I joined my company as a new grad almost three years ago, and I'm starting to get worried about my career.

When I first joined, I was assigned to a team that was already in the middle of a project. Everyone was incredibly busy, so there wasn't really anyone available to train or guide me. Instead, I was mostly told to complete various training modules and courses.

A year ago, I was transferred to a different team, and I thought things would finally change. Unfortunately, it's pretty much the same situation all over again.

Fast forward to today, and my day-to-day work mainly consists of attending meetings, writing basic tickets, and doing the bare minimum to keep things moving. A lot of the meetings I attend don't even require my input, and I often don't understand enough about what's being discussed to contribute meaningfully.

I also end up working overtime, but it's usually because I have meetings scheduled outside normal working hours rather than because I have actual work that needs to be done.

The frustrating part is that I genuinely want to learn and improve. I want to develop actual skills, gain experience, and become someone who can contribute meaningfully to a team. But my schedule is constantly filled with meetings that I barely contribute to, leaving me with little time or energy to upskill on my own.

Now that I'm entering my third year, I'm starting to panic a little. I feel like I've wasted three years of my career. If I were to leave the company or apply for another job, I'm not even sure I could confidently explain what I've learned or what I'm actually good at.

I know I should probably take more initiative, but it's difficult to know where to start when I haven't received much guidance and my current responsibilities don't seem to be helping me grow. I also thought moving to another team would give me a fresh start, but it seems like the underlying problem hasn't changed.

Has anyone else experienced something similar? What did you do to get out of this situation? Should I try to change teams internally again, start looking for another job, or find a way to make the most of my current role?

I'd really appreciate hearing from people who've been in a similar position, especially those who managed to turn things around.

My family and I are living in Japan and over the past few months, we've noticed an unsettling and recurring pattern of older men targeting minors in public spaces.

We've had a couple of close calls previously, once in Yokohama and another time near a train station where a guy looked at my 15yo daughter very close, followed us down an escalator and stared us down.

Recently, the situation escalated at a local AEON mall food court. I had already noticed this elderly man (in his 60s or 70s) a couple of weeks prior, loitering in the seating area and staring at us.

At first, I brushed it off, assuming he was just a typical old man staring at foreigners since we aren't Japanese.

However, things got worse.

The first day he approached, while my 15-year-old daughter was briefly alone, he cornered her, talked to her and tried to pry into who the man accompanying her was (referring to me).

The second day, we went back to the same area. Even though I was sitting right next to her working on my laptop, the man had the audacity to walk right up and try to talk to her again, completely ignoring my presence.

I immediately stood up, put myself between them, and told him firmly to back off because she is a 15-year-old minor.

He even insisted to talk to her, then I standed and told him firmly and upset that im reporting him to "Koban" then he tried to pull out his phone (likely to show me something or distract me), but I shut him down, told him I was going to the police, grabbed our things, and left.

I went to the local koban (police box) to file a formal report.

As expected with Japanese bureaucracy, they were completely unhelpful because "no actual physical crime or assault" took place (even though he tried touching her shoulder to get her attention).

They just shrugged and advised us to avoid the area. We are changing her routine and funding safer spots and me always with her so she never has to deal with that creep again.

I want to know from people familiar with Japan: Is this kind of predatory loitering and testing of boundaries by older men common here? How do you usually deal with it when the police brush it off as a non-issue? Has anyone else experienced something similar?

Update: Thanks to everyone for responding, it was a very bad experience for me as a dad, but she is safe now, I wanted to clarify, I actually went to the keisatsusho, not the koban, i hate having language limitations in such situations like this, the police station was a big building in the area, so yes, they basically didn't give enough importance to the situation, even me explaining in detail where he is always

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some advice regarding a name discrepancy on my daughter's UK and Japanese passports for an upcoming flight from Japan to the UK with Juneyao Airlines.

Her UK and Japanese passports both have the same surname, but her given names (First name and Middle name) are inverted between the two passports.

• UK passport [First Name] [Middle Name]
• Japanese passport [Middle Name] [First Name]

The airline ticket is booked to match the name order of her Japanese passport. However, since we are flying from Japan to the UK, the check-in desk will naturally need to verify both passports to confirm her right of entry into the UK without a visa on her Japanese passport.

Given that Chinese carriers like Juneyao can sometimes be quite strict regarding passport and ticket name alignments at the counter, I'm a bit anxious.

Has anyone with a dual-national child encountered this specific "inverted given names" issue at a Juneyao check-in desk? Did the staff raise any issues, or did they accept it once they saw both passports?

I actually just renewed her UK passport and got an official observation note added saying she has a Japanese passport with her first and middle names inverted. I'm hoping this will be enough but really just looking for advice from people who have had a similar experience especially since the UK introduced strict new immigration regulations this year

I have a small milia near my eye, so it's a delicate area. I've searched on Google, but most of the results I've come across seem to be AI hallucinations, so it's been difficult to find reliable information.

