Tokyo · Dining
City Q&AGood ramen spots in Shibuya for Friday night?
中文 / EN · public discussion
A city-life product, starting in Japan
MachiFind the echoes of real life in every city.
Machi connects local posts, housing and work, Machi Guide, Machi AI, and JLPT online exams into one path from arrival to feeling at home and moving forward.
Supported iPhones can also translate Chinese, Japanese, and English posts in context. We are going deep in Japan first, then growing into more cities where Chinese-speaking communities live.
iOS
on the App Store
Web
available in a browser
JLPT
online exams · AI review
Tokyo · product preview
City Pulse
Local content organized by place, language, and everyday need.
TokyoOsakaKyoto
Tokyo · Language Exchange
Local eventLooking for Japanese-English exchange near Shibuya.
EN / 日本語 · event details
Tokyo · Housing
Housing tipsWhat should I avoid when renting in Shinjuku?
中文 · resident experience
Languages
中文EN日本語
Social scenes
DiningMeetupsHousingLanguage ExchangeEvents
I just moved near Shibuya — any good ramen spots?
Any local events this weekend?
A more complete path through local life
From your first week in Japan to a life that feels manageable.
Machi is designed around the order in which life actually happens: landing, finding a home, meeting your city, then moving forward with language, study, and work.
01 · ARRIVE
Know what needs to happen first
Work through mobile service, banking, insurance, pension, and city-office procedures in a sensible order.
Explore life in Japan02 · SETTLE IN
Make housing and daily life easier to manage
Understand rental channels, upfront costs, and common risks, then keep important tasks and documents within reach.
Explore housing03 · FIND YOUR CITY
Ask questions and meet people who live nearby
Discover useful experience through city conversations, Q&A, local groups, and events.
Open Discover04 · MOVE FORWARD
Give study, exams, and work a clear next step
Prepare for the JLPT online, research schools and companies, and follow practical career guidance.
Start JLPT prep
Why Machi
Experience only counts in the right place, at the right time.
Advice becomes useful when its city, date, source, and intended situation travel with it. Machi keeps that context visible so you can judge what belongs in your own life.
Advice in group chats
It arrives quickly and disappears just as fast. A few days later, the useful message can be nearly impossible to find.
Posts on social platforms
Often helpful, but the city, date, and personal circumstances may be missing, making the advice hard to apply.
Classified listings
Useful for finding a home, job, or item, but rarely show the experience or conversation behind the listing.
Search results
There is no shortage of answers, but old and new information mix together and may not fit your language or location.
Local review apps
Strong on venues, ratings, and bookings; less suited to ongoing questions and mutual help between residents.
Machi
Machi organizes content by city, language, and task. Guides explain the process, residents add lived experience, and source context helps you decide. For visas, health, money, and other high-risk matters, official information still comes first.
City & language
Time & source
Task & risk boundary
Local community
Someone in the city has probably faced the same question.
How to read a lease, which paperwork comes first, what is happening nearby this weekend. An answer becomes useful when it comes with a real place and context.
Keep local experience close to the people who need it.
Local groups
Dinner togetherCoffee & chatWeekend plansSportsLanguage exchangeCity walksMutual helpNewcomer support
TokyoDining · LanguagesOsakaHousing · JobsKyotoStays · Walks
Someone asks
Working near Umeda, Osaka — which area is easy to commute from?
Someone answers
Two years in Fukushima ward. Happy to break down rent and the commute.
Someone connects
Sunday walk along the Kamo river. Slow pace, good talk — three spots left.
Example city topicsPublic discussions
- Any good Japanese classes in Yokohama?Learning & life
- Moving out — what to do with big furniture?Moving experience
- Tax refund in March: what do I prepare?Paperwork Q&A
City channels
What you're looking for is in its own channel.
Housing, secondhand, jobs, events, Q&A, and local services each have a clear channel, organized by city and language. No digging through chat history. No mixing cities.
City Info
News, guides, Q&A and services for understanding everyday life in a city.
News
Local news, policy updates, transport alerts and safety reminders.
Local alerts
Guides
Job hunting, study, housing, visas, banking and paperwork — Japan guide now live.
Life tips
Q&A
Questions about visas, housing, work, school and healthcare.
Local help
Services
Restaurant bookings, travel tickets, airport pickup, translation, moving, cleaning and utility setup.
Daily needs
Trade & opportunity
Housing, secondhand, jobs, hiring and service leads.
Housing
Listings, sublets, shared homes, roommates and housing warnings.
Rentals
Secondhand
Used goods, requests, moving sales and free giveaways.
Local resale
Jobs
Part-time, full-time, internships, remote work and job search stories.
Careers
Hiring
Local merchants, companies and organizations post hiring needs.
Open roles
Social & Offline
Local groups, events, language exchange and real-world community.
Social
Public city topics, local groups, interest communities and mutual help.
City topics
Groups
Food meetups, event groups, sports groups, language exchange and weekend community posts.
