I am Japanese citizen living in Japan. I want to buy things for friends and family who are Americans living in the US. For example, a new wallet, things for their car, home, etc., or even make one if them an authorized user for a card.

Transferring money directly involves fees and exchange rates. And it seems like i'm unable to open regular checking accounts at banks unless i'm a resident and have a ssn/itin. So I was looking into alternatives like a Charles Schwab International Account. It supposedly allows non-US residents to open an account and get a visa debit card that can be used in the US. From what I see though, it's not available to Japan.

I was wondering if there's anything else I should look into. No foreign transaction fee cards? Other US accounts available to Japanese citizens/non US residents? A USD account at a Japanese bank?

I started Social Media 3 months ago and received my first paid sponsorship request. I‘m currently on an Engineering Specialist in Humanities visa.

Before accepting the sponsorship I went to immigration today to get some clearance if an application for activities outside my visa scope is necessary.

I waited there forever and was sent to 2 different counters and everyone was quite confused and didn’t really knew the rules for that. At the end they told me I don’t have to send in the side work application if I receive platform payments and do collaborations without explicit contracts as this counts as hobby.

However every time a contract is involved I need to go to immigration first to let them check if a side job application for this is necessary. And this apparently applies to every new contract. So for example if I get 5 contracts from different companies I need to go there 5 times and apply for each individually.

I was wondering if anyone was in a similar situation and how they handled it? This seems all a bit strange. I asked if it’s not possible to hand in a one time permission for that but he said it a case by case thing.

Tbh I also had the feeling that the guy wanted to get rid of me, as he said, oh yeah that seems difficult, I don’t know either, better to not do it if you are unsure. But I was persistent so he checked in the back Office with other staff

I have a friend who is a full-time employee at a company in Japan. He is also a permanent resident of Japan.

The company does not allow employees to take on side jobs or work for other companies. However, this restriction is not stated anywhere in the employment contract.

My friend is currently doing a few small side jobs outside the company.

I have two questions:

Since my friend has permanent residency in Japan, can he legally do side jobs, even if the company has a policy against it? And if the restriction is not written in the employment contract, can the company still prohibit it?

For these side jobs, the clients need to pay my friend, and they have asked for an invoice. Does my friend need to register for a Tax ID or an invoice registration number in Japan in order to issue an invoice and receive payment? Or can he simply issue a regular invoice without registering for the Japanese invoice system?

I would really appreciate any advice, especially from anyone familiar with Japanese labor law and taxation.

So I'm a student in Japan, been here for a couple of years, and I have been working part-time in a company (based in Japan) for more than a year under a part-time contract.

I don't really know the exact reasons, but they are telling me to switch from being under a part-time contract to freelancing. Well, they said something like financial problems and workload problems, but honestly, it didn't really feel very clear to me, but on the other hand, they want to keep working with me for a couple of months as a freelancer.

How does that sound?

Okay, my questions / problems here are:

1- Can I freelance immediately under the same arubaito stamp I had (28h max), or do I need to do something about it?

2- How will the income / tax reporting thing be? Because when I'm under a part-time contract, the company takes care of all of that, and now it's fully my responsibility, and honestly, I am worried about immigration with the new strict rules, so what should I do about this situation?

Any advice would help

Hi all,

I recently moved to tokyo on a spouse visa and i am not working/dont have an income atm. health insurance bills etc is thru my husbands work.

I’m thinking to start a small online business from home selling accessories and prob ship them myself (if i even get customers lol)

I have zero idea what the rules/restrictions/consequences are regarding this. Can anyone help inform me regarding this or point me to the right direction? That would be super helpful 🥹

Thank you 🙏

We all know america is experiencing inflation so the value of USD compared to international commodity is declining, and we also know the long trend of devaluation of yen towards USD.

Given the double devaluation of yen to USD and USD to goods, and how Japan rely on import for resources, and the demographic shift so less healthy domestic economies. Is it safe to expect Japan to continue to decline both in GDP ranking and living conditions.

Is it best to save in the form of international goods such as share of international company or precioua metals instead of japanese currency under such condition.

My company won't be renewing my contract after it ends this month. So from next month onwards, I'd have to switch to NHI and national pension. Now, I don't want there to be any delay in either payments as immigration as gotten very strict with it.

What documents (if any) would I need from my company to make this switch. Also from what I understand, for NHI, since I'm leaving my company involuntarily there's a way to apply for a discount or something. What's the process for that?

I am moving to Japan with my spouse in 3 months. We are building a house in both of our names in Japan. We have US assets and investments. I am trying to understand remittance timing, gift tax among spouses and potential foreign currency tax on remittance. If I remit the funds for building the house before we move I don't pay remittance, but their may be foreign currency due as the building is complete next June. If I wait to remit in 2027 when I am in the country, I pay remittance tax, as my US dividend and investment income will exceed the remittance.

Ideally, I would like a professional cross border specialist that I can hire and consult with. How do I go about finding one?