I'm an international student in Sapporo and have Japanese health insurance, so I'd prefer somewhere affordable, ideally a clinic where removal might be covered by insurance if medically applicable.

My Japanese is still very limited, but I can use translation apps. Does anyone know a good clinic for this, with experience treating milia around the eyes?

Thank you!

As title suggests. Android device, recently changed my monthly data to 5GB and noticed I was using way too much in one week. Checking the breakdown shows that I'm using 100-200mb on Line, which is concerning as I only use it for simple messages. I've checked all the settings to minimize usage, but best I can tell, opening the app, typing or sending a message gets a 2-3mb spike everytime.

Anyone else got this problem? Is the app just that data heavy or am I having an issue with it?

Hey, I've been having an issue with my router here and I wonder if anyone else has a fix for it. Recently a thunderstorm hit and disconnected my internet. No biggie, I'll just reset the PPPoe connect like I do every time it decides to shut off after big steam downloads. This process usually involves swapping cables around so I can activate my TP-Link router once internet is established.

However this time is different. I connect to the internet after reentering the password, but once I unplug the cable I lose internet again and have to reenter the softbank username and password yet again. And every time the PC turns off, or goes to standby mode, it loses connection again. The weird part, if I unplug just the cable from the wall to the router and replug it in there is no need for a password reset. If it's the cable from the router to the PC though I'd lose connection again.

I've contacted Softbank and they sent me a new NTT Wifi router, but I still have the same issue with the new one as well. Has anyone else had this issue or is it just me? I wasn't sure if I should bring it up here or on one of the PC boards.

Its that time again to put away my summer clothes and bring out the winter ones, but every time I open the bags, my clothes smell funky/chemical?

I wash and then store them in vacuum-sealed plastic bags with those deodori ing sachets from Daiso, but myclothes still end up smelling bad after a few months.

Does anyone have any tips for storing seasonal clothes so they still smell fresh when I take them out again?

Hello everyone, I won't take much of your time, my wife an I have been married for 3 years now, but we never got a honeymoon... Or marriage rings, I of course gave her the proposal ring but that's it.

I would like for us to finally have marriage rings at least, but money is a bit tight right now, we just had our daughter, I'm still paying the hospital bill, we are planning to move to a bigger place and also a travel to Mexico our country...

So I wanted your recommendation for a jewelry or ring store in Tokyo where prices are somewhere reasonable for wedding rings, I have no idea if I'm being silly but of possible I would not like to spend more than 150k on both rings, my wife saw some rings that she really liked but the price was 540k for both and honestly it's out of my budget I could get plane tickets for a round trip to Mexico and back for that price...

So... Do you have any recommendations for a wedding ring store with somewhat reasonably prices?

Everything is in the title. I recently discovered Fuji Soba that seems to be very good value for money (around 800¥ for a good portion of soba + meat) but I'm sure it's not the best.

What are your recommendations?

My child started 1st grade at a Japanese school. She was born in Japan and speaks fluently, but I really underestimated the amount of homework and help she would need with learning to read Japanese.

I've had to spend hours helping her learn to read the textbook and practicing Hiragana so that she doesn't fall behind. The school gives her reading practice and worksheets every day.

I learnt Japanese at school for years and passed N2, but there are even words in the 1st grade textbook that leave me stumped. I asked my husband who is a native speaker and he said that there are a lot of old vocab words that were popular 40+ years ago but aren't used anymore.

The school system seems pretty reliant on parents helping their kids at home every day after school, so I was just wondering how families with parents who don't speak much Japanese actually cope. Can your kids keep up or do they fall behind?

NOTE: This is not me complaining about my Japanese ability or asking for help, I just want to know what families with low Japanese do once their kid goes to Japanese school out of curiosity.

People give a lot of advice that's incorrect, outdated or ill-advised.

What advice about living in Japan do people often give that should not be followed?

i was recently recommended this english psychologist in tokyo (who i have personally never heard of. and ive been researching a bunch of jp psychologists for a while!), but when i went to look the place up, all reviews were turnt off on google.

what really raised some red flags for me was the fact that i couldnt find anything about the place and see reviews/any commentary from other people online.

so now im here to ask... does anyone have any experience with Komorebi Psychology?

My residence card expires in two days. I applied for the extension of period of stay two months ago and I haven't received the postcard yet, neither were I requested to submit additional documents. I know that processing times are longer recently due to massive applications before the fees increase.

I am on a spouse visa and I applied for a regular extension of period of stay (not PR). My biggest concern is that I'm planning to be out of country for about one week in the middle of November and in case my residence card doesn't arrive by then, I'm not sure if I am going to have troubles at the immigration (airport) when I leave or re-enter the country.

I'm also worried because about three weeks ago, the postman delivered some wrong mail into our mailbox. It belonged to a neighbor across the street and my husband returned it to him, but it made me seriously wonder if my postcard was already sent and it might have accidentally ended up at someone else who didn't bother to return it.

