Hello everyone,
I’m going to study in Japan for 4 months this year and I can live in my friends’ apartment (that they own) together with them.
I’ve been reading up on potential problems that I might get.
1) Can I register my friends’ address for my residence card and do they need to put my name on a sticker on their mailbox? I heard that the only thing the ward needs the address for is so that I can receive mail and register health insurance etc. Do mailboxes in Japan usually have the name of the resident written in them so that I would need to be careful that my name is added?
2) Do I need to be able to show a lease agreement when registering at the ward office?
3) Can you think of any other potential problems I or my friends could get when I am staying privately with them instead of a paid rental?
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Thanks a lot in advance.
2 comments
1. No. I’ve never put my name on any of my mailboxes, never have any problem.
2. I don’t know if this is the same everywhere, but I moved half a dozen times all over Tokyo and Kanagawa in the last 10 years. Never asked to show a lease agreement.
3. Some time rental place forbids having friends staying with you long time and only allows family members. But you said your friend already owns the place, and I guess you don’t pay rent to them, so this shouldn’t be a problem.
I see that most of your questions have been answered elsewhere. I’ll add by saying that while your name doesn’t need to be on the mailbox, **some** post offices will keep track of which names live at which addresses, and give you a postcard to confirm you live there the first time they get a letter with a different name than the one they have recorded at that address. In Nerima, for instance, Shakujii and Ooizumi do, but Nerima doesn’t. So if you’re expecting mail for the first time, be on the lookout for a postcard just in case.