I just finished my Working Holiday in Japan. I stayed in Osaka and Tokyo. So what was my life there like and what do I recommend?

Why I chose a Working Holiday in Japan

I was born and grew up in Germany but after a total time of almost 2 years in South Korea which I did really enjoy I wanted to see other countries around Asia as well. So after I got my degree in Germany I started a nomadic life, I worked in Macau, traveled in Mainland China a bit, and then came to Japan on a Working Holiday visa.

Japan seemed like a great place to live in, and now I know that it really is.

Where I went

I took the ferry from Busan to Fukuoka, and after a few days there, continued to Osaka. I found work at a hostel in Osaka near Namba, where I cleaned and made beds in exchange for accommodation.

At the same time my first larger freelance project began where I worked on creating an app for my client, taking over development and design tasks.

After a few weeks, I no longer felt comfortable staying at the hostel. The room was very small, I usually couldn’t stand upright in it, the floor was not flat, there was no sunlight, it was noisy because of the constant pipe sounds, the air was very dry, I didn’t have any space to work on my laptop, the hostel work took up more time than I expected, and the room was shared with another person who was also on a Working Holiday visa.

So I looked for a new place, luckily these days there are many medium-term furnished apartment rentals in Japan for foreigners. I’ll talk more in-depth about these further down.

I found a great apartment in Bentencho, I liked it so much I even extended my stay there.

After that time in Osaka I went to Tokyo.

Japan preparation

What to prepare before going

  1. Travel Health Insurance - Make sure your health insurance covers you for long-term stays, usually basic travel insurances in Germany only cover up to 2 months abroad.
  2. Bank card - Get a card that works abroad, I found Revolut much better than any German bank I used.
  3. Vaccinations - Talk to your doctor about what vaccinations you need.
  4. Cash - Get cash before or after arriving. Some restaurants require you to pay in cash. Often I could use my Revolut Visa card though. Sometimes I could use the IC card for paying as well.

What to get after arriving in Japan

  1. IC Card - The rechargeable card for taking public transport. Depending on which region in Japan you are in they might have a different name, bigger train stations usually have them.
  2. Residence registration - You’ll need to go to the citizens office to register your address.
  3. Japanese phone number - You will need a Japanese phone number for many things. For many good phone plans you’ll need a residence card and your passport, so don’t forget that.

Japan has many big supermarkets such as Life (my favorite), Aeon, Oasis, Daiei and many more which probably sell all the food you need. Daiso and Don Quijote are also worth a visit, they both sell a wide range of products.

Apps to use for living in Japan

  1. Google Maps - The app which is commonly used for navigation in Japan.
  2. Google Translate - For translating, you can also take pictures of menus for example and get them translated.
  3. LINE - The messaging app commonly used by Japanese.

I also recommend learning some Japanese! Start by learning how to pronounce common phrases, as learning the different writing systems beforehand might take some time.

My favorite restaurants

The places mentioned here are almost all chains which you can find all over Japan, including both Tokyo and Osaka.

Various meals in Japan

Curry: Joto Curry & CoCo Ichibanya

Soup curry: Sapporo Soup Curry Jack

Soba: Toriso Zagin Niboshi (Only in Osaka)

Sushi: Sushiro (Go to the ones that have the big screens, for example this Sushiro in Dotonbori) & Kura Sushi

Ramen: There are so many good ramen shops I’m not sure where to start. Just go to what’s close to you.

Tonkatsu: Tonkatsu Kagurazaka Sakura

Good price:

  • Sukiya
  • Yoshinoya
  • Matsuya
  • Cafe Gusto: International and Japanese food for a good price served by a robot with cat ears, including spaghetti, pizza and Korean-inspired dishes.

Things I enjoyed in Japan

I really loved my time in Japan. There are so many delicious restaurants that are not too expensive, I was able to go out and eat every day. Being able to go eat together with people regularly is amazing. From my experience people show each other a lot of respect. Public order is upheld well. Public transport is good. Japanese Konbini (convenience stores) are great. There is a lot to do and see, both Osaka and Tokyo had many activities and events going on, and the nearby nature is gorgeous, I wish I could have stayed longer.

A street in Osaka during the day

Picture of the Osaka sign at the Okawa River during the night

My two favorite areas in Osaka were Dotonbori / Namba and Umeda.

In Tokyo there were so many amazing areas that I couldn’t visit them all.

How to find housing in Japan

There are many options for medium-term housing for foreigners in Japan. These platforms list multiple furnished apartment options on their website. Many require renting for a minimum of 1-month.

I had a very positive experience with the two apartments I had found, they were incredibly good, clean and comfortable.

However, be prepared to be charged extra for some things. Be careful about getting scammed or ripped off.

Websites my friends or I had used:

I’m not explicitly recommending any of these, especially since they might have changed since I last looked through or heard about them. If you can’t read Japanese use your browser’s translate page feature and the Google Translate Images function, not everything will be in English on these sites.

Finding work in Japan

On a Working Holiday visa you can work in Japan. What type of work is available to you massively depends on your Japanese language ability.

I speak English but no Japanese. If you are in a similar situation, what can you do?

What I started with was doing one of the “volunteer” jobs through Worldpackers or WorkAway which as I described earlier, was doing cleaning and miscellaneous work at a hostel in exchange for living there.

I then had a bigger freelance project which I wanted to focus on so I moved into my own apartment. But there are other options for working locally.

If I hadn’t had that project I was also considering going to one of Japan’s ski areas during the winter as a lot of seasonal jobs open up there.

If you are looking for work consider going to one of the job centers. During Expo 2025 in Osaka they had many foreigners working there in various service jobs.

I joined a co-working space in Osaka. Many of the people there were working remotely for their company back in Europe or America or working as a freelancer (like I did).

I can recommend this video on finding an IT job in Japan and TokyoDev’s posts on this topic if you are looking for a long-term (tech) job. As with most jobs, having a good network of people you know helps you massively when looking for work.