Japanese for Accompanying Spouses in Japan: Dependent Visa Life and Work

Four words of dependent-visa life

Sukoshi zutsu narete kimashita, I am slowly getting used to it, is the honest answer to the question every Japanese acquaintance will ask you, and a sentence worth owning. Kazoku taizai (家族滞在) is the dependent status most accompanying spouses hold. Shikakugai katsudō kyoka (資格外活動許可) is the permission many apply for before working part-time. Shiyakusho (市役所), city hall, is where the first weeks happen; in Tokyo's wards it is the kuyakusho (区役所).

The first weeks: city hall and insurance

Within days of moving in, you file a tennyū todoke (転入届), a move-in notice, at city hall, with your zairyū kādo (在留カード), the residence card issued at the airport or immigration office. Health insurance follows: a spouse whose partner is on company insurance is often added as a dependant, fuyō (扶養), through the partner's employer, while others join kokumin kenkō hoken (国民健康保険), national health insurance, at city hall. Which applies depends on the partner's job and your income; the clerk or the employer's HR will tell you. Expect the My Number notification and ask whether English guidance exists, without counting on it.

Building a routine where Japanese is spoken slowly

Without an office, the week needs a frame, and the best frames are places where people speak to you patiently. Many municipalities have a kokusai kōryū kyōkai (国際交流協会), an international association, which runs volunteer nihongo kyōshitsu (日本語教室), often weekly. The library, toshokan, issues cards to residents and runs children's story hours. Gyms, kōminkan (公民館) community centres and a daily walk at the same hour create the small repeated encounters from which neighbourhood life is built.

Neighbours and the road to friends

Neighbour conversations start with a self-introduction and a practical question, and rubbish is the perfect one: every newcomer needs to know the schedule, and every neighbour knows it. Say why you came, admit your Japanese is still growing, and let the conversation stay short. After a few such meetings, an invitation to tea is natural. Japanese friendships often grow by regular small contact rather than one big invitation, so the aim is to be seen, kindly, again and again.

Appointments: clinic, dentist, bank

Appointments are where a spouse's Japanese is tested alone. Clinics ask whether it is your first visit, shoshin (初診), and for your hokenshō (保険証), insurance card, or its digital equivalent. Asking for an English-speaking doctor is fine, and the answer is often no, so have your symptom sentences ready. Dentists book cleanings, kurīningu, by appointment. For children, the city sends schedules for yobō sesshu (予防接種), vaccinations, and clinics will explain them if you ask.

The lonely stretches, and the small wins

Most accompanying spouses describe a dip a few months in, when the novelty has gone and the friends have not yet arrived. Having Japanese words for it helps, both with your partner and with the one acquaintance who asks how you really are. Sabishii toki mo arimasu, there are lonely times too, is honest without being heavy. Then there are the wins: the first friend, the first solo hospital visit, the day you realise you can speak a little. Say them aloud; narete kimashita, I have been getting used to it, is a sentence that becomes truer each time.

Finding work later

When you are ready to work, the first step for most dependent-status holders is applying to immigration for shikakugai katsudō kyoka, which commonly allows part-time work within a weekly hour limit; full-time work generally means changing to a work status, which depends on the job and your qualifications. Check the current rules with the immigration office. Then the search: the public employment office, Harōwāku (ハローワーク), has offices in every city and some with foreign-language support; schools, cafés and companies with international customers often value a bilingual spouse; and remote work, zaitaku (在宅), fits the hour limit well. A rirekisho (履歴書) is the standard CV, usually in a fixed format.

Common mistakes

• Calling your own husband goshujin or your own wife okusan. Say otto and tsuma; the honorific words are for other people's spouses.
• Waiting to speak until your Japanese is good. The clerk, the neighbour and the receptionist all expect simple sentences; perfection is not the price of entry.
• Working before the permission is granted. Dependent status does not include work by default; apply first and confirm the limit.
• Letting the partner handle every call. Each appointment you do alone is a lesson no class can give.
• Treating loneliness as failure. It is the normal middle of the story, and the phrases above help you say so.