Living in Japan
The following list of websites provides useful information for foreigners living in Japan on topics such as hospitals, banks, mobile phones, electricity and gas. The links are available in English. Please check them out for further information.
Hospitals
Here you can find a list of medical institutions in Japan. Although the site was originally created to aid the safe travel of foreign tourists in Japan, it would also be useful for foreigners living in Japan.
International Schools
You can look up international schools in Japan at the following accreditation organizations’ websites.
The number of IB candidates and authorized schools in Japan has expanded to 216 schools. (As of September 2023)
Lists of authorized schools are on the websites below.
Banking Service
The following large banks have branches in various parts of Japan. Additionally, there are several banks offering online banking services, including account opening, in English.
Mobile Communications
There are four major carriers (mobile network operators) in Japan as follows. Also, there are a number of mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs), some of which offer services in English.
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KDDI(au)
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NTT docomo
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SoftBank
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Rakuten Mobile (Japanese only)
Electricity
The Japanese electricity system used to consist of ten regional electric power companies, such as Tokyo Electric Power Company, Kansai Electric Power Company, and Chubu Electric Power, that assumed the responsibility of supplying electricity to each region.
Since the full liberalization of the electricity market in April 2016, consumers can choose services from many other retail companies in their areas. Agency for Natural Resources and Energy’s website provides information about switching power companies and links to retailers offering services in foreign languages.
Gas
City gas, supplied via pipeline network, is available in many city areas of Japan. After the liberalization of the city gas market in 2017, consumer can choose from many retail companies in their areas in addition to a local city gas company. Below are links to major city gas companies’ English websites.
Contact the local city gas company (instead of a retail company) for emergency procedures such as gas leakages, earthquakes, etc.
Water
Contact the waterworks bureau of the local municipality to activate the service. Below are examples of major cities’ websites:
Multilingual speech translation application
VoiceTra is a free speech translation application produced by the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT). The application translates your speech into over 30 different languages including Japanese and allows you to communicate with people from different parts of the world.
Related Links
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Daily Life Support Portal for Foreign Nationals in Multiple Languages（Immigration Services Agency）
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About Japan（The Government of Japan）
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Web Japan （Ministry of Foreign Affairs）
（Gateway for anything about Japan. Web Japan provides information about Japan including facts, fun and new trends, traditional and pop culture, science and technology, food, travel, and life style.）
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