Living with family in Tokyo – Alien registration card

To be frank, I was little bit skeptic before coming to Japan, for conditions of a foreigner to live in Japan with family. This was due to the biased concerns over the cultural differences. Though we have learned about Japan in school books that Asian cultures have similar root and have many things in common, the fear remained in mind till I personally witness the good receptive attitude of Japanese people.

It was on April 10 of this year, more than one month now, wife with two kids and mother moved from India. The first thing to do in Japan once the immigration procedures are completed and reached at the apartment is to apply for Alien card. For foreigners, Japan Government issues Alien Registration card. This card is the identity card for foreigners in Japan.

Called ‘Gaikokujin Toroku Shomeisho’ in Japanese, the Alien registration card is a must to carry along always. Foreigner could be asked to produce it at any time by the law authorities including police at any time during travel in Japan. We have to apply to the respective ward office as early as possible since many other documents required for living in Japan depend on receipt of Alien card. To apply for alien card, the required documents are original passport and two passport size photographs taken with the last 6 months.

In ward offices, called as Kuyakusho in Japanese language, there will be English speaking staff at foreign registration section. The reception at the Kuyakusho will guide you to the proper counter. When I went to the Edogawa kuyakusho to apply for the alien cards for my wife and children, the receptionist guided us to the registration counter. The lady staff at the foreign registration cell could communicate to us in English. She handed over some forms which are written in Japanese and English and explained to us what information is to be written.

Since we went to the ward office with our children, some of the staff at the counter came out to see our kids. One staff gave some toys to my elder daughter to play so that she will not get bored. I filled up the necessary information and submitted at the counter. She told us to wait one hour. Generally foreigners above the age of 16 years will receive the alien card after approximately 20 days. For children below 16 years old, the alien registration card will be issued on the same day. That is the reason she told us to wait and gave toys to the kids for playing.

We talked with other foreigners waiting at the counter. Alien registration card is required to apply for health insurance card and to apply for telephone connection or mobile phone connection. Yahoo BB application also asks for photocopy of alien card.

After almost one hour of waiting, we were called to the counter to receive the alien cards for our kids. They informed, the alien card for wife will be issued after 20 days at the local ward office branch. It can be collected by showing the passport in which a copy of the application for alien card is attached. For kids, the size of alien card is different. It looks more like a folded pass book. For elders, the alien card is similar in size of an ATM card.

Now we realized that our fears before coming to Japan were baseless. Japanese people are warm and pleasant. The staff at that local ward office branch where we went to receive the alien card of my wife were also very kind to direct us with more useful information on how to fill up the application forms for health insurances for kids.

More details about the procedure for application for alien card can be read from; Useful information on Alien card application

Challenging Situation at Chennai Airport While Returning to Japan

One of the challenging situations that I had faced was at the Chennai Airport. I was traveling to Japan with my family and mother. We took a domestic flight from Kochi, Kerala, to reach Chennai Airport, from where we needed to board Singapore Airlines.

I handed over the copies of our flight tickets and passports of all my family members to the airline staff after a long wait in the queue to get the boarding passes. After examining, the staff asked me to show the copy of the credit card by which I had booked the flights.

I used the support of one of my colleagues from Singapore to book the flight tickets. He used his credit card to book the flight tickets on Singapore Airlines for me. My colleague had cautioned me about the importance of carrying a printout of the copy of his credit card when traveling. I did not carry the copy of his credit card, and the staff informed me to bring the copy in order to travel on Singapore Airlines.

I tried to appeal by saying that the Singapore Airlines staff did not insist on such a document when I traveled from Japan to India. The staff showed me the remarks at the bottom of the tickets stating the importance of carrying a copy of the credit card if the booking was done through another person’s credit card.

It was almost certain that we needed to postpone the travel to another date until I get the copy of the credit card from my colleague. We moved out of the queue so that other passengers could proceed smoothly. After a minute’s pondering, I decided to call one of my old friends in Chennai and seek his help. I called and explained to him the situation. He told me to keep cool, and since the General Manager of Singapore Airlines’ Chennai office was his friend, he would try to make an appeal for my case.

When I was waiting for my friend’s call, a lady staff member appeared on the scene. She was talking to someone on her mobile. When she approached us, she extended her hands for a handshake and asked if my name was Jayaprakash, to which I said yes. Then she handed over her phone to me and told me to talk to the person on the other end. The voice at the other end introduced herself as the General Manager of Singapore Airlines. She said she talked with my friend in Chennai, and based on that verification method, she has requested her staff in the Chennai airport to issue boarding passes. She wished us safe, pleasant travel back to Japan but advised us to book the flight tickets with our own credit cards as much as possible.

