First, a disclaimer: I wrote this in my native language and translated into English, so it may look a little weird. Everyone’s background is different, and personal experience is not necessarily replicable. This is just for reference.

I used to work in a foreign company in Shanghai. After being laid off, I moved to Japan and have now joined a large foreign enterprise in Japan as an SRE. Although I’m a contractor rather than a full-time employee, the salary is at a level I’m satisfied with.

My background: I graduated from a low-tier university in China, worked for about 5 years in SRE/DevOps roles at English-speaking foreign companies. TOEIC 925, JLPT N1, but no study or work experience in Japan.

I applied to a lot of jobs using platforms like Green, Workport, and Rirashiku, but didn’t get any meaningful offers. I was often asked “How many years have you been in Japan?” and when I answered “0 years,” the conversation basically ended there.

I once received an offer from a Japanese dispatch company with an annual salary of around 3.8M JPY. Even the recruiter told me I should just accept it. Honestly, even a dog would shake its head at that. Almost all Japanese recruiters told me it’s impossible to get a 6M+ JPY job, and suggested targeting 3–4M instead. I asked them: “Then why would I even come here?” I might as well give up my visa and go back to China to take some random outsourcing job—it would be better than that.

There’s a line from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain that makes sense here—Skull Face’s idea that language is not just a communication tool, but also shapes culture and thinking.

Japanese really isn’t a “neutral” advantage—it genuinely lowers salary expectations. Even in Japan, once Japanese becomes involved, pay tends to drop. This is not a joke.

Even though I speak Japanese, I deleted my Japanese resume entirely and only applied to English-language roles (or roles where Japanese is just a plus). The quality of job listings I saw immediately improved.

For many Japanese-language roles, they require native-level Japanese. Even when I could communicate fine, I was told my pronunciation or honorific usage wasn’t “natural enough” (for example, saying nan desu ka is not professional and you should say nan deshou ka). You’re also expected to constantly bow, wear suits, and behave very formally.

One company even rejected me because I was wearing headphones when entering the office and my greeting when leaving wasn’t “proper” enough. That company’s average salary was around 3M yen. Honestly, it was hilarious—the less they pay, the more rules they have.

On the other hand, I have never seen an English-language job requiring “native English.” For 6M+ JPY roles, there are plenty of opportunities.

In the end, I found my current job on LinkedIn. A recruiter from a large US-based outsourcing company reached out and recommended me for an SRE role at a big foreign enterprise. I passed the interviews and joined last month. The salary is at a satisfying level.

Working here feels very similar to my previous foreign-company experience in Shanghai. The working language is English. Occasionally I need to communicate with Japanese teams, but basic communication is enough—no native-level Japanese required.

No one cares whether you wear a suit, bow excessively, or even whether you’re on your phone or using headphones at work. Office attendance is 3 days per week, but there’s no strict supervision or clock-in system. As long as you get your work done, nobody cares.

The idea of “I don’t mind lower pay if the work is easy” is actually wrong in my experience—the lower the pay, the more rules and nonsense you tend to get.

My personal conclusion: if you have experience working in Western-style foreign companies, you can probably avoid most Japanese domestic companies. Low pay, high workload, and high expectations are very common.

You can basically “pretend you don’t speak Japanese” and focus only on English-speaking roles. I would strongly recommend avoiding Japanese recruiters and Japanese job boards entirely—if you see a Japanese JD, just skip it.

Hope this helps someone with a similar background. Wish everyone good luck finding their ideal job.

A guy moved into our neighborhood about a year ago and from day one he acted like he owned the place. He was always watching what everyone was doing and complaining about something.

A few months ago he reported my dad to the city because he claimed our driveway extension was built illegally. My dad was pretty stressed because he didn't want to deal with all that, but luckily he still had all the permits from when it was done years ago.

The inspector came out, looked at everything for maybe 10 minutes and basically said everything was fine. That should've been the end of it.

But this guy kept acting all smug after that like he was just waiting to catch someone else.

So one night I got curious and looked through the city's permit records online.

I searched his address and couldn't find anything for the huge detached garage he built behind his house. Then I noticed from the property map that it looked way too close to the fence too.

I took a couple pictures from the sidewalk, filled out a report and attached the parcel number. That was it.

About three weeks later another inspector showed up at his house.

Turns out the garage never had a permit and it didn't meet the setback requirements either. Since it was built pretty recently he couldn't get it grandfathered in. They gave him the choice of fixing it or tearing part of it down.

Last week contractors came and removed almost half of it.

Now every time he walks outside he has to look at our perfectly legal driveway while his garage looks like someone took a giant bite out of it.

My dad still has no idea I was the one who reported him.

Part of me feels like I should feel bad about it.

Honestly though... I don't.

Maybe I'm just seeing more of this content in my Instagram but it seems to be rising, which surprises me because the exchange rate seems to favour British tourism to Japan much more. Any thoughts?

Sorry for asking such an obvious question. I have two Attesa models, and I feel they aren't cheap at around $1,000 each. I love them both and never want to sell them.

'The Citizen' line is the most expensive for the brand. I feel like the price alone puts it into entry-luxury territory, but the brand itself probably can't compete with Swiss brand recognition.

I've saved up money to buy one luxury watch for myself. I do like Tudor and Omega, but 'The Citizen' is something I really want to see on my wrist, even when compared to Grand Seiko.

I'm just afraid a watch snob will ask why I bought a Citizen instead of a GS, and I'm not entirely sure if Citizen is considered luxury.
Even chance to meet that guy kind of slim in this age when people think apple watch is already expensive

Should I just ignore them and follow my heart?"

Match Thread - Australia v Ireland | Nations Championship 2026 | Round 1

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If you don't know anything about them except their nationality and you have to choose solely on the basis of nationality and religion . The Pakistani one practices Islam and the Indian is a Hindu/Sikh. Whom would you prefer?

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For context it was my girlfriend's birthday and as a gift I got tickets for an event to attend to which were quite expensive.

Unfortunately the boiler decided break on the day of the event leaving no hot water so the only option is a cold shower.

My girlfriend now refuses to go to the event and compromise to take a cold shower just for the day before the boiler gets fixed. Her reasoning being it's uncomfortable and cold and does not want to get ill, being a girl is more difficult with long hair and her health comes first before anything.

Bearing in mind we are in the UK we've been getting heat waves high of 30 degrees. The cold water from the tap is no longer cold cold and in my opinion is no different to dipping in a swimming pool.

What I'm annoyed at is there has been no reciprocation of efforts and gratitude to my gift and she is acting selfishly to not compromise slightly to make things work.

AITAH?

UPDATE: she read some of the comments and finally decided to compromise and took the uncomforts of a cold shower for 10 minutes (SHE WAS NOT HAPPY).

We are now happily making our way to the event!

As for everybody saying I booked the tickets for myself and disguised this as a gift. I had no idea of this event or any pre-existing interest. All I was trying to do was to find something fun to do!

Just a bear in mind to take everything with a pinch of salt as typical Reddit comments can be crazy and make presumptions 😂

Match Thread - Japan v Italy | Nations Championship 2026 | Round 1

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What I mean by "Don't like" can mean anything, whether it's culture, lifestyle, politics, etc.

As someone who wants to live in Japan, I'm curious to see the opinions of Japanese people from all perspectives. As negative as it might be I think this is an underrepresented demographic.

I just got an email with the next steps for the ALT position application, and later on get an interview with them. I have experience teaching kids, I'm fluent in Japanese (N4/N3) and have my English Certification (C1). I just read some comments here that say it's the worst company. Any opinions?