SORABYCO | Life in Japan

It has been raining heavily for days, and the whole house feels damp. I was thinking about taking a bath just to feel comfortable again when a question suddenly crossed my mind: with this much rain falling outside, is it okay to use water at home as usual? Can I take a bath and drain the tub afterward? Should I run the washing machine? What about the toilet and kitchen sink? The answer is not simply “stop using water.” During very heavy rain, some local governments in Japan ask residents to temporarily reduce household wastewater. This can mean waiting before draining a full bathtub, postponing laundry, or simply using a little less water until the heaviest rain has passed. Before changing your whole routine, check your toilet and drains. If they are making unusual gurgling sounds, draining slowly, or showing signs of backflow, avoid sending large amounts of water down the drains until conditions improve. Even if everything seems normal, it is worth checking whether your city or ward h...

September in Japan can still be surprisingly humid. After several days of rain, my house started to feel damp, so normally I would turn on the air conditioner's dehumidify mode. Then I took a closer look inside the air conditioner. I could see small black spots deeper inside the unit, especially around the fan. I had already cleaned the filter, but the dirt farther inside was clearly beyond what I could safely reach. I booked a professional air conditioner cleaning, but the appointment was postponed because of a typhoon. That left me with a very practical problem: the house was humid, but the air conditioner I wanted to use for dehumidifying appeared to have mold inside. So, can you still use dehumidify mode? If you can see a small amount of mold inside your air conditioner, you can still use dehumidify mode when you need it. However, that doesn't mean the mold should be ignored or that dehumidifying will remove it. If there is heavy black buildup or a strong musty smell while ...

Living in Japan outside central Tokyo, I drive almost every day. Going to the supermarket, visiting a clinic, or running a few errands usually means getting in the car. Many of the roads I use are narrow residential streets. Until recently, the thing I watched for most carefully was the Japanese 止まれ (tomare / stop) sign, especially on small neighborhood roads where intersections can appear suddenly. But since September 2026, there is another rule drivers in Japan need to know. From September 1, 2026 , the statutory speed limit on certain ordinary roads, including many roads commonly used by local residents, was lowered from 60 km/h to 30 km/h .  So, are all residential streets in Japan now limited to 30 km/h? No. A road does not automatically become a 30 km/h road just because it is in a residential area. A simple way to think about the new rule is: A speed-limit sign or road marking is present: follow the designated speed. No designated speed, and no center line or traffic lanes...

A package never arrives. You notice a charge you do not recognize. A subscription is difficult to cancel, or you have a problem with a service but have no idea who to contact. These situations are stressful anywhere, but they can feel even more confusing when you are living or traveling in Japan and Japanese is not your first language. Fortunately, there are official places to start. If you live in Japan, you can check the new 消費者トラブル解決ナビ (Consumer Trouble Resolution Navi) from the National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan. It provides FAQs about common consumer problems and helps you find a local consumer affairs consultation service if you need further assistance. The website is mainly in Japanese, but you can use your browser's translation feature to make the information easier to read. If you are visiting Japan, there is also a separate Consumer Hotline for Tourists , with multilingual telephone support and an English website. Here is what each service does and how to use it. ...

I went grocery shopping today and noticed bags marked 新米 (shinmai) in the rice section. Shinmai means newly harvested rice, and seeing it arrive in stores around this time of year is nothing unusual in Japan. What surprised me was the price. I actually stopped and took a photo because I wasn’t expecting the new harvest to be this inexpensive. One 5kg bag of 2026 shinmai was ¥2,100 , while another was ¥2,400 at the supermarket I visited. After the high rice prices Japan has experienced, my first thought was simple: Should I buy extra while it’s cheap? For now, I don’t think there is a need to rush and buy several bags. Rice prices at supermarkets have been trending downward in 2026, while the latest government outlook points to sufficient overall supply. That does not mean prices will continue to fall, but current information does not suggest that ordinary households need to stock up simply because they are worried about running out.  For most of us, buying the amount we normally ...

