First Year in Japan? 7 Things Every Foreigner Sets Up Too Late

Your first 2 weeks in Japan determine the next 12 months. City hall, phone, bank, My Number — get the order wrong and everything stalls.

Bottom line: Your first 2 weeks in Japan determine the next 12 months. Register at city hall within 14 days, get a Japanese phone number, apply for My Number, and open a bank account — in that order. Miss the sequence and you'll spend months stuck in a loop where every service requires something you don't have yet.

Most "moving to Japan" guides end at the airport. They cover visas, flights, and apartment contracts — but the real challenge starts the morning after you arrive. Your first year living in Japan as a foreigner is a chain of admin tasks where each one unlocks the next, and getting the order wrong can cost you weeks.

I know this cycle firsthand. When I moved to Manchester, UK in my early twenties, I was rejected for a bank account because the bank required a utility bill — but I was homestaying and had no bills in my name. No bank account meant no direct deposit, which made everything harder. Japan's system works the same way: phone number → bank account → salary → apartment. Break the chain and you're stuck.

This guide covers the 7 systems you need to set up in your first year — most of which work best if you start in week one.

1. City Hall Registration — You Have 14 Days

Within 14 days of moving into your address, you must register at your local ward or city office. Bring your residence card and passport. At the counter, say:

転入届を出したいです (Tennyu todoke o dashitai desu) — I would like to submit a move-in registration.

This single visit unlocks several things at once: your certificate of residence (住民票 — juminhyo), enrollment in National Health Insurance (if your employer doesn't cover you), and the start of your My Number application. The My Number Card takes 1–2 months to arrive, but you need to start here — it's now the primary ID for banking, health insurance verification, and government apps.

For the full My Number process, see our My Number Card application guide. If the forms look impossible, most ward offices now offer yasashii nihongo (easy Japanese) support or multilingual counters — our city hall easy Japanese guide shows how to find these in your municipality.

2. Get a Japanese Phone Number Before the Bank

This is where most foreigners get the order wrong. You need a Japanese mobile number — not a tourist eSIM — before you can open a bank account, sign up for utilities, or use most government apps. Almost every bank requires SMS verification with a Japanese number. An overseas number will not work.

You can sign up for a resident SIM the same week you arrive if you have your residence card.

Carrier	Monthly Cost	English Support	Sign-Up
Rakuten Mobile	¥1,078 (3 GB) – ¥3,278 (unlimited)	App, web, phone	Online or shop
LINEMO (SoftBank)	¥990 (3 GB) – ¥2,970 (30 GB)	English guide available	Online only
ahamo (Docomo)	¥2,970 (30 GB) – ¥4,950 (110 GB)	Japanese only	Online only
IIJmio	¥858 (2 GB) – ¥2,068 (20 GB)	Japanese only	Online or shop

Rakuten Mobile is the easiest starting point for most foreigners — the entire signup process is available in English, there's no minimum contract period, and their physical shops in major cities have multilingual staff. If you want the lowest possible price and can navigate Japanese, IIJmio is the budget king.

3. Bank Account — Navigate the 6-Month Wall

Here's the catch that blindsides most new arrivals: major banks (MUFG, SMBC, Mizuho) typically require 6 months of Japanese residency before opening an account for a foreigner. This comes from the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Control Act — it's regulatory, not individual bank policy.

Your two realistic options in the first months:

Japan Post Bank (ゆうちょ銀行) — Available at every post office in Japan. Accepts applications from foreigners after approximately 3 months with a valid residence card. Counter staff can guide you through the process in person.
SBI Shinsei Bank — Fully English online banking. Some branches accept applications before the 6-month mark, though policies vary by location.

One foreign resident shared on a GaijinPot forum: "Even after opening my account, I wasn't entitled to full privileges — no debit card, and domestic transfers were treated like international ones with hefty fees. The bank said this is standard for all foreigners under 6 months." Individual experiences may vary.

