of 2020, the minimum wage in Ibaraki is at 850 yen per hour. There is a multitude of part-time jobs available all over Japan. But if you come here with practically zero language skills, then your options become limited. Let me show you a few of these arubaito  gigs that can be done even when you barely speak Japanese. Let me tell you our story... After the school orientation, we were given the rest of the day off. Or so we thought. At around 3pm, (if memory ser

Hello Everyone!!! I have been thinking of some things to post and I really wanted to share how I am learning to survive in Japan. Yes, I may have a little bit of Nihongo under my belt but not nearly enough to understand everything that goes on around me. And so I came up with this!!! Silak's JST (Japan Survival Tips) series This will be basically short posts on practical tips and tricks I've picked up along the way. I will be sharing stuff that I learned and am still doing that makes my life so much easier. This will be anything and everything under the sun from post rescheduling, inquiries, groceries, and many, many more! And, good news to the introverts out there like me that want to minimize their human contact as much as possible, these, are going to help you a lot! (As much as possible I do most of my stuff online and I only call if, and when I really need to.) I will try to make the posts as educational as possible with as many picture illustrations as I

Okay. 3 years ago, I turned 30 and didn't really care much for skin regimens. Frankly speaking, I hate having to slap on creams and do face massage and all those stuff. I'm not a big fan of beauty rituals. I can do makeup. On my face that is. I can do a decent wing with liquid eyeliner, but basically, facial care, NADA. Thankfully enough I was born with Chinese blood and genetics blessed me with a low maintenance type of skin. I occasionally break out, but never really severe. My skin looks naturally tight (till recently, turns out being neglectful of your skin does eventually show). But genetics can only get you so far. Da da daaaaaan... (I wish I could do sound effects, but unfortunately I can't so please indulge me and do the sound effects yourself either inside your head or out loud). I was looking in the mirror, and there it was. I knew that one day this day would eventually come... FINE LINES!!! Okay, I'm not that vain and the lines weren't that