Daily Life: City Hall, Driving, Accidents and Disaster Prep in Four Guides
This is the front door for daily life. Three of the four guides are things you have to show up for in person — the city office counter, the licensing centre, and the roadside with the police and your insurer. The fourth is the opposite: disaster preparation, which needs no counter visit at all but must be done before the day it matters. The pattern is the same throughout: one missing document means a second trip, and some of it cannot be made up later. This page puts the four guides in situation order and lists the three mistakes people make most.
📅 Verified October 2026In one line: the errands that require a counter visit and punish you with a second trip if you get them wrong — plus the one job that needs no counter but punishes you if you leave it too late. It covers four things — the city office (moving in and out, National Health Insurance, National Pension, seal registration, certificates, and the Residence Card address update that is specific to foreign residents), driving (converting a foreign licence, the conditions, documents, screening and tests, plus the duty to update your licence address after moving), traffic accidents (the five things to do at the scene, the 110 report and accident certificate, what compulsory insurance covers and what only your own policy does, and how the fault split is negotiated), and disaster prep (the go-bag list, what to do in the first seconds, warning levels and finding your shelter). For the first three, the counter, the document list and whether you can pre-apply online differ between municipalities and between prefectural public safety commissions; what an accident actually pays out depends on your policy wording; and your own municipality issues the shelters and warning levels. Official guidance decides. This page just routes you to the right guide.
📍 Find your situation (in the order you visit counters)
① Paperwork to do: what you can finish in one trip to the city office
Moving in and out, health insurance, pension, seal registration, My Number, certificates — these sit within the same counter system and can be done in one visit. For foreign residents there is one extra step: filing the arrival notice updates your Residence Card address on the spot, with no separate trip to immigration. This guide puts the counter list and the documents together.
② Want to drive: converting a foreign licence
It is possible, but you must meet conditions (the period you spent in the issuing country after getting the licence is the usual sticking point), and you go through document screening and a test, by appointment at a licensing centre. An incomplete set of documents means a wasted day. This guide covers the process, the document list and the common reasons people fail.
③ After a crash: police, insurers and the fault split
Stop, help anyone injured, call 110, secure the scene, then call your insurer. Damage-only collisions must be reported too — the accident certificate is what the claim rests on. And compulsory insurance covers the other party's injuries only: their car, your car and your own injuries are down to your voluntary policy. The guide runs the eight steps in order and collects the traps foreign drivers fall into.
④ Want to feel settled: earthquake and disaster prep
No counter, no queue — but it has to be done before the earthquake, not after. A go-bag checklist you can tick and save, what to do in the first few seconds, the difference between warning levels 5, 4 and 3, and how to find your nearest shelter. Nowhere in Japan is "not an earthquake area", so this one is the floor under everything else.
🧰 Start here (get it done in one trip)
🏛️ City office counter list: what to bring, what to do, in what order
Insurance and pension can be done together, certificates cost money, the Residence Card address is updated on the spot — a route map for a single visit
⚠️ The three mistakes people make most on this topic
Mistake 1: "It can wait until I have a free day"
Some things can wait; some cannot. The arrival notice has a 14-day statutory deadline. Switching into National Health Insurance and the National Pension after leaving a job usually has a deadline too, and updating your licence address is likewise a duty. These are not "anytime" errands — missing the window can mean a fine or affect the benefits you receive. See the city office guide.
Mistake 2: "Bring your foreign licence and swap it"
It is not an automatic exchange. Several conditions apply, and "you must have spent a sufficient period in the issuing country after obtaining the licence" is the one that catches most people (the exact period and how it is assessed — official guidance decides). You also need an official Japanese translation, a residence certificate and more, and you must pass both document screening and a knowledge and skills check, all by appointment. See the licence conversion guide.
Mistake 3: "Disaster prep can wait until something happens"
It cannot. An earthquake gives you no preparation time, and what you lack most on the first night is water, light and cash — none of which can be bought at that point. The genuinely time-consuming part is not shopping either: it is working out where your shelter is and how to walk there. Doing that with no power, no network and blocked roads is a different job entirely. One afternoon covers it; after that you only rotate the water and food dates once a year. See the earthquake and disaster prep checklist.
🗂️ Other topics
- Status & visas — which status, renewal, PR, starting a company, work permits
- Money, tax & insurance — take-home pay, filing tax, health insurance and pension, banking, medical costs
- Housing — renting, setting up utilities, moving, rubbish rules