Every fall, fresh chestnuts begin appearing in supermarkets across Japan, and I always know chestnut season has arrived. I like chestnuts, but for a long time I hesitated before putting a bag in my shopping basket. Eating them is easy. Peeling a whole pile of hard chestnuts is another story. Before I bought a chestnut peeler in Japan, my hands would get tired and sore after peeling several of them. I also wasn't sure what to do with the chestnuts I couldn't cook right away. Should fresh chestnuts go in the refrigerator? Can you freeze them? And is there an easier way to peel that hard shell? If you've just brought home a bag, the most important thing to know is that fresh chestnuts are more perishable than their hard shells make them look. Don't leave them sitting at room temperature for days. If you're going to use them soon, keep them in a cold part of the refrigerator. Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) recommends putting chestnuts...

Finding an old power bank in a drawer raises a surprisingly simple question: how do you actually get rid of it in Japan? I usually check my local city’s disposal rules first. But when I have only one old power bank, I do not always want to keep it at home until the next convenient collection opportunity. Once I no longer use a battery, I also feel a little uneasy storing it for a long time because lithium-ion batteries can overheat or catch fire if they are damaged. For me, taking an old power bank to an electronics store while I am already out shopping is often the easiest option. If you need to dispose of a power bank in Japan, there are two practical places to start: Check your city or ward’s disposal rules, or see whether a nearby electronics store accepts rechargeable batteries. Several major electronics retailers offer battery collection, and JBRC also has a search tool for participating stores and municipalities. There is one important exception. If your power bank is swollen, d...

Stuffed animals can sit on a bed or shelf for months, quietly collecting dust. Then one day you pick one up and wonder: Can I just put this stuffed animal in the washing machine? Sometimes, yes. But not every stuffed toy is machine washable. The first thing to check is the care label or the manufacturer’s cleaning instructions. A toy that can be washed with water is not necessarily safe for a washing machine, and some stuffed animals are meant to be washed only by hand. Toys with batteries, sound units, delicate decorations, glued parts, or fragile seams may need a different type of care. There is another question that comes up when living in Japan: What if the stuffed animal is too big for the washing machine at home? Can you take it to a coin laundry? That depends on the laundromat. Large machines do not automatically mean stuffed animals are allowed. So before choosing detergent or a washing cycle, find out two things: how the stuffed animal itself can be cleaned and whether the mac...

Online shopping is convenient, especially in Japan where deliveries are fast and reliable. The downside is that cardboard boxes can pile up before you realize it. That happens in my home too. If a few packages arrive in the same week, I sometimes end up with two or three empty boxes near the entrance. Since cardboard is collected only on certain recycling days where I live, I cannot always get rid of it right away. So I started wondering: Is it okay to keep cardboard boxes inside the house for a few days? Can they really attract cockroaches or other bugs? The short answer is: clean, dry cardboard can usually stay indoors temporarily until recycling day, but it is better not to keep delivery boxes for weeks or months. Cardboard absorbs moisture, and corrugated layers create narrow, dark spaces where insects can hide. The bigger issue is not that every box is “dirty” or dangerous, but that old cardboard can become part of a damp, cluttered environment that pests like. A simple routine wo...

When I first started thinking about dust mites in bedding, I assumed the usual Japanese routine was simple: wait for a sunny day and put the futon outside. But that is not always realistic when you live in Japan. Rainy season can bring days of damp weather, pollen can make outdoor drying unpleasant, and some apartments simply do not have enough balcony space for bulky bedding. So what can you do if you can’t dry your futon outside? The good news is that outdoor drying is not essential for dust mite care . If you have a futon dryer (布団乾燥機), you can use the appropriate heat setting, then slowly vacuum the surface of the bedding and wash removable sheets and covers. If you do not own a futon dryer, a coin laundry with a large dryer can also be an option for bedding that is safe for tumble drying. A dust mite spray may be useful too, depending on the product, but spraying alone does not remove mite waste and debris already left in the bedding. For me, the easiest routine to remember is: Us...