Japan

: How Safe is Japan?

Everyone wants to live in a country that is free from violent crime and feels as safe as a village in the Cotswolds. The idealism of a beautiful utopia that never has any mass shootings, robberies, sexual attacks on women. The crime rate in Japan is very low, and Japan is a very safe country to live in. But, unfortunately, there are still some unstable people there as there are in many parts of the world. Maybe the number of them is not so big compared to the other parts of the world when we take Japanese modest nature into ...

: Earthquakes Are Not Uncommon In Japan

As we all saw recently in Fukushima, in March of 2011, and in Kobe in January of 1995, catastrophic earthquakes and tsunamis are a real threat to Japan. Just about every day there is at least one tremor in the country but fortunately, large dangerous earthquakes are relatively rare, but when they do strike they can be deadly. The Japanese have been brought up with these natural occurrences. Children from a very young age are taught what to do in the case of an emergency. It is usually the tourist who panics or is scared of the minor tremor which ...

: The Costs of Living In Japan: Is Japan An Expensive Place to Live?

Living costs in Japan and especially in Tokyo are famous to be among the world's highest. However, if you live outside of central Tokyo, adjust to a Japanese lifestyle, and do not depend too heavily on food and products from your home country, you may be surprised how inexpensive Japan can be. Also in Japan's many dollar shops, you can find goods for less than $1.00 US that you would not find available anywhere else, and some of these are of reasonable quality. Food Costs Local supermarkets are relatively inexpensive if you stick to Japanese food such as seasonal ...

: The Difficulties Of Learning The Japanese Language

It has been said that Japanese is difficult to learn, but perhaps not as difficult as you would think. Whilst it may take a while to come to terms with the huge differences between Japanese and English, the spoken language is actually pretty simple, and the written language can be learned very successfully with a little hard work and logical planning. Obviously more difficult than most European languages, but probably easier than other "exotic languages", the lack of tones is a blessing for westerners. The Japanese Language Is Not Difficult...? If looked at from a linguistic point of view, ...

: Japanese Driver’s License Test Tips and Tricks【For foreigners】

Those who have to pass the practical driving test in order to convert their foreign licenses should be prepared for a long and sometimes frustrating process. First-time pass rates are low even for native Japanese, who routinely spend 200,000 to 300,000 yen for lessons to teach them how to pass this test. There are many seemingly minor details that must be considered. A positive attitude and patience will go far towards minimizing cost, time spent at the driver's license center, and test failures. The following information is based on the experience of a former Saga JET. This advice does not ...

: How to get a driver's license in Japan! Let's go to a driving school

In Japan, you usually obtain a driver’s license by taking lessons at a private driving school. You obtain a license by entering a designated driving school and taking the lessons needed to acquire driving skills and accumulate driving knowledge. Most driving schools offer driving lessons and classes only in Japanese. Although in recent years this has changed, some schools have English speaking staff, and some even hire foreign, or native English speaking instructors. In the case of Tokyo The Koyama Driving School in Tokyo, says it is “the only driving school that provides lessons in English.” Most Japanese go ...

: Vending Machines in Japan, You can buy it anywhere!

It is estimated there is a vending machine of some variety for every 20 people in Japan. With Japan’s population in excess of 127 million people, there must be some 5 million vending machines in the country. This figure might be hard to believe, until you step foot in Japan. There are vending machines for virtually everything, from the expected soft drink, ticket and food machines to the unusual machines which sell underwear or stuffed toy animals. General vending machine Many of the drink machines provide both hot and cold beverages, and they are fairly cheap in contrast to ...

: Why can't Japanese speak English? The reason is education? National character?

The Japanese Speaking English It is a question that has been asked many times. Why do some Japanese people struggle to communicate in English? Even though English is taught in junior high school and there are thousands of English conversation schools all over the country, the level of English in Japan remains low compared to other developed countries. This is especially problematic when Japanese students travel to study abroad. A number of professors at various school surveyed said that their Japanese students often have difficulties communicating in English. These are not students from the rural Inakadate, Aomori region of Japan ...

: Hyousatsu: The nameplate becomes a means of identifying "Individual"

Have you noticed a plate mounted onto the gatepost or by the entrance door of a residential house? They are called ‘Hyosatsu' and the letters indicated on it is the householder's name. Hyosatsu － name plate － carries the family name of the residents, the first name of the householder as well as other family members' names can be added optionally. We can recognize it as your house In that way, Hyosatsu is an aid for the identification yet also what personalise the house. Therefore, people usually choose the one very carefully.The plate helps to identify the house you ...

: The Japanese school is cleaned by the students themselves

School

How does it sound that there is no cleaner stationed in school in Japan? Public school is cleaned by children themselves. Cleaning time is even set into their daily time table, about 20 minutes. Bloomed and swept, even regularly waxed by them. While in a conventional school, classroom floors are parquet, those of a modern school building are carpeted so that they are vacuumed. Cleaning task is undertaken by the team Children are divided into teams and deployed to every corner of the school. It gives them an opportunity to learn how to operate cleaning and how to cooperate each ...