Looking for work

Japan's injury and sickness allowance pays people in employee health insurance who cannot work because of an illness or injury outside work. There is no nationality condition. After 3 days off in a row, from day 4 it pays two-thirds of your 12-month average standard monthly pay divided by 30, for up to 1 year 6 months (3,780 yen a day on a 170,000 yen average). National Health Insurance pays it only if your city does. Plus eligibility after leaving a job (a year of cover, no work on your last day), payment within 10 working days, unemployment benefit, and what to check before leaving Japan.

You renew a Japanese driving licence in the month either side of your birthday. Since 1 October 2025, foreign nationals cannot apply without showing a residence card or equivalent. The reminder postcard goes to the address on your licence, so report a move to the police. Lectures run 30 minutes to 2 hours; in Tokyo you pay 3,350 to 4,250 yen. Plus early renewal before a trip abroad, getting a lapsed licence back within 6 months, and the penalty for driving on it.

When you quit or join a company in Japan on a work or study status, you must tell the Immigration Services Agency yourself within 14 days (Immigration Control Act, Article 19-16). Engineer/Humanities and Specified Skilled Workers file the notification of the contracting organization; Business Managers and Students file for the organization of affiliation; permanent residents and spouses of Japanese nationals do not file. The 14 days run from the day you quit and the day you join, and you cannot file early. Online filing is open 24 hours with no documents. Your employer's Hello Work report does not replace it, and not filing can mean a fine of up to 200,000 yen.

International students in Japan with no job offer by graduation can change to Designated Activities (continued job hunting): six months, renewable once, up to one year, plus one more year if a local government job-support programme covers them. It is open to graduates of universities, junior colleges, graduate schools and technical colleges, and to vocational graduates with the senmonshi title in a course related to a work status. Japanese language school graduates without a degree are not eligible; the only exception is an overseas degree holder who graduates from an approved language school with about 90% attendance. You need your school's recommendation letter and proof that you were job hunting before graduating. Part-time work up to 28 hours a week with permission. With an offer, a separate Designated Activities status lets you wait until you start, if hired within one year of the offer and 18 months of graduating. From 1 October 2026, a six-month grant costs 18,000 yen at the counter or 15,000 online.

Japan's unemployment benefit (the basic allowance of employment insurance) is open to any foreign resident who was enrolled, whatever their nationality. Conditions: 12 months insured in the two years before leaving (6 months in one year after dismissal or bankruptcy) and looking for work in Japan through Hello Work. Student part-timers are excluded as daytime students. The daily amount is 50-80% of your previous daily wage, capped at 7,450 yen under age 30 as of August 2026. Voluntary leavers get 90 days with under 10 years insured; dismissed workers 90-330 days by age and years. Voluntary leavers wait 7 days plus a one-month restriction (for separations from 1 April 2025; formerly two months); dismissed workers start after 7 days. Recognition happens every four weeks in person, so leaving Japan ends the payments. The claim window is one year from the day after leaving.

When a foreign resident leaves a job in Japan, three offices need to hear from you. Immigration: within 14 days, file the notification of the contracting or affiliated organization online, in person or by post; skipping it is a fine of up to 200,000 yen. From the employer, get the rishokuhyo and the withholding slip; if they will not issue the rishokuhyo, ask Hello Work. Health insurance ends the day after you leave, so choose voluntary continuation (20 days, double premium, up to two years), National Health Insurance (14 days) or a family member's plan. Pension: register for the National Pension within 14 days. Three months without the status's activity can mean revocation, but job-hunting is a listed good reason. Leaving Japan: employer, immigration, insurance and pension, income and resident tax, pension lump-sum, moving-out notice, departure. Appoint a tax agent before you board.

Employers in Japan cannot fire you at will: a dismissal without a reasonable cause is void. Even with one, you are owed 30 days' notice or your average wage for the missing days, about 245,000 yen if you earn 250,000 a month and are fired on the spot, and part-timers are covered. You can demand the reason in writing, fixed-term workers renewed three times or employed over a year get 30 days' notice, and nobody can be dismissed during work-injury or maternity leave. On a work visa, notify Immigration within 14 days; a job search counts against the three-month rule. Free help lines in English.

Where to report power harassment, unpaid wages or discrimination at work in Japan. Start at one of 378 General Labour Consultation Corners: free, no appointment, many languages. Breaches of the Labor Standards Act go to the Labour Standards Inspection Office. Employers must prevent power harassment, and the ministry lists insults about being a foreigner as an example. Free hotline in English (0120-531-401) on evenings and weekends, a paid line on weekdays, free conciliation, a ban on firing you for reporting, and a three-year limit on wage claims.

The Certificate of Authorized Employment is Immigration's confirmation that the work at your new employer fits your current status. It is optional and you can work without it, but at your next renewal the job fitting your status is a requirement, so getting the answer early matters. It costs 2,000 yen at the counter or 1,600 yen online (1,820 yen online from 1 October 2026), you apply at the office for your address, and a review after a job change takes one to three months. The 14-day notification is still required, and Specified Skilled Workers changing company need a change of status instead.

Employers in Japan must give the people they employ a medical checkup on hiring and at least once a year, whatever their nationality, and the employer pays. Part-timers qualify at three quarters of full-time weekly hours with a year or more of work; where full-timers work 40 hours, a student job capped at 28 hours does not reach the 30-hour line. No checkup at work? National Health Insurance members aged 40-74 get a yearly city tokutei kenshin, free in Osaka and Yokohama, and cancer screening is at your city.