Living with kids in Japan – Free medical insurance scheme for children

One of the Japanese Kanji character I like most is the one for Child. The Kanji character for child is 子. By simply writing 子 we can understand it stands for ‘child’, ‘children’ etc. Pronounce as ‘ko’ in kun’yomi and ‘shi’ in on’yomi 子 is one of the simplest Kanji very easy to write and remember. But in Japanese language, child is Kodomo. Then the first sound ko is written as 子 and the remaining ‘domo’ is written in hiragana. There are some occasions where the kodomo is written as 子供.

Thus the Otoko no ko becomes boy child and onna no ko is girl child. When I approached the health insurance section of ward office, they inquired me about number of children. I replied in my broken confused Japanese ‘onna no ko wa futari desu’. I am not sure about the grammar, but they could have understood.

子 is a widely used Kanji helpful in many life situations in day to day life in Japan. Combined with other kanji characters 子 forms different meanings like the one in ‘suki’ which means ‘like’, ‘loving’ etc. Interestingly when I learned the kanji for suki, it is a combination of a child and woman. Woman loves child naturally and that love is considered from the heart which Japanese people think will convey the best meaning for love and like. This has prompted me to think the complex mind process involved in the past years to derive the Kanji characters. 子 is used in Choushi which means ‘tune’ or ‘condition’ and in ‘yousu’ means ‘state of affairs’. I can not proceed further with my meager knowledge on Japanese Kanji.

Coming to the subject of living with children in Japan, it is a fun and different As I wrote in the previous post, the alien card for children will be issued on the same day by the ward office. Once the alien card is received, we have to apply for National health insurance or other health insurance schemes. This will provide 70% free treatment in hospitals and medical stores. We need to produce the health insurance card to the hospitals and medical stores. The first time the hospitals and medical stores will register the card details in the system and subsequent visits will be easier by just giving the card to them.

70% free medical insurance is a great help, the Japan Government provide to Japanese people and for foreigners who intends to live in Japan for one year or more. Generally speaking, people who have alien card will be covered under one of the national health insurance schemes. So, they can avail 70% free medical treatment. The health insurance card is a green colored card with the same size of the alien registration card.

For children under the age of 15, ward office will issue another health insurance card. The green health insurance card is required to apply for this special card for children. If we produce both the cards in hospital and medical stores, 100% of the medical expenses will be free. This was something new information for me on the conveniences the Japan Government provides to the citizens including temporary foreign residents. How can we say Japan discriminates foreigners! I wonder. Temporary foreign residents are also covered under the national health insurance scheme and national pension scheme and their family members are also entitled to the facilities provided by the Japan Government.

I am not sure whether the child’s medical expenses card for 100% free treatment is available in other ward offices as well. Edogawa ward office had issued these medical expenses cards for my children. The diagnosis and treatment for which the medical expenses become free are slightly different. For example, child’s vaccination fee, health examination fee and the charges for using rooms are not covered by health insurance plan in Japan.

This free medical treatment for children is available even in case we travel out of Tokyo and fall sick in other part of Japan. In such cases, we need to get the receipt or expenses, health insurance card, child’s medical expense card issued by the ward office, and the guardian’s bank pass book to the ward office’s respective sections.

Children will get infected with the seasonal diseases and common cold easily and every time parents has to take them to the hospital. Thanks to the Japanese Government, due to the free medical treatment schemes, the life in Japan with kids will not be an additional financial burden for parents.

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.

Memories of a boring golden week in Japan

‘Students walk to school and rush to home’ is an advertisement caption I read somewhere in the newspaper. The reverse was the case for me till April 10 of this year in Japan. Virtually I cursed the week-ends for almost past one year and wanted to attend office to the maximum possible extent. Personal life in Japan was not very exciting as the whole family was miles apart.

For some initial weeks I had nothing to do in Japan on Saturdays and Sundays and that was one of the reasons for this blog too. Last Golden week was a silver week for me as for most part of the holidays I was found myself alone except in occasions together with Mustain-san. When one of my colleagues asked about the golden week holidays, I replied as if I celebrated a bronze week, not even silver!

During last Golden week holidays I was involved in internet browsing and Yahoo answers. Life in Japan with friends is thrilling, but never a lonely life. Coming out of the initial adjustment troubles with Japan after Golden week holidays, I could mingle with friends from other countries and some Japanese too.

This golden week is really more than golden for me as my whole family is here with me to make the holidays happier. Holidays in Japan now are not boring as I have kids to play with. My elder daughter is my companion now to accompany wherever I go. She will play football with me on the ground near to our building. She insists me to go the park and have fun outside.

Life with kids even if we are in hell will be cheerful! Children are natural in their behavior which almost all of the adults lack. The life in Japan with many adult Japanese having the attitude of children are thus more blissful!

When we go together outside especially in trains many Japanese people look at us as we have different face and skin color. I never felt this before as Japanese people have not stared at me as if I am an alien. Now while going with my daughter, some of them look with curious face at my daughter and say “Kawaii ne”. I learned a new Japanese word Kawaii, which means ‘Cute’. I don’t think Japanese people are staring at us, but they just wanted to show their curiosity in seeing a foreign child with big eyes. Many of them show in gestures that she has got big eyes with their fingers folded in circles around their eyes.

That is interesting and we never felt exhausted or embarrassed as we have taken those experiences in the positive manner. No Japanese have shown any kind of antagonistic attitude till now.

Coming back to the golden week holidays, I have good play times with my daughter. In Japan, Golden Week is a group of holidays together in one week. There are four national holidays within this week. During Golden week, Japanese people plan for long outing with their family. If there is a working day in between national holidays, many of the Japanese apply for a holiday to avail long holidays. As per information from friends, Golden Week is one of Japan's three important holiday season apart from New Year holidays and Obon week. The Constitution Day (Called in Japanese as Kenpo kinenbi), Greenery Day (Called in Japanese as Midori no hi) and Children's Day (Called in Japanese as Kodomo no hi) comes on 3rd, 4th and 5th of May.

Even during long holidays, after going out, I rush to return home. ‘Students walk to school and rush to home’ becomes a meaningful caption in my life in Japan too.