We traveled back to Japan thanking my friend in Chennai and also the general manager of Singapore Airlines.

Lessons I learned from that experience:

1. Pay attention to each and every detail, however small it is. I did not take seriously the instructions given at the bottom of the flight ticket.

2. Use your own credit card for booking the tickets. If a credit card is not available, then take a physical copy of the authorization letter from the person whose credit card is used for booking.

3. Move a bit away from the problem and think about a solution. While staying in the middle of the problem, we may not be able to think about a solution.

Japanese discipline – obedience to the law and order in Japan

Discipline is part of Japanese culture. It is neatly interwoven to the psyche of each Japanese citizen. It won’t be much exaggerating if I say Japanese people are obsessed with discipline.

There was an interview for foreign staff at the work place last year and I was being asked by the interviewer ‘what is your impression about Japan and its people?’

Well, that was an interesting question to answer. Almost naturally, without thinking I answered ‘Discipline of Japanese people’. The interview board was interested to know more about my impression on the discipline of Japanese society. One of the members asked me the spelling of the word discipline. He wanted to check the exact meaning of discipline in his language translator device. He asked me and I spelled D-I-S-C-I-P-L-I-N-E.

Probably ‘discipline’ is a bit difficult word for many Japanese people to pronounce. Most of them make mistake in writing discipline and they may write it as ‘disipirin’. The L and R confusion of Japanese people is very well known to them as well as to the foreigners in Japan. Japanese language has only one sound for R and L, the sound of which is in between RA and LA. Then, to many Japanese people, the ‘Light’ will be the ‘Right’ and ‘Law obedient’ will be the ‘Raw obedient’. I remember reading a site ‘Old brains learn New tricks’ in which the difficulty of Japanese military to distinguish L and R is expressed though an example when the GIs in the Pacific theater chose passwords overrun with R's , words like "rabble-rouser" or "rubbernecker." The reason was the Japanese people have a 'ell of a time with R, which they often pronounce as "ell."

He got the meaning of discipline in Japanese and we discussed the discipline and culture of Japanese society. The culture of a well disciplined Japanese society is known throughout the world. In school, the teachers used to tell us about the Japanese discipline and the benefits the Japanese society derived out of their discipline. Getting inside the train, getting out of the train, walking to the escalator (Eskureta in Japanese is modified form of escalator) are some of the occasions we encounter the discipline of Japanese people. I expressed my good feelings on the discipline of Japanese society to the interviewers.

By definition, the discipline is the training and control of oneself and one's conduct, usually for personal improvement. Since long, Japanese society had implemented discipline to its social structure as one of its essential constituent element. The Japanese Kanji character for discipline is 訓練. The Japanese samurai culture was based on discipline as the word indicates. Discipline refers to systematic instruction given to a disciple. In one sense the Bushido culture was programmed or instructed social system. Of course those instructions have been proved good to the present day Japanese society.

The obedience of Japanese people has its origin in the disciplined behavior which was instructed from childhood. Small kids will be trained by parents for good public behavior. The obedience to the law, the obedience to the system, the good manners in public behavior etc will be continued and reinforced through teaching in schools.

The culture of Bushido stressed on the importance of discipline. Discipline in English means ‘to instruct a person to follow particular rule, or ‘to adhere to a certain "order." This adherence to the order and the obedience to the order from higher ranking officers made the Japanese military one of the significant forces during World War II. I don’t want to enter into a controversy whether Japanese military was right or wrong during Second World War.

Coming to daily life experience in Japan, I have been observing the public discipline of Japanese people especially in railway stations. The pin-drop silence in railway stations in Tokyo is a live example of the discipline and good manners of Japanese people. The discipline may not be always corresponds to the education only. It depends on many factors one of which may be the level of education. Education does not mean simply holding a university degree, but with a more meaningful explanation, manifestation of the self as 'Swami Vivekananda' emphasized. When the education arms an individual with a powerful social tool ‘Empathy’, the entire society and nation become its beneficiary. Empathy is what many of us lack.

The discipline of Japanese children is incredible! Children too are learned to obey public behavior and rules. Learned from elders, they are not behind any of the adults and on many occasions better than the adults in observing obedience and discipline.

‘Discipline’ is one of the best characteristics of Japanese society, which I admire and would like to proclaim to the rest of the world.