I will be going to Japan with a WHV soon and I got really confused about this.
​
I’m planning to go to a sharehouse (probably Oakhouse because that is the most common I find recommended). \*\*I got an information as many ward/city offices does not allow to register a sharehouse as my address.\*\* Therefore I will not be able to get National Health Insurance and probably no bank account, no part-time job etc. I have been researching this topic for a long time but I can not find much information about this being true or false. I am really trying to do my best to go well prepared because this visa is an once in a lifetime experience that I absolutely do not want to fail. On the other hand I do not want my entire life to fail over this so I need a place that does not require me to sign a contract for a full year and penalties for terminating contract in case I would have to leave earlier.
​
My budget does not allow me to switch places until I have a part-time job or rent my own apartment because of all the initial fees and Oakhouse is the only place I have found that is actually possible to rent without an emergency contact number that’s in Japan.
​
Does anyone have experience registering a sharehouse in the municipal office? Is living in a sharehouse possible during a WHV legally? Where should I even ask this?
5 comments
I registered while staying at Oakhouse on a working holiday. I never had any issues. This was about 5 years ago though so maybe there’s been. a policy change
I can’t answer your question, but have you thought about contacting the embassy in your country and finding out if you’re able to do this or not? Whenever I’ve contacted them about something (mostly email) they have been very helpful and replied by at least the 2nd day of my email being sent.
Unless something’s changed, you can’t get National Health on a working holiday visa. You’ll need private travel health insurance.
EDIT: Jeez, I **said** “unless something’s changed”; the comment below illustrated that something had changed. No need to downvote me.
The rules regarding what sorts of places are allowed as a residence vary by city, but I’ve never heard of a shared house not being allowed. As long as you can receive mail it’s usually okay.
That being said, I did have issues opening a bank account when I lived in a sharehouse many many years ago as the bank would only send me my card via registered mail and the post office refused to deliver registered mail to my sharehouse for some reason.
Regarding the national health insurance, technically when on a working holiday you’re a non-resident so you’re not able to register for it. Similar to the national pension plan I believe. So you’re going to need to arrange private insurance.
I lived in a sharehouse from oak house during my working holiday visa.
Worked part time at a ramen shop (320hours a month lol) and they had a health insurance for me going.
I broke my hand and bruised my leg and couldn’t work for 2 months but I worked so much that the insurance from the company compensated me like 260000¥ a month. My private health insurance from Germany didn’t do a shit and never contacted me after I mailed them several times