Reasonably Priced International School in Kanagawa

by Clarence Collins

For all you foreigners looking to get your children a good education but can`t
afford the Yokohama International school, have a look here:

http://www.globalindian.org.sg/Default.aspx?alias=www.globalindian.org.sg/jp-yok\
ohama

We went and checked out the open house at the main school in Tokyo today, and it
seems like a very good school at a reasonable price.

The thing is, there doesn`t seem to be enough interest to open the Yokohama
school yet.

My thinking is, get some other foreigners to express interest in this so they
are able to fill the classes and we can all send our kids to get a good
education without taking out a second or third mortgage to pay for it.

Check it out if you have kids, call the school and ask about it... the more we
get in Yokohama that want this, the better chance they will open up.

Clarence Collins

Japanese McDonald`s Tasty Morsels

These McDonald`s delicacies are available in Japan.
Check the video out here.

JAPANESE DOLLS: Boy's Day Festival in Japan

by: Helen Vanderberg

Who wouldn’t be fascinated by the concept of having a whole
festival dedicated to dolls? Dolls are shown in Girl’s Day and Boy’
s Day festivals in Japan, and cherished over the generations. Boy’s
Day dolls can consist of anything from a healthy-looking Sumo
wrestler to a samurai warrior or his armor.

The dolls are usually set up in a hierarchal arrangement in the
family home, meant to show, perhaps, the emperor and empress,
courtiers, handmaidens, and warriors in a social hierarchy in a way
a child can understand. The same approach may ring true with the
carp-shaped banners ranged according to size either on a pole
outside the house. The big fish is daddy, next size down is mother,
the next smallest is elder son or daughter. In the countryside, on a
rope across a river, the fish banners represent the villagers.
Everything has a hidden meaning.

Beside the obvious link with Japanese doll festivals, collecting
dolls has a much deeper psychological basis. It is believed that
ancient Japanese samurai warriors tied cloth mascot dolls underneath
their clothing before going into a particularly ferocious fight.

Whether this is true or not, try this experiment. Walk through the
Cairo Museum in Egypt, turn right, and just beyond where the yellow
flowers were found, still colorful after 2500 years in a pyramid
tomb, you’ll come on the figure of a scribe. He’s almost life-
size, seated cross-legged, and as you swing around the corner his
quartz eyes stare out at you across the centuries, and your heart
turns over with a jolt of recognition.

Further north in Istanbul, touring the museum on Topkapi grounds
above the Bosphorus, you come across the statue of Sappho and the
same sense of recognition hits you. This woman lived. And loved, and
wrote amazing poetry. A human response across the centuries since
Ancient Greece.

Dolls give you this leap of recognition, albeit on a much smaller
scale, and you don’t have to be a rabid doll collector to account
for it. Perhaps it is the human miniature that grabs our
imagination. To find out more about a broad range of Japanese dolls,
go to : http://www.welcome.city.yokohama.jp/eng/doll/4010.html.

To explore these connections further brings us up against questions
of identity. Is it the samurai spirit residing in the young boy’s
heart that needs nourishing? To make a connection with a samurai
doll go to www.boonsby.com.

About The Author


Helen Vanderberg is a novelist, technical writer, copywriter, and an
art appreciator enchanted with things strange or foreign. This
article may be reproduced, provided the author's name and
boonsby.com are included in the reproduction.

hevanderberg@boonsby.com

From Hunkabutta

Michael Clark a Canadian, first worked as an English teacher in Japan,
here is his take on one incident that occurred during a private lesson
at the school he worked at:

"Good evening Mr. Watanabe, how are you?" I asked.

"Ah, ohhh, ah, good Mr. Clarke," he nervously shot back, getting half out of his seat and then sitting back down. "Ah, anyway," he went on, "how about that erection?"

I froze. "Erection?", I repeated back to him while my face turned red and I slowly moved the textbook that I was holding to hide my groin area.

'My God!' I thought. Could it be true!?! I dared not look. Did I just walk in here with a big woody? I had been flipping through a copy of Vogue in the teacher's lounge.

