Japan Changes Monthly

Japan Changes Monthly is a paid monthly newsletter for foreign residents of Japan. Once a month it lists the rule changes and deadlines that land next month: visa fees and residence procedures, tax and the year-end adjustment, pension and health insurance, work and wages, utilities and prices, and benefits. Each item says who it affects, from when, what to do, and which official page it comes from.

Japanese ministries publish a long stream of notices every week, almost all of them in Japanese. Only a few need anything from you. The newsletter finds those few and explains them in plain English, naming the office you deal with, the form involved, and whether an English page exists.

It is written for people who live and work in Japan but do not read Japanese government pages comfortably: employees on a work visa, spouses and families, students who work part-time, freelancers and small business owners. It assumes no Japanese, and it keeps the Japanese title of every source in brackets so that you can show it at a counter or search for it.

It is general information, not advice. For your own case, ask the office named in the item or a professional such as a gyoseishoshi lawyer for visas or a tax accountant.

The full issue gives every item in full, a checklist that collects every step for the month, and a table of next month's deadlines. Free subscribers get the three-line summary, the deadlines table and the list of headlines, so you can see what an issue covers before you decide to pay.

The November 2026 issue covers:

• New-year cards: sale from November 2, accepted from December 20
• Residence permission fees were revised on October 1, 2026
• New residence card format: photos for children aged 1 to under 16
• Business Manager visa: landing criteria revised
• Food consumption tax cut: planned for two years, not yet law
• Year-end tax adjustment: a higher basic deduction from December 1, 2026
• Child support levy in your health insurance
• Working pensioners: the pension cut starts above 650,000 yen a month
• Minimum wage rises in ten more prefectures in November and December
• International postage will be revised on February 1, 2027
• Petrol: the subsidy keeps the average near 170 yen

The newsletter is on Substack. Paid subscriptions are $5 a month, the lowest price Substack allows; the free summary goes to everyone who signs up.

Substack page: coming soon

The first issue, November 2026, is being prepared. Its link will appear here once it is out.

Every week the official 'what's new' lists of the tax agency, the labour ministry, the pension service, the immigration agency, Japan Post and others are collected and sorted by topic. On the 25th the next issue is put together, every item is checked on its official page, and dates and figures are copied from that page only.

Written by Nils Harker, published by Soroban Note. Japanese readers: 中小事業者の制度変更 月報 covers the same kind of changes for small businesses.