What you'll need at the counter: your residence card, My Number notification (or card), and a Japanese phone number. This is why the order matters — phone first, then bank. If the bank visit feels overwhelming — explaining your visa type in Japanese, understanding restrictions on your new account — that's exactly why I built LO-PAL. You can post your question for free and get answers from local Japanese people who've helped foreigners through this. Need someone to come with you to the bank? You can request that too, and you only pay when the task is done.

4. Language Survival Beyond Translation Apps

You don't need to be fluent to survive your first year, but you need the right tools for the right situations. A translation app handles convenience store runs — it won't save you at a hospital counter or a city hall window.

Build your toolkit in layers:

Day 1 — Translation apps: Google Translate's camera mode reads signs, menus, and letters. VoiceTra (government-made, free) handles medical and official conversations better. See our full translation app comparison.
Month 1 — Free Japanese classes: Almost every city runs volunteer classes through international associations. They're free, local, and a way to meet people. Our city hall Japanese class guide shows how to find them.
Ongoing — Language exchange: City-run conversation salons are more reliable than bar meetups for actual practice. See our language exchange guide.

For government paperwork specifically, look for やさしい日本語 (yasashii nihongo — easy Japanese) versions of forms and notices. More municipalities offer these than you might expect.

5. Daily Rules Nobody Explains on Day One

Japan has unwritten systems that govern daily life. You won't find them in any visa paperwork, and breaking them silently damages your relationship with neighbors.

Garbage sorting is the biggest one. Every municipality has different categories, bag requirements, and collection days. The wrong bag on the wrong day means your trash sits outside with your apartment number on it. Get your city's official English guide or app immediately — our garbage sorting app guide covers how.

Neighborhood associations (町内会 — chonaikai) may approach you about joining and paying dues. It's not legally mandatory, but refusing can create friction — especially around garbage station access. Our neighborhood association guide explains your actual rights.

Train etiquette has rules that are actively enforced and recently updated — including a nationwide no-walking-on-escalators push. What you learned from a 2020 blog post may be outdated. See our train etiquette guide for what's changed.

6. Building a Social Life Beyond Work

The expat bubble is real, and it shrinks fast once the initial excitement fades. The most reliable way to build a social life is through public, city-run channels — not apps or nightlife.

Start with your city's international exchange events (国際交流 — kokusai kōryū). Ward offices and international associations run these regularly, and they're designed for exactly your situation. Our guide to making friends through city hall events has the method.

On the work side, nomikai (work drinking parties) are important for relationships but not mandatory. If you need to set boundaries without burning bridges, our nomikai guide has polite scripts in Japanese that actually work.

7. When It Gets Hard — And It Will

Homesickness isn't a phase that passes in week two. It often hits hardest around month 3–6, when the novelty fades and the isolation of not understanding 80% of conversations around you becomes crushing.

I experienced this myself. The winters in Northern England seriously affected my mental health when I lived in Manchester. The grey skies, the exhaustion of translating every interaction, the feeling of not quite belonging — it compounds. The problem wasn't a lack of healthcare or systems. It was a lack of access to them.

If you're struggling, these resources are available in multiple languages and free:

Yorisoi Hotline (よりそいホットライン): 0120-279-338 — toll-free. Press 2 for foreign language support (English, Chinese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Vietnamese, Thai, Nepali, and more). Foreign language line available 10 AM – 10 PM daily; Japanese line 24 hours.
TELL Japan Lifeline: 03-5774-0992 — English-language counseling and crisis support. Hours vary by day; see telljp.com/tell-hours for the current schedule.

For the food-and-comfort approach to getting through the worst nights, our homesickness guide starts with the quickest reset most people can actually do right now.

Do Foreigners Need a Hanko in Japan? — When you'll actually need a seal and when a signature works
My Number Card on iPhone — Set up Apple Wallet for conbini certificates and Mynaportal
Moving Checklist Japan — The 20-step timeline for utilities, city hall, and apartment transfers

Ask a Local — It's Free

Every section of this guide has a moment where you think "I can't do this alone in Japanese." That's normal — and that's why LO-PAL exists. Post your question for free and get answers from local Japanese people in your area. Need someone to come with you to city hall, the bank, or a real estate office? Request a task — you only pay when the job is done.