Local
Dining
Meals, coffee, restaurant visits, food groups and city food discussions.
Tables
Events
Exhibitions, city walks, classes, board games, sports and local gatherings.
Offline
Language Exchange
Chinese, English, Japanese and multilingual learning groups.
Languages
Avoid
Housing, transaction, hiring, meetup and offline safety tips.
Local warnings
Machi Guide
Not just an answer. A clear next step.
Editorial guides explain life, study, and career processes. Structured school and company directories support research. Checklists, templates, and a personal workbench help you keep going. When a bookable service is involved, provider, scope, fees, and the absence of outcome guarantees are stated separately.
Next regions: Canada · Australia · United Kingdom · France · Germany · South Korea · United States
Japan Life
Bank accounts, mobile plans, pension, insurance, city office procedures, housing and part-time work
Study in Japan
Graduate school, vocational schools, research plans, professor outreach and application materials
Career in Japan
Resume, rirekisho, ES, interviews, company selection and visa change
Online JLPT Prep
N5–N1 study, vocabulary quizzes, timed mock exams, mistake review, and optional AI explanations
EJU Prep
Japanese, humanities / sciences, Math Course 1/2, online mocks and admissions planning
Japan School Directory
Universities, graduate schools, vocational schools and language schools
Foreigner-friendly Companies
Company profiles, industries, roles, interview reviews and job-search references
Japan Company Rankings
Source-backed revenue, salary, humanities, sciences, and popularity rankings
Machi AI · Assistant
Understand the problem first. Then know where to verify it.
Ask in Chinese, Japanese, or English. Machi AI uses Machi guides, school data, and company data to organize steps and choices. For immigration, law, health, money, and other high-risk matters, it is a starting point for understanding—not a replacement for government, school, medical, or professional judgment.
- Knows life in Japan: residence, city hall, housing, work, insurance
- Context you can trace: grounded in Machi guides, school data, and company data
- Clear limits: important matters should be checked with official or professional sources
Machi AIBeta
Machi AI · AssistantMy residence card is expiring — how do I renew it?
You can apply up to 3 months before expiry. Bring your residence card, passport, a photo, and the renewal application to your regional immigration office; students also need proof of enrollment, workers proof of employment. Book early and avoid the month-end rush.
From Machi guides
ONLINE JLPT PREP
From placement to a timed online exam, every attempt should tell you what to study next.
Find the right starting level, study across N5–N1, and sit a timed mock exam online. After submitting, review your reference result question by question, save mistakes, and ask Machi AI for an explanation when you need another way in.
Find your level
Use the placement entry point to choose a realistic starting level.
N5–N1 practice
Work through level-based vocabulary, grammar, reading, and listening.
Vocabulary quizzes
Turn recognition into repeatable practice you can check and revisit.
Timed online exams
Rehearse the format, pace, and submission flow in your browser.
Immediate reference results
See a reference score and review how you answered each question.
Mistake review with AI help
Return to missed questions and optionally ask Machi AI for a clearer explanation.
Machi exams use original or licensed mock material, not unauthorized official JLPT past papers. Scores and AI explanations are study references, not official results or a pass guarantee. Free allowances, membership benefits, and pricing are shown inside the product.
Languages
Different languages. The same city made easier to understand.
Choose interface and content languages separately: use Chinese for a complex process, Japanese to search locally, or English throughout. Machi is prioritizing the core experience in Chinese, Japanese, and English before adding languages city by city.
简体中文繁體中文English日本語한국어 (soon)Français (soon)
Translate a post without leaving the conversation.
On iOS 18 or later, Chinese, Japanese, and English posts that differ from your interface language can offer an AI translation directly beneath the original text.
Availability depends on the source and target language, system support, and language packs installed on the device. Translations are provided for understanding and are currently an iOS feature.
Discovery context
Language-aware discovery
Current region
Japan · Osaka
Content language
Chinese
Shown first
- 1Chinese content in Osaka
- 2Chinese content in Kansai
- 3Noteworthy Chinese content across Machi
- 4Relevant Osaka content in other languages
GLOBAL CITY ROADMAP
Starting in Japan. Growing into the cities where Chinese-speaking communities build their lives.
The ambition has always been larger than one market. We are proving the product and content model in Japan first, then expanding city by city wherever Chinese-speaking residents study, work, and make a home.
View the city roadmap- 01
Japan · Available
Deepen life guides, community knowledge, JLPT learning, school research, and career information across Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Yokohama, and beyond.
- 02
Next markets · In preparation
Understand local needs, dependable sources, and partner networks before preparing country guides and city entry points.
- 03
A wider city network · Long term
Help useful experience remain connected to the city where it happened, across languages and generations of newcomers.
Markets under active research
CanadaAustraliaUnited StatesUnited KingdomSouth KoreaFranceGermany
“In preparation” does not mean launched and is not a release-date promise. Sequence and timing depend on local content quality, community need, partner readiness, and regulatory requirements.
A note from the founder
Machi began in the years when I had to learn how to live in Japan from the beginning.
