Exam Japanese and life Japanese overlap, but not completely. Here is the vocabulary that your first month actually demands, most of which no textbook chapter covers.
The town hall (市役所 / 区役所)
Within days of arriving you will register your address. Words you will meet:
住所 (address), 住民登録 (resident registration), 印鑑 / はんこ (personal seal), 国民健康保険 (national health insurance), マイナンバー (individual number), 手続き (procedure), 窓口 (service counter).
The sentence that solves most of it: すみません、○○の手続きを したいんですが。
Your employer or registered support organisation is obliged to help with these procedures. Ask them - that is what the support plan is for.
Rubbish
The single most common source of friction with neighbours, and the rules are strictly local:
燃えるごみ (burnable), 燃えないごみ (non-burnable), 資源ごみ (recyclable), 粗大ごみ (large items, usually requiring a paid sticker), 収集日 (collection day).
Your municipality publishes a calendar, often in several languages. Find it in week one. It is also, conveniently, exactly the kind of text the exam tests: how to read a Japanese notice.
The bank and the post office
口座 (account), 通帳 (passbook), 暗証番号 (PIN), 振込 (bank transfer), 引き出し (withdrawal), ATM.
The post office also handles savings and parcels: 郵便局 (post office), 切手 (stamp), 宅配便 (courier delivery), 再配達 (redelivery - you will need this one, because deliveries come while you are at work).
For remittances specifically: sending money home.
The pharmacy and the clinic
薬局 (pharmacy), 処方箋 (prescription), 風邪 (a cold), 熱 (fever), 痛み止め (painkiller), 保険証 (insurance card).
Carry the insurance card. Without it you pay the full amount and claim back later: health insurance and pension, and hospital Japanese.
The phone and the internet
契約 (contract), 解約 (cancellation), 料金 (charge), データ, Wi-Fi, 本人確認書類 (identity documents).
Phone contracts in Japan require a residence card and sometimes a bank account, which is why they usually happen in the second week rather than the first.
Around the neighbourhood
回覧板 (a circulating notice board passed between houses), 町内会 (neighbourhood association), 自転車 (bicycle) and 防犯登録 (bicycle registration, which is compulsory).
How to prepare before you fly
Take this page’s words and put them in your list, with sentences: building a personal word list.
Then practise reading the real thing - municipal websites publish their rubbish calendars and procedure guides publicly, and they are free, authentic reading practice at exactly the right level.
And keep studying after arrival, which is when it starts paying immediately: your first month of Japanese at work.