Does the Japanese Costutiton Protect Expats, Too?

18 comments

1. I don’t think it’s legal for your company to force you to live somewhere. Find a new job.

2. Is the listing literally your unit (why is it being listed while you live there?), or a different one in the same building? The price difference could be due to other factors like higher floors are often more expensive, or it’s bigger / corner room etc.

3. According to this, it’s not illegal or against the constitution, if you agreed to it when joining. However it is an antiquated practice and negotiating it or finding a new job may be advisable.

   https://contents.jobcatalog.yahoo.co.jp/qa/list/1099461520/

4. The Japanese constitution says that my Japanese husband has the same marriage rights as all other Japanese citizens and courts have confirmed that right. He still doesn’t, though, so good luck with your constitutional lawsuit.

5. A few thoughts –

   1-Are you absolutely forced to live there with no remedy at all, or, is this the place that was set up for you when you moved to Japan? Most likely you indeed have a choice (at least this was certainly the case when I was a NOVA teacher).

   2-The 42,000 you see online – is that sans deposit and key money and real estate fees? Probably yes. I’m not trying to side with an eikaiwa b/c they generally suck, but there is a good chance that your higher rate reflects these other costs which are just packaged in.

   3-Constitutional law and secondary law are different. There are things that happen here in Japan like rental discrimination that shouldn’t happen if you look at the constitutional level, but without the details, compliance guidelines, and specific penalties and remedies set out in secondary law (or administrative law), these issues persist.

6. 42k is probably just the rent. you need to add the amount at the bottom which is the management fee.

7. The 5000¥ might be some kind of fee for the upkeep.

8. > I think they are overcharging me for my apartment since I pay ¥49000 per month out of my paycheck, but recently found the listing online for ¥42000 per month.

   You’d need to provide a link or at least a screenshot. Most apartments have rent and then also have an extra monthly “maintenance fee”. ¥5000 to ¥8000 per extra per month is typical for a small apartment.

   As far as requiring you to live in a company apartment, I don’t think they can do that. But where else are you going to live? If you have somewhere else lined up, talk to them about it.

   In any case, getting out of the English industry should be your #1 priority if you want to stay in Japan longer term.

9. It does seem like you’ve left out the 共益費 maintenance costs and internet costs…At LeoPalace, they are usually around 7000 yen a month

10. Yes, I have commented about this a few times here in Japanlife. But despite, lots o people defending Japanese prejudice acts and calling it “their” culture, I saw with my own eyes that prejudice is very much out there and the law doesn’t protect immigrants very well. Southeast asian, specifically Filipino and specially Vietnamese when they come as trainees/technical interns, they live in poor housing and are constantly harassed during work (know stories about girls getting raped by their supervisors/senpais (mostly Japanese men) and getting pregnant) all of that and still having to attend mandatory class hours to fulfill visa program requirements… (and before anyone says anything, Im not even asian, just things I noticed after started living here)

11. Get proper legal advice. Your city might offer free legal consultation.

12. It’s impossible for them to force you to live anywhere. However, if you signed a lease that states you will rent the property for a given amount of time, you are legally required to pay the rent until your lease expires.

    As others have said, if you are here alone, it may be quite difficult for you to find someone to rent you an apartment. It all depends on your Japanese ability, income, work history, budget, and luck.

13. I’m gonna guess this is AEON. It’s partially BS. Basically it’s illegal for them to force you to live there. HOWEVER, they can use any reason they want to decide to not offer you a renewal to your contract. The same thing goes with AEON claiming that it’s against the contract to get a license and drive a car. AGAIN HOWEVER, you will need permission from your employer to drive a car to your job, if you don’t get permission, they are not liable to pay for any damages that might incur on an accident on the way to work and I believe their insurance won’t cover you. I moved out of my Leo palace while working at AEON. My school was desperate to keep me because I was the only foreign teacher left after Covid hit. All the other teachers abandoned ship. I got a lot of push back for moving out. Most companies that have some sort of clause in their contract that you agree to “follow the policy” which is where these borderline illegal rules are written have these for people who are too meek or ignorant to right against them. In the past is was easy for companies to just replace you but during Covid we had so much more power. I no longer work for an Eikaiwa but I guessing the power we had is gone now. Good luck. Get out. Find a better job. You’ll be AMAZED at how much they will threaten you but actually do nothing until contract renewal time comes up. This is not exclusive to foreigners sadly. I have a Japanese friend who works as an engineer and a very famous manufacturing company. They kept trying to bully him into moving to China for a few years to work but he kept refusing. They kept saying it’s in his contract, this is the way of doing this, etc but he didn’t budge. Eventually he said he would bring a lawyer to their next meeting and they folded. Japanese companies are used to all their workers saying “how high?” When the kaicho sayings “jump”

14. Yes, of course.

    The law applies to ALL residents and visitors (except where it doesn’t).

15. If my memory serve me right the way the Constitution is worded make it so that it can be interpreted as only protecting citizen/national, after only a judge will decide if the article you are targeting cover non citizen/national or not.

    For your issue, of what I understand, your work contract kind of act as a lease meaning you agreed to give them 1 year rent. Could you negociate to move after that year, it depends of the overall situation.

    What could be imagined is that your employer got a longer lease, like 10 years or so. There is no way they are going to pay because nobody want to use the appartment. So they will only offer job to someone willing to take the appartment with it. Considering you are on your first contract, they can just not renew you if you do not take the appartment. You being a citizen/national would most likely not change anything about that if the initial situation is the same (one year contract including one year lease).

    If that is the situation, the hope are : 1-their lease will finish soon (and they do not mind not renewing it) thus you can get an agreement to move out at that time ; 2-another one of their staff is interested in the appartment ; 3-they could agree to negociate a lower rent.

    Another thing to consider, regardless of if the preious is right or not : they possibly do not want to have to handle your landlord if anything goes wrong.

    Could you legally manage to get out of it without having to pay the rest of the year, only a lawyer could say, thought most likely, you will not see your work contract renewed.

16. So it seems like you are a JET or equivalent, so trying to “negotiate” with public servants (your employers, state employees) is going to lead to a lot of frustration and no change.

    While hindsight is 20/20, if you weren’t ok with the place, did you say so before coming? You always have the ability to choose your domicile, but expect to ruin a lot of relationships.

    I wouldn’t consider this “black” at all, as you said in your post. You are paying 50,000 ish for rent, other teachers I assume live there just fine. Asking about the constitution shows a little of a lack of understanding about the world, as quite simply you can always decide what you want to do, and then decide if all the trouble / workplace stress is worth it. If it is JET and you yourself are sort of a “public servant” so you can not be “fired”, although you can not get offered a 2nd year.

    Getting out in the world is tough after college, and if this post comes off as harsh, know that I sympathize with that, however you’re going to eventually have to know your rights etc, and also how to navigate a foreign culture / lower your expectations in some places, while keeping your high expectations for your own sanity in some other places.

    Good luck, and consider

    1) what you want

    2) how much trouble you are willing to cause others

17. You’re not an expat; you’re an English teacher.
    Anyway, how are they forcing you to stay there?
    Have you expressed your intention to move out, and did they threaten you in any way?

18. Does your contract specifically indicate any penalty for moving without permission? I don’t think that you can really do anything until you get penalized for moving.

    This is a matter of contract law first and foremost, and the Constitution does not necessarily take precedence over what you willingly signed.