Daily Picks 編集部

A My Number card has a card expiry and an electronic certificate expiry, each announced by a letter. But for foreign residents with a fixed period of stay, the card also ends when your stay ends, with no letter, and a visa renewal does not update it. What to bring to the city office, the 2-month extension, and what lapses if you miss it.

Found a small slip in your mailbox instead of your parcel? It is an attempted delivery notice. How long Japan Post and Yamato keep your item, how to book a redelivery in English, what to bring to the counter, and how to tell a real notice from the fake delivery SMS scams common in Japan.

A plain-English guide to the Japanese resident tax notice (juminzei): which of the two letters you get and when, what every Japanese line on the form means, why the amount is based on last year and on where you lived on 1 January, how to pay it, and what happens to the balance when you change jobs, stop working or leave Japan.

The statement that arrives after you hand back the keys, explained. What your shikikin deposit is, what genjo kaifuku actually covers, which repairs are the landlord's and which are yours, why the years you lived there cut your share, and who you can call in English if the bill looks wrong.

A plain-English guide to the three Japanese year-end adjustment forms (nenmatsu chosei) handed out between October and December: how to tell them apart, a Japanese-to-English table for the boxes you have to fill, which certificates to attach, what the National Tax Agency requires for family living outside Japan, the 2026 tax changes that take effect on 1 December, and when you still need to file a tax return.