When I arrived in Japan, answers about housing, paperwork, work, and language exams were scattered across chats, posts, and friends’ memories. Machi keeps practical steps and lived experience connected to a real city, so the next person can see what to do—and who they can learn from.
Safety
Before you meet, rent, or trade, get the boundaries clear.
Public discussions, private messages, offline events, housing, resale, and hiring each need different safeguards. People can report and block; Machi can review, remove, or restrict based on evidence and policy, but platform action cannot replace in-person checks or personal judgment.
Social safety
Do not share your address, ID or financial details too early. Report or block harassment, scams and offensive content.
Meetup safety
Meet in public first, tell a friend where you are going and keep communication records.
Housing safety
Do not prepay unverified landlords. Check addresses, contracts and identities. Watch for below-market listings.
Secondhand safety
Trade in public places, inspect high-value items in person and avoid large deposits.
Jobs & hiring safety
Never pay job deposits. Check company websites, addresses and contacts. Beware high pay that asks for money first.
Report and block
Reporting, blocking, review, takedowns and account limits form the enforcement flow.
1Report
2Review
3Block
4Remove
5Limit
Business
Trusted local services, right when you need them.
Verified businesses and service providers can describe services, offers, jobs, and events by city, channel, and language. Verification adds identity and documentation context; it is not a Machi guarantee of service quality, reach, inquiries, or results.
- Restaurant offers and dining events
- Language-school trial classes and exchange groups
- Local participant recruitment for events
- Interest groups for gyms and classes
- Qualified leads for local services
- Hiring within the city community
Business console
Tokyo partner campaign
Restaurant offers and dining events
Verified business
Language school trial classes
Service content
Local hiring and service leads
City channel
Verified local partner
Verification details, service content, city reach, order leads and channel operations.
FAQ
Clear answers about features, platforms, and boundaries.
What is Machi?
Machi is a city-life product starting in Japan. It connects local posts, housing, resale, work, events, Machi Guide, Machi AI, and JLPT learning into a practical path from arrival to settling in and moving forward.
Is Machi a dating app?
No. Machi is built for public city topics and community participation, including local groups, language exchange, and events. It does not provide dating matches, private introductions, or paid companionship.
Is Machi only for Japan?
No. We are starting with Japan and doing it properly, then expanding to other countries as real demand and local readiness grow.
What is Machi Guide?
The Japan guide brings together practical information on daily life, school applications, job hunting, JLPT, schools, companies, downloadable resources, and related services.
What do JLPT online exams include?
You can identify a suitable level, study from N5 to N1, and take timed online mock exams. After submitting, you receive a reference result and question-by-question review. These are study tools, not official JLPT scores or a pass guarantee.
How do AI explanations for mistakes work?
Your review area keeps questions worth revisiting. On supported questions, you can ask Machi AI for an explanation. AI explanations may be wrong and should be checked against authoritative study material. Free allowances, membership benefits, and prices are shown inside the product.
When can Machi translate a post?
On iOS 18 or later, a Chinese, Japanese, or English post that differs from the interface language may offer an AI translation beneath the original. Availability depends on the language pair, system support, and installed language packs. Translation is for understanding and does not mean the web app supports this feature.
Which cities can I use it in?
Machi currently focuses on Japan, with content and guides being deepened first for Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Yokohama, and other priority areas. People can participate from elsewhere in Japan, but content depth varies. International cities remain in preparation and will carry a clear status.
Can I use Machi in my language?
Yes. Interface language and content language are separate. Chinese, English, and Japanese come first, with more languages added where a city needs them.
Can businesses join?
Yes. Stores, service providers, recruiters, housing businesses, event organizers, and education partners can apply for verification or partnership. Verification does not guarantee exposure or results.
Can I post housing, jobs, or secondhand items?
Yes. Posts must be accurate, clear, and lawful. Depending on the content, they may be reviewed, carry a risk notice, or be reported by users.
How does Machi support user safety?
Reporting, blocking, review, verification, and risk prompts are built into posts, messages, in-person activities, housing, secondhand exchange, hiring, and local services.
Is Machi a study-abroad agency?
No. The Japan guide covers study, careers, and daily life, and some services may be bookable. Machi as a whole is a platform for navigating life in a city.
Do paid services guarantee an outcome?
No. Admissions, employment, visas, housing, banking, and other outcomes depend on your circumstances, documents, third parties, and local rules.
Can I delete my account?
Yes. You can manage your profile and request account deletion. Public posts may already have been viewed or responded to before deletion.
Can I download the app now?
Yes. The iOS app is on the App Store, free to download, and the web app works in your browser. Android is in development — we'll announce the date here.
How can I contact Machi?
For partnerships, press, business applications, city suggestions, or privacy questions, email hi@machicity.com.
iOS on the App Store · Web available
Start with the thing you need to solve today.
Read a guide, ask a local question, or take a JLPT online mock exam—in Chinese, Japanese, or English.
Android remains in development. New platform and city availability will be announced on this site.