After finding a job, getting a place to stay, you need to get familiar with the bureaucracy which is a part of everyday Japanese life. The two things you need to do quickly are to get your residence card, and open a bank account.

Japan keeps careful track of all residents in the country, whether Japanese or foreigners. When moving into a city, you need to register at the city office, and apply for a residence card. In the past, foreigners were given what was called a “gaijin card”, or alien registration card. The cost of administering the alien registration system and the normal regular resident registration system was a bit high, and since local residents are tracked as closely as foreign visitors, it made little sense to have two systems.

To get the residence card, you need to bring your passport with the proper visa, a photograph, and the money for the fee to your local city office. City offices in Tokyo are generally overstaffed (compared to similar offices in other countries), so submitting the paperwork usually takes only a few minutes. After you submit the paperwork, you will be given a resident’s package, which is a large envelope which contains information about the ward and city, the location of hospitals, schools, and public buildings, as well as defining which days you can take out the trash, and where you can put it. Your residence card will be mailed to you, it generally arrives within a week or so.

The new residence card has simplified things greatly for foreigners living in Japan. First, it feels better to be considered a resident, rather than an alien, it simplifies travel, as special re-entry permits are no longer necessary, which saves quite a bit of money. At the airport, your residence card is set on a scanner, and your photo and personal information will show up immediately on the computer monitor. On the other hand, when you are moving out of your city, you need to go to your city office and let them know you are leaving. This used to be a requirement for Japanese only, but now the rule applies to foreigners as well.

When you are registering your residence in a small town, they’ll probably take out a paper map of the area where you live, which shows every building, and they will actually write your name on the particular building on the map where you live. If you are working in the same town, they will put your name on the building where you work as well.

You must also get a hanko, or personal stamp. This is a small stamp which will have your family name in katakana, or sometimes kanji, if you can find it. There are numerous hanko shops in the city, and they are not hard to find in the countryside. A hanko is a necessity, you need it to endorse important documents, and to do things like open a bank account. Once you get your hanko, keep it in a safe place, if you lose it, you will have to register it with your bank, landlord, insurance, etc.

Opening a bank account in Japan is surprisingly easy, and takes about 30 minutes. To open a bank account you will need to bring your residence card, passport, hanko (personal stamp) fill out an application, and make a small deposit. 1000 yen is the usual amount required. At many banks you will be given a bank card on the spot, at the Japan Post Office Bank, you will given a pass book.

When looking for a bank at which to open an account, first check with your employer, and find out which banks they can wire your pay to. Different companies use different banks, you may end up opening an account, and then finding out that your company cannot send your pay to that account.

Next, if you like internet shopping, and like to use Paypal, keep in mind that only a few banks in Japan work with Paypal. Paypal is a great convenience for shopping for goods overseas, such as clothes and shoes, which can be hard to find in Japan in your size, or price range.

There are no checks in Japan, and ATM cards are not like the debit cards you may be familiar with. You can use your ATM card at bank ATM machines, or at convenience stores, some machines offer a menu in English, some don’t. At an ATM machine you can deposit or withdraw money, make money transfers, and pay for your rent and utilities. At present, you cannot get Visa/Mastercard branded debit/ATM cards.

Internet banking in Japan is surprising primitive and difficult, similar to what it was like in America 15 or more years ago. Making internet payments or transfers require that you know the receiver’s bank name, the branch name (which is usually in Kanji), a 7 digit account number, and katakana spelling of the receiver’s name, including spaces, if any.

Japan is still a cash-based society, and cash is used in most transactions. Credit cards are not accepted at as many places as in America or Europe. Credit cards are not especially easy to get, and foreigners can have a much harder time getting one. In Japan, credit history is not recorded or evaluated the same as it is in other places. In Japan, your employment status (full or part-time) and the company you work for are considered more important for your creditworthiness than your history of credit use.

Once you have gotten your residence card, and opened a bank account, you are more or less settled. What remains is getting used to life in Japan.