Long story short: I’ll be moving to Japan for a few months to accompany my wife on her exchange semester. Now what I gathered from research is that Japanese houses and flats tend to have thin walls and people do not appreciate noisy people.
Since I am going to continue working remote in my country of origin circumstances dictate that I’ll probably have to get up at something like 4 or 5 am for online meetings on some days. Unfortunately I tend to be one of those noisy callers – my talking volume on the phone is just pretty loud and I suck at controlling it. (Not sucking at it is not really an option. When I try to constantly keep my volume in check my personality changes for the worse…)
For my living situation I was looking at either doing AirBnB, hotels or share houses. Share houses seem easiest because I can just do a long term rental and be done with it. But I am afraid that with my “noise situation” I might not be the best candidate for that kind of environment. So are the cliches about Japanese houses true and I’ll be the number 1 source of noise complaints if I go the sharehouse route?
2 comments
The whole thin wall thing tends to be more for cheaper rental units. I’ve personally never had an issue (or ever been an issue that I’m aware of).
That being said you may want to explore telework booths. There are a bunch at my local train station (and a bunch more at the station my office is at). Check out this article for details:
https://thetokyolife.jp/tokyo-telework-finding-a-booth-for-meetings/
>I’ll be moving to Japan for a few months to accompany my wife on her exchange semester
>Since I am going to continue working remote in my country of origin
I’m very surprised that your wife is able to sponsor you for a dependent visa while on this exchange. Keep in mind that while on this dependent status of residence you’ll be restricted to 28 hours of work per week. Don’t forget that you’ll owe taxes to Japan for your earnings while you’re working in Japan. You may want to hire an accountant to help you navigate any tax treaties that may exist between Japan and your home country.
Short answer: A share house is almost certainly ***not*** going to be a viable alternative for you. They almost universally have quiet hours, and while you may occasionally get alarm clocks going off during quiet hours, a loud zoom call is absolutely going to be a violation.
More important than the noise issue, though…
>I’ll be moving to Japan for a few months to accompany my wife on her exchange semester.
***How?***
Honestly it seems very unlikely that you would manage to get a dependent visa for that situation. If she’s only going for a single semester there’s a decent chance that immigration will just say “No, you’re not here long enough.”
Even if it’s possible to get a dependent visa, the timing is just not really doable. There are 2 ways to get a dependent visa:
1. Have the school “sponsor” you and submit the application at the same time as her visa application.
2. Wait until she arrives in Japan and have her do the application herself.
Option #1 is unlikely due to her short exchange stay. Option #2 is possible, but by the time they finish processing the application the semester will be almost over.
Also: Are you aware that you’re only allowed to work 28 hours a week on a dependent visa? And yes, that includes remote work for a company outside Japan.
Or are you planning on doing all this on a tourist visa? Because that’s illegal. You ***cannot*** work on a tourist visa. And again, that includes remote work.