Life in Fukuoka "English"

【FUKUOKA IS OPEN Center】

A new school and work year has begun—! Have you settled into your new rhythm? Many of you may be working hard in a new environment or have just started a new life here in Fukuoka.

This week, I’d like to introduce the FUKUOKA IS OPEN Center, a one-stop consultation service for foreign residents living in Fukuoka Prefecture.

The FUKUOKA IS OPEN Center is a free consultation service that supports the improvement of living and working conditions, so that people can live safely and comfortably—and thrive—in Fukuoka. Located on the 3rd floor of ACROS Fukuoka in Tenjin, Chuo Ward, the center is run in cooperation with Fukuoka Prefecture and various specialized agencies. They offer free support and advice on job hunting, employment, residency status, housing, medical care, education, and more.

Excluding national holidays and year end holidays, the center is open from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday to Friday, and also on the 3rd Sunday and 4th Saturday of each month.

In addition to in-person consultations, support is also available online, by email, and by phone, in 24 languages.

There’s also a multilingual portal site, FUKUOKA IS OPEN, which includes useful information for daily life and videos featuring foreign residents sharing what they love about Fukuoka. Be sure to check it out!

We hope everyone can enjoy a fulfilling and comfortable life here in Fukuoka!

【Fukuoka City information】

Rules about putting out the garbage

There are a lot of people starting a new chapter in their lives in Fukuoka now and that does typically mean buying new things or getting rid of old things. Which brings us to garbage and the rules around garbage here.

In Fukuoka City, garbage is seperated into different categories. They are burnable, nonburnable and plastic pet bottles and glass garbage, as well as over-sized garbage. Other than oversized garbage, you can buy the bags for each type of garbage at convenience stores and supermarkets, so make sure you use the Fukuoka City garbage bags for throwing things out.

The red bag is for burnable garbage. This is used for garbage like food scraps, paper waste, clothes and plastics.

The blue bag is for nonburnable garbage which includes things like empty cans and glass or ceramics.

And the yellow bag is for plastic pet bottles and glass bottles.

The day on which garbage is picked up is specific to your neighborhood. Burnable garbage is picked up twice a week and nonburnable and glass bottles and plastic pet bottles are picked up once a month.

Garbage is picked up late at night so garbage should be put out between sunset and midnight on your collection day in the designated location.

If you need to find out when garbage is picked up in your neighborhood, you can do so by adding the official Fukuoka City LINE account to your friend's list. Set your location when you add the account and you will get notifications for the pickup day.

And, if you type in the name of the garbage you want to throw out, the account will tell you which bag you should put it in, so it's a pretty handy service.  

If you can't fit something you want to throw out in one bag because it is too big or is heavy enough to tear the bag, it is considered over-sized garbage and needs to be thrown out through a different process. For over-sized garbage, pick-up can be arranged if you contact the Fukuoka City Oversized Garbage center, or Sodai Gomi Uketsuke in Japanese, by phone, on the internet or through LINE. They will tell you how much it will cost to throw away the item, where to put it and on what day and time they will pick it up.

If you decide to call the Oversized Garbage Center, you can call 092-731-1153, again that is 092-731-1153. They have support for 23 different languages through an interpretation center. There is also a QR code service that provides information on garbage disposal rules in 10 different languages. Just check the Fukuoka City website for more information on that.