In Japan - Episode one, in which many forms are filled out

It’s been over a week since we arrived in Japan, and it has been extremely eventful. So eventful, in fact, that I have had no time to blog about any of it. But rather than a giant all-encompassing “getting used to Japan” entry, I think I’m going to try to keep each entry focused on a single topic, even if that means writing several in a row. If nothing else, that might help me keep my thoughts straight as I try to explain what we’re going through.

As the title of this post suggests, I’ve had to fill out a lot of forms. I suppose it shouldn’t have come as a surprise that there is a lot of paperwork involved in getting a family of four settled in Japan for six months but, as I’ve said before, I’m not doing this Japan trip in the way I’m normally accustomed. When I bring students here on six-week study abroad trips, our stay is short enough that we don’t even need to apply for a visa in advance. For stays of less than ninety days, US citizens just show up in the airport to get their passports stamped. We have travelers insurance in case of any serious injuries, but for minor issues we would simply go to a clinic and pay out of pocket (much cheaper than going without insurance in the US, of course). In fact, we’re completely independent, not even affiliated with a Japanese university, which is what gives us the freedom to move from Tokyo to Osaka halfway through the trip… and to avoid a lot of paperwork. Not so this time, of course. We will be here a full six months, the kids will be in school, we will need to be insured, and I will be paid to teach a class, all of which requires lots and lots of forms to be filled out.

It may come as a surprise given the external image of Japan as a futuristic high tech society, but there is quite a bit that is still done in a very primitive way. It’s still largely a cash-based society, with many stores not accepting credit cards. It’s hard to get a handle on what’s going on without circulated flyers and word-of-mouth. And there is a lot of filling out paperwork by hand. This goes beyond just being unable to download forms or register for things online. It extends to actually requiring people to fill out a form three times the exact same way rather than simply doing it once and photocopying it. There was a moment at the airport when all our visa information was in their system and they were able to print out our foreign resident cards with all the information right at the immigration window. This process used to require several weeks after arrival, and I was very impressed at just how far Japan had come! But, of course, that card did not include our address in Japan so I still had to go to the city office to register... and find that they are still following the practice of writing the address in by hand on the back of the card. So much for high-tech efficiency.

High-tech efficiency	Not so much

At the city office, I was fortunate to have a native Japanese speaker, our landlord’s son, with me. I could probably have gotten by on my own but it would have been a lot more difficult, not just because of the language but because he was used to the process. Their family regularly houses foreign exchange students coming to study in Japan, so they know what paperwork has to be filled out, where it has to be filed, etc. and that advance information was priceless. On our arrival, they already had quite a few forms ready for me, highlighted where I needed to fill things out. These included several forms I had anticipated but also quite a few I wouldn’t have had any idea I needed until I got to the city office, including three separate forms to show that I am neither required nor eligible to participate in the national pension plan. One thing that my landlord’s son is not used to dealing with is paperwork for children, and there were a few things that he was learning at the same time I was. All you can really do in these situations is just go to where they tell you and fill in the forms they tell you without fully understanding what the point is until you’re done. At one point, we were sent to a window to fill out some forms for the kids, and I was handed an information sheet listing various ages and monthly amounts: ¥10,000 (about $100) per child per month. I decided I would just pay the fee and move on, but resolved to read the paperwork a bit more carefully afterwards to see just exactly what I was paying for. But in the course of the explanation, I realized I wasn’t going to be paying that amount, but receiving it! Apparently during the three-year window from 2009-2012 when the DPJ was in control of the Japanese government, they were able to institute a number of progressive policies, including the “kodomo teate” law that provides subsidies for “child rearing.” The subsidy is assessed monthly, but paid out every four months, which means that just before we return to the US in June, we’ll get a $800 present from the Japanese government for the support we provided our two kids for the previous four months.

Also at that window, I filled out paperwork for an extra insurance card for the kids, which confused me because I had already filled out the forms to get the whole family on the national health insurance. It turns out that kids get an extra insurance card, and if you show it at a hospital visit, the kids’ care costs only ¥500 (about $5) per visit. National health insurance is already pretty good, with the patient paying only 20% of the costs, but like the “kodomo teate” subsidy, this is another way that the Japanese government is encouraging proper care of children. I swear if everyone in the US got to actually experience the “socialism” they’re so afraid of they’d realize just how broken the US system is.

So lots of paperwork but an extremely successful day. Only two days into our trip and I’d registered us all at our current address, got us health insurance, exempted me from the national pension, got the kids registered for both subsidies and insurance, and filed the paperwork to allow the kids to attend public school. The plan was to give the kids a week off to recover from jet lag and then start sending the kids to school the following Monday… but that’s a story for another blog post.

Coming soon: Episode two, in which the children become educated