"E-E-Excuse me," I managed to say.

"You know!" he said, "Erection, Erection, there's a new Plime Minister....It's in the newspaper. How do you say? ... a poritical erection."

--from Michael Clark`s Blog "Hunkabutta"
http://www.hunkabutta.com

I Love Driving in Japan!

Pictured: FAG Motors in Odawara, courtesy of Chris Zanella


By Kevin Burns



Anyone can follow the rules, but Japanese Drivers Make Their Own Rules!

Stop signs back home mean stop, Stop signs in Japan are Optional!

Red lights, smed lights, Red lights --they are Optional too!

To Japanese green is blue (go figure?)

Green lights mean go.

Yellow lights mean go.

Even red lights mean go!

I love it here! I never stop for anything!

...Well except for them monster trucks. I mean they are big.

Okay we can`t turn on a red that is a bummer,
and I miss that when I drive in Japan.

But pedestrians, smedestrians, ignore `em!

If they dare to cross, screw `em, you can drive faster!
I Like to see them Run!

Hit one you get 50 points.
Two for a dollar!
(or 150 Yen, the yen is very strong these days)

What about the police you say?

They don`t do anything.

No they ain`t sipping coffee and horking down donuts
at Tim Hortons,
they be checking seat belts,
and at the exact same location and time every week!!!!!
I love Japan!!!!

So you know that at 3:30PM on Tuesday they will be at the tunnel,
and at 5:30PM on Friday they will be at the bridge as usual!
I`ve even gotten to know them because I see them all the time.
"Hi Hiroshi! How`s the wife and kids."

"Okage same de," he`ll say with his usual smile,
as he pulls over some poor schmuck from Kawasaki
who doesn`t know that Friday evening is bridge day in Odawara.
Poor guy,
someone should have posted the schedule for him on the internet.
Maybe that is my task for today.

I love the bosozoku too. They do whatever they want!

And what do the police do?

Nothing!
They don`t do a thing!
One policeman at the police station told me honestly,
they don`t do anything about them.
The law favours the bosozoku should he get injured while the police are persuing them.

One policeman in Fujisawa lost his job over it!
(Apparently a true story unfortunately--Editor)
This bosozoku was driving all over the place and this
cop tried to stop him with a long stick and the bosozuku
crashed into a fence.

No the bosozuku didn`t go to jail, the policeman was fired.

So they don`t bother with the bosozoku much. Not good for job
security and Hiroshi has a pension coming up.

Let`s be honest, the Police are too busy anyway..........

They are…… too busy checking seat belts at the tunnel,
...or doing paper work in the office,
or sleeping on the futon in the back room of the Koban.

Come to think of it, I wish I had become a policeman.
I could use the extra Shut eye.

I love it here. So Sorry, gotta run, --the red light….

Handbook for Newcomers, Migrants and Immigrants to Japan

Akashi Shoten Inc, Japan's biggest human rights publisher, will sell
"HANDBOOK FOR NEWCOMERS, MIGRANTS, AND IMMIGRANTS TO JAPAN", by
Administrative Solicitor HIGUCHI Akira and author ARUDOU Debito from March 15.
Details in brief:

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
"HANDBOOK FOR NEWCOMERS, MIGRANTS, AND IMMIGRANTS TO JAPAN"
ISBN: 978-4-7503-2741-9
Authors: HIGUCHI Akira and ARUDOU Debito
Languages: English and Japanese (on corresponding pages)
Publisher: Akashi Shoten Inc., Tokyo (http://www.akashi.co.jp)
372 Pages. Price: 2300 yen (2415 yen after tax)
Goal: To help non-Japanese entrants become residents and immigrants
Topics: Securing stable visas, Establishing businesses and secure
jobs, Resolving legal problems, Planning for the future from entry into
Japan to death.
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

BOOK SYNOPSIS:
Interested in living in Japan? Not visiting. Actually living here,
perhaps permanently? In recent years, hundreds of thousands of
Non-Japanese residents have come here for good. However, there is often
insufficient information on how to make your life more secure. HANDBOOK will
help--offering advice on topics like stabilizing your visa and
employment, establishing your own business, dealing with frequent social
problems, writing your Will, even working with Japan's Civil Society. Buy
this book and start planning your future in this wonderful country!

