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LOCAL JAPANby Sofuca 日本語

Onboarding and daily-life support for international employees

A living guide employees can actually use

A practical design for the first 30 days: divide company actions, public procedures and employee choices, then deliver local information at the moment it is needed.

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TRIP POCKET

Keep this page in your Trip Pocket, ready for the moment the signal fades.

Trip Pocket

A GUIDE THAT SURVIVES MONDAY

Measure the guidance people used, not the folder you handed over.

Good onboarding does not make the employee memorise Japan. It makes responsibilities visible, puts one question beside one owner and leaves a route to independent advice.

FOUR LAYERS

Four layers that should not be confused.

Separate shareable guidance from private employee records before writing the first page.

01

Stable public guidance

Residence, labour, health, pension and disaster information should point to the responsible authority, with a review date and a clear limit.

Example: address notification rule and official source
02

Company-specific instructions

Name the real person, place and timing: first-day entrance, shift contact, pay day, deductions, uniform, absence and transport disruption.

Example: “Message Mori in HR before 8:30”
03

Address-specific local life

Rubbish, evacuation, municipal counters, clinics and transport must match the employee’s actual municipality and housing.

Example: Tuesday burnable-rubbish collection at the building’s east point
04

Private employee record

Passport numbers, residence-card images, My Number, medical details and bank information do not belong on a shared guide URL.

Example: store through the approved HR process, not a shared page

THE FIRST-MONTH HANDOVER

What the onboarding owner does in the first 30 days.

This is not a substitute for a legal compliance checklist. It is the operating layer that keeps the next action visible at home and at work.

  1. 01

    Name one onboarding owner and one backup

    Give the employee names, working hours, contact methods and the questions each person can answer.

  2. 02

    Explain the written working conditions in a language the employee understands

    Walk through pay, deductions, time, overtime, leave, probation, work location, job content and how changes are agreed.

  3. 03

    Confirm the residence-status scope through the proper route

    Do not infer permission from nationality or job title. Escalate unclear cases to immigration guidance or qualified professional advice.

  4. 04

    Divide the first-month procedures by owner

    Mark what the employer files, what the employee must do, what requires both, the due date and the proof of completion.

  5. 05

    Prepare the municipal visit without pretending every city is the same

    Link to the actual municipality’s page and confirm documents, hours, appointment and language support.

  6. 06

    Hand over the home as a working system

    Explain keys, damage records, utilities, manager, repairs, visitors, noise, rubbish, disaster action and moving-out notice.

  7. 07

    Preview the first payslip before it surprises anyone

    Show the pay period, payment date and likely deduction categories without promising an exact net amount before calculation.

  8. 08

    Give a route for ordinary illness and workplace injury

    Name the absence contact, insurance confirmation route, nearby care options and the workplace-accident reporting process.

  9. 09

    Include an independent consultation route

    Link current immigration and labour consultation services. Employees should not need to ask the company for permission to seek independent information.

  10. 10

    Ask again after one week and one month

    Ask what remained unclear in the real home and workplace. Update the shared guide, but keep personal cases private.

ONE SHAREABLE PAGE

Ten fields for a company-specific guide.

Move from “In Japan” to “At this workplace and in this home.” Specificity is what makes the page usable.

  1. First-day entrance, time and named contact
  2. Work schedule, absence and delay contact
  3. Pay period, pay day and deduction explanation
  4. Exact municipal office and multilingual page
  5. Housing manager, emergency repair route and key rules
  6. Address-specific rubbish calendar and collection point
  7. Evacuation place, hazard map and reunion rule
  8. Nearest suitable clinic, pharmacy and non-emergency help
  9. Independent immigration and labour consultation routes
  10. One-week and one-month follow-up owner

LOCAL JAPAN PILOT

Start with one place and three employers

Local Japan is preparing a pilot in which each employer receives one shareable, multilingual living guide for the first 30 days. The first version will focus on one municipality, the employee languages actually needed and the questions that repeatedly take HR time. We will measure whether employees can find the next action and whether repeated explanations fall.

  • Company and housing details fitted to the actual workplace
  • A URL and QR-ready page employees can reopen
  • Source and review-date management for changeable information
  • One-week and one-month feedback review
Ask about the three-company pilot Opens the Sofuca contact page in a new tab.