Community

Gaijin Hunter doesn't run its own forum. Instead, here's our curated list of where foreigners in Japan actually hang out, ask questions, and trade career notes. All external links, nothing we own.

Chat groups

4 curated links

Tokyo Dev Slack ↗

5,000+ English-speaking software engineers in Tokyo. The single highest-signal community for foreign engineers.

r/movingtojapan ↗

Visa questions, paperwork, first-90-days topics. Active moderation.

r/japanlife ↗

Daily life as a foreigner, apartments, taxes, banks, social etiquette.

Tokyo Tech Mafia ↗

Invite-only community for senior engineers and engineering leaders in Tokyo.

Meetups & events

4 curated links

Tokyo Dev meetups ↗

Monthly in-person meetups for foreign engineers in Tokyo.

Japan Rust Tokyo ↗

Annual Rust conference held in Tokyo.

Tokyo JS ↗

JavaScript / TypeScript meetup, mixed English/Japanese.

Startup Grind Tokyo ↗

Founder-focused events, mostly bilingual.

Podcasts & newsletters

3 curated links

Disrupting Japan ↗

Long-running podcast on Japan's startup ecosystem. Hosted by Tim Romero.

Tokyo Dev's newsletter ↗

Weekly digest of tech roles + the occasional industry report.

TokyoTechie ↗

Salary surveys, working-in-Japan deep dives.

YouTube channels

2 curated links

Life Where I'm From ↗

Greg Lam's documentary-style channel on daily life in Japan.

The Japan Reporter ↗

Investigative journalism, immigration, foreign-worker policy.

Useful blogs

3 curated links

TokyoDev ↗

Engineering-focused career advice, salary surveys, visa guides.

Tokyo Cheapo ↗

Cost-of-living, transit, neighborhoods, written for residents.

Surviving in Japan ↗

Practical 'how to do X in Japan', taxes, healthcare, day-to-day.

Know a community we missed?

If there's a great Slack, Discord, or subreddit that should be on this list, drop us a note via the newsletter (subscribe and reply to any digest). We add ones that pass the quality bar.