1. Should I wait until next week to see if my postcard arrives perhaps on the last day of validity of my current residence card? Or should I better visit the immigration office this week?

2. Are immigration officers helpful when asked about the processing status or what to do in a certain situation, or they are rather annoyed to be bothered with such questions?

3. Does anyone have experience being out of the country within those two months after the validity of the residence card expired? Would you mind sharing about it?

I'm going to the Kanagawa Prefectural Police office in buttfrick nowhere today simply to make an appointment to then later come back a different day for a foreign license exchange.

(As far as I know I can't just call, I have to physically go in between 14:00-15:00 just to make an appointment. PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong on this. Ive heard other locations accept phone appointment setting but as far as I've read the Kanagawa location does not 😭).

I'm reading on the website right now that the flow is :

- appointment set

- visit on appointment date

- document screening

- aptitude test

- issuance

In that order.

I'm also realizing I need to get a residence certificate. I seem to have glazed over this in my planning stage as I thought I just needed my zairyu.

I don't have a MyNa so I have to physically go into the ward office to get one printed off.

I have a translator planned to come with me for the 14:00-15:00 window, so I need to know if the flow chart listed on the Kanagawa Prefectural website is correct, OR if they will ask to see all my documents during the appointment setting as well to set the appointment.

I'd have to leave my house relatively soon if that is the case because the ward office is the opposite direction of the licensing place.

My PR application via 10 year route is being rejected because I don't have enough income. They said it is above Japanese average income so around 500万 yearly. Current my yearly income is 420万 as game programmer and company cannot raise it anymore unless I become leader class, which is manager rank.

Should I search other company work for better salary, or it is better to work in Current company waiting for a raise. It is true that people have that amount of average income.

Edit since many asked about 500万

＊The new rule applied from April onward they said. I aplied on start of April because of some document missing when I first came on end of March. Not my assumption but I came there and asked directly. They said not enough income and search for average Japanese income since they cannot state it directly and they need above that. I keep asking them until they said above 580万 but for no dependant it is a bit lower so above 480万 which is 500万. It changes depending of current average income.

I am currently on paternity leave and due to family circumstances, I will not be returning to my job once the paternity leave is over. My contract states that I must give them two months of notice before quitting. I am little worried that if I give them two months of notice, they could exact petty revenge and cancel my paternity leave for those two months since 'he is not coming back to work' - is this actually legal and possible in Japan? I did enjoy my job and the company and I do not want to stab them in the back, I would like them to have the time to find my permanent replacement but on the other hand, losing two months of paternity leave money would be bit painful. Thanks for any and all advice!

Oh, my employer is a small Japanese company if that matters - less than fifty staff.

So it seems all our data is getting stoled and hacked every day in Japan, and today the big GMO issue.

How are you guys dealing with it? Are we supposed to change all passwords everywhere? Will it even help much? Or is it a wait and see situation?

Any advice from someone with a bit IT knowledge would be helpful!

Apologies if it’s a dumb question, but it’s difficult to figure out what’s really going on and is at risk, considering there is also a lot of fake information online.

Hello, I’m a dude who watches sports but doesn’t collect sports cards. I have recently come into great need to aquire one specific player’s NFL Topps card. I have tried Mercari (one was available but that person is selling only a big batch), ヤフオク, and PayPay Flea Market but no luck, and the eBay shipping is absurd and Amazon only has packs.

I’m now looking for any sport related stores that might have loose Topps cards for sale in Kanagawa or Tokyo. I don’t want to rip packs, and I don’t want to buy in bulk.

If anyone is curious, I’m looking for the Arizona Cardinal’s Denzel Burke. Any card of his will do.

Hello everyone, where I live these two are basically my choices. Which gym is better would you say, I travel to shibuya 5 days a week too so can go to a gym if required there as well.

Also…I have a full sleeve tattoo the anytime I used to go to in sangenjaya required arm sleeve to cover it, do they all require this ?

Even after changing jobs to increase my annual salary, my salary actually decreased, so I decided to quit after half a year.

At first, I was looking for a job in IT, but in the end, I was told all kinds of things that were different from job postings, so I wasted the first two weeks.

I found other jobs besides IT and was immediately hired last week and this week.

As a salesman, I worked hard for six months but couldn't get a raise, so I'm also very worried about changing jobs again.

What should we do if it's another strange guild?

In fact, I wonder if overtime was really very frequent or tough.

There is a lot of anxiety.

Well, I'll try my best.

I've been to three different Starbucks here in Tokyo over the past couple days and they all say sold out which wasn't the case early October. Once they sell out are they just gone?

Hello, does anyone have any recommendations for a someone to cut hair that can speak English or at least has experience cutting European hair?

I’m a male and have short/mid length hair and want some recommendations ! Price doesn’t matter only quality :)

I feel like every time I buy potatoes they go green under the skin extremely quickly. I know you can peel it off but it is extremely annoying. Anyone else notice this?

I buy the standard ばれいしょ