You are not the first — 4,125,395 foreigners already live in Japan
We publish the official Japanese data behind that number in eight languages, with the source on every figure.
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Visa Path Planner
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Generate my full Japan plan → All tools and data → Cost of Living Calculator City transit & fare estimator Move-in cash calculator Emergency wallet card Data Hub Everyday Japanese Phrase Bank (with audio)
Browse by topic
Visas
Which status of residence fits you, and how to get it
Work
Finding a job, contracts, and your rights
Salaries
Realistic pay ranges by occupation
Study
Language schools, JLPT, and student life
Cities
Where to live and work in Japan
Cost of Living
Monthly budgets by city
Housing
Renting an apartment as a foreigner
Life in Japan
Residence card, insurance, banking and more
Permanent Residency
Staying in Japan for the long term
Popular pathways
The study route
Enter with little Japanese, build credentials at school, then switch into a work visa.
The engineer route
Start on a degree-holder work visa, score HSP points, and reach PR in as little as 1–3 years.
The skilled-worker route
Pass the SSW exams, upgrade to SSW (ii) to remove the time limit, then bring family and settle.
Popular cities
Tokyo
Tokyo's job market, salaries, rent, foreign community and daily life — and how to decide whether Japan's capital is the right base for you.
Osaka
Osaka's job market, rent levels, atmosphere and how Japan's second city compares with Tokyo for foreign workers and students.
Fukuoka
Fukuoka's job market, startup scene and daily life: rent 45–55% lower than Tokyo, the airport ten minutes from downtown, and a national strategic zone that keeps the startup pipeline full.
Kyoto
Kyoto's real job market — tourism, universities and quiet tech — plus the housing quirks, tourist-economy wages and what living in the old capital actually costs.
Data you will not find elsewhere
Official records we parsed and translated ourselves — the ministries publish them in Japanese and English only.
Officially Flagged Schools
Once a year Japan names the universities where too many international students dropped out because of the school. The FY2025 list has two names — and the five criteria behind it tell you what to check anywhere.
The 適正校 Rating
Immigration grades every language school on how many of its students go wrong, and that grade decides how much paperwork your visa needs. The names are never published — so here is the rule, and the question to ask.
Do You Need a School?
Language schools mainly sell a visa, not teaching. If you already hold a work visa, the free community class plus self-study plus the JLPT is a legitimate route — here is where that stops being true.
Why you can trust this site
- Official government sources cited on every high-risk page
- Every page shows when it was last reviewed
- No paid rankings, no fake reviews
- General information, not legal advice
Recently reviewed
Cost of Living in Tokyo
A modest single spends about ¥180,000 a month in Tokyo, comfortable is ¥230,000–280,000, and a 1R in the 23 wards runs ¥70,000–110,000. Set against the government's own measured household spending, with the 4–5 months of rent you need up front.
Part-Time Wages
What arubaito actually pays: the official prefecture floor (Tokyo ¥1,226, lowest ¥1,023), the staggered dates the FY2025 raise took effect, the +25% night premium, and the 28-hour weekly cap that counts all jobs together.
Free Community Classes
Volunteer-run Japanese classes at community centres cost ¥0–500 a session and 23,281 of Japan's 46,257 Japanese teachers staff them. What they are, what they are not, and how to find yours.
No Degree? Your Routes
No university degree? Japans fastest-growing work visa never asks for one. The routes that work without a degree — SSW, the new Ikusei Shūrō, working holiday — and the two that substitute for one.