SKILL 1 ・ PROTECT ・ 守る力
First, protect this. most important
Protect your residence status (visa), your contracts and your health. If this foundation cracks, every other skill loses its meaning. For a foreigner, “protect” means, above all, protect your visa — your right to be in Japan.
Why “Protect” comes first
In money advice, “protect” usually means guarding your savings from scams and high taxes. For a foreigner in Japan, there is something even more basic underneath it: not losing your residence status.
No matter how much you earn or save, if you lose your visa, you lose your whole life in Japan. Getting caught in illegal work and being sent home, losing money to a contract trap, paying full price for medical care because you had no insurance — protecting yourself from these “big losses” is the skill of Protect. That is why it sits first, as the foundation of all five skills.
Protect — the guides
Joining is required if you stay over 3 months. It cuts medical bills to 30%.
Residence registration (juminhyo)
Register your address within 14 days — it unlocks almost every other procedure.
Renting an apartment: costs, documents and guarantors
Move-in costs 4–6 months of rent. You can rent without a Japanese guarantor.
Move-out costs: what you really owe (and what you don’t)
Normal wear is the landlord’s cost. Don’t overpay when you leave.
More Protect guides in English are coming soon: how to see a doctor and emergencies, tax for foreign workers, and what to do if your rent is increased.
Once the foundation is solid, go to the next skill
When your visa, contracts and health are protected, the next skill is Save — cutting your fixed costs, remittance fees and taxes.
