Bi-Weekly Boss Premium Edition Questions Thread – 15 March 2023

23 comments

1. Anyone know the best way to clean my basic washing machine? And things to avoid? I’ve never done it and I don’t want to mess up.

2. Has anyone been to any pro sports games recently? Are the crowds back to normal and can cheer again? Really want to go to Hanshin tigers game when the season starts up but only if the cheering is back lol.

3. How are you supposed to deal with someone having a meltdown at work?

   Can’t toss them a beer from my fridge, as they don’t drink. They’re supposed to present to customers this afternoon…

4. Is there a store where you can buy a large amount of atsuage (fried tofu)? Like a pack of 10 or 20 pieces as opposed to 2-4 pieces pack you can get at the supermarket.

5. Anyone else have to apply for 団体信用生命保険 when building a new house?

   I have high cholesterol and BMI, is that going to be a major issue?

   Worth noting that the BMI thing is bogus – its a muscle weighs more than fat situation. The high cholesterol…. yea, I should probably just lay off the izakaya.

   What kind of qualification is required for life insurance though?

6. i got the printout of medical expenses from the insurance company, but checking against the receipts i have, some (not all) are off by a couple hundred yen. why?

7. What’s the best way to make a fairly high-value domestic money transfer? I’d like to move some funds out of my savings and make a new account for leisure use. Anything cheaper than a simple furikomi?

   EDIT: new account at a different bank, US news has got me paranoid about insured savings.

8. Is there any online/store for catering a group of 20-25 individuals. Prefer non fried food.

9. I forgot to post my tax return, what is the penalty? It’s ready to go so I’ll send it later, just plain slipped my mind.

10. Looking for a new weather app. AccuWeather no longer lets me see very far ahead on the hourly weather function without joining premium. Recommendations?

11. For those with 浄化槽 (septic tank) what cleaners do you use for your drains, toilets and showers? I don’t want to use bleach since I don’t want to kill the bacteria in the tank

12. Who downvotes the monthly jobs thread on this sub, and why? As in the whole thread rather than individual posts.

    The last two I’ve looked at have had good leads. The familiar answer is “because it’s reddit / japanlife” but i want more detail, like when you try to understand the mind of a serial killer.

    Can someone who has downvoted it buck up and say why?

13. Any hair regrowth shampoo for men that you recommend ? I looked in Amazon jp but they are all just like hair care and not hair regrowth

14. Do you think they’ll ever let people sit in that seat behind the bus driver again?

15. I know this is a bit of an odd question and impossible to answer because of the variety of parameters, but how much would an apartment in a reinforced concrete mansion, built in 2020, depreciate over time?

    Assuming a 3 LDK is 4000万円, in 30 years, would the value depreciate significantly over the next 20 or 30 years?

16. (Repost hehe) So, my jaw clicks on one side and I feel like my teeth don’t fit together properly. I had braces and a retainer when I was 12 but stopped wearing the retainer at like 14 (was I supposed to wear my retainer for the rest of my life? … possibly).

    Anyway, it feels like my underbite is potentially getting worse and my lower jaw is moving backwards which seems to be making the clicking worse 🙁

    I feel like this is more of a jaw problem rather than a teeth problem, but is it something that I would go to the dentist for? If not the dentist, where?

17. For people that have large beds, how does one carry out these mattresses when it’s time to move out? I have a double bed and U shaped stairs and it already seems hard to bring them out the house what more bigger beds than this. I have no plans moving soon but this has always been at the back of my mind.

18. So question about finding work in Tokyo from other region.

    Currently in a more rural prefecture trying to move to Tokyo. While most companies seem to be okay with doing the first round of interviews online, a lot of them (at least the ones I’ve been applying to) want an in-person interview for the second or third round.

    I won’t mind doing an in-person interview but it would be expensive if I’d have to travel to Tokyo each time. Would it be rude/faux pas to ask if the company will be willing to pay for travel expenses? Also, is it a red flag if the company won’t pay for it?

19. What’s the best way to teach my kid English? My wife and I are non-native speakers, so we’re not using English at home. I don’t think I will be the best teacher either.

    I’m thinking of sending my kid to an Eikaiwa, should I? Or should I hire a private tutor?

    If you’re an English teacher with experience teaching kids English near Gyotoku, Chiba area, please feel free to DM me your rate.

20. This is an extremely stupid question. I know that most Japanese people use the square kana flick keyboard rather than qwerty to type on their smartphones, but what about on computers?

    My laptop has the Japanese keyboard with both romaji and kana. I use the qwerty keys to type Japanese phonetically with romaji and the computer changes it to Japanese. This is easier for me as obv I speak English, but what do Japanese people usually use? The romaji keys or the kana keys?

    I guess the kana keys? Bc it seems strange for someone to think in Japanese, type it on the qwerty in romaji and then have it turn back into Japanese on screen. I could be very wrong tho. I hope my question makes sense

21. Stupid question about student visa validity.

    I have a potential hire who will leave language school this Friday. Their student visa is valid for a few more months. I need 2 weeks to interview/check the new person out, but will be giving them a job (procedure crap… wooo). Would they still be eligible to be in the country during that period, and eligible for a visa change to working visa? How long do they have to get out of country once the school informs immigration they are no longer a student? My google foo is failing me on finding an answer to this.

22. Do you think authenticity is valued here?

23. Can you close your adress (so you dont owe taxes), leave Japan with a re entry and still maintain your visa? (PR or longterm resident).