"A Guide to Living in Niigata City"

[scott]

I just happened across a link to this document, "A Guide to Living in Niigata City," which provides practical information in English about the basics of living in Japan. For people like me who don't speak Japanese and who have never been to Japan, there are lots of interesting details. It covers everything from dealing with emergencies to finding something to do. Even if you have no plans to live in Niigata, it seems like you could pick up a lot of info about life in Japan from this site, including stuff that's so everyday to the Japanese that it might not get discussed online.

 

The transportation section includes a nice line map for the area around Niigata, info on how to pay for your bus ride, a visual translation of train-station announcement boards, etc.

[bikkuri bahn]

Sapporo (and I presume many other municipalities) also have these, either on-line or available in print form at ward offices. 

[Tenorikuma]

Aichi Prefecture (Nagoya) publishes booklets with this information in six or seven languages. I actually translated some of this information for the redesign of the Aichi government website.