Ordering details at http://www.debito.org/index.php/?page_id=582

Further Information follows:
===================================
ADVANCE BOOK REVIEWS
BOOK TOUR FROM SENDAI TO FUKUOKA STARTING MARCH 15
(including the FCCJ, Good Day Books, and Amnesty International)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
===================================

Advance book reviews (excerpts):
===================================
"Higuchi and Arudou's HANDBOOK promises to be the second passport
for foreigners in Japan. It provides a map to navigate the legal,
economic, and social mazes of contemporary Japanese life. Practical and
affordable, clear and concise, the Handbook should contribute not only to a
better life for newcomers to Japan but also to a more humane society in
Japan."

--Dr John Lie, Dean of International and Area Studies, University of
California Berkeley, and author of MULTIETHNIC JAPAN.

"Finally, the book I always wished I had, explaining in clear and
precise language the legal labyrinths that make life interesting and
sometimes treacherous for non-Japanese trying to find their way in Japan.
This is the A-Z what to watch out for and how to do it guide that
will help all non-Japanese living in Japan... I can think of no other
book that comes close in promoting mutual understanding, one that is
grounded in the law and brimming with practical advice."

--Dr Jeff Kingston, Director of Asian Studies, Temple University Japan,
and author of JAPAN'S QUIET TRANSFORMATION

"If there weren't an Arudou Debito, we would have had to invent
one... Arudou and Higuchi's Handbook is an indispensable reference for
all outsiders who live here for any length of time."

--Alex Kerr, author, DOGS AND DEMONS and LOST JAPAN
===================================

BOOK TOUR
(specific details on locales and times at
http://www.debito.org/index.php/?page_id=582)

Sat March 15 Sendai FRANCA
Sun March 16 NUGW Tokyo Nambu, Shinbashi
Mon March 17 Roppongi Bar Association
Tues March 18 Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan, Tokyo
Weds March 19 Amnesty International Tokyo
Fri March 21 Kamesei Ryokan, Nagano
Sat March 22 Kamesei Ryokan, Nagano,
Sun March 23 Good Day Books Tokyo Ebisu
Tues March 25 Osaka FRANCA
Thurs March 27 Shiga University
Fri March 28 JALT Kobe
Sat March 29 JALT Wakayama
Sat March 29 JALT Osaka
Sun March 30 JALT Okayama
Tues April 1 Fukuoka General Union

===================================

TABLE OF CONTENTS AND PREFACE (excerpts)

Migration of labor is an unignorable reality in this globalizing world.
Japan is no exception. In recent years, Japan has had record numbers
of registered foreigners, international marriages, and people receiving
permanent residency. This guidebook is designed to help non-Japanese
settle in Japan, and become more secure residents and contributors to
Japanese society.

Japan is one of the richest societies in the world, with an extremely
high standard of living. People will want to come here. They are doing
so. Japan, by the way, wants foreigners too. Prime Ministerial cabinet
reports, business federations, and the United Nations have advised more
immigration to Japan to offset its aging society, low birthrate, labor
shortages, and shrinking tax base. Unfortunately, the attitude of the
Japanese government towards immigration has generally been one of
neglect. Newcomers are not given sufficient guidance to help them settle down
in Japan as residents with stable jobs and lifestyles. HANDBOOK wishes
to fill that gap....

Chapter One: ARRIVING IN JAPAN
1 - Understanding the structure of the Japanese Visa System (the
difference between "Visa", "Status of Residence" (SOR) and "Certificate of
Eligibility" (COE))
2 - Procedures for coming to Japan
- Acquiring SOR from outside Japan
- Changing or acquiring SOR from inside Japan
- Chart summarizing Visa, COE, and SOR
3 - Procedures after you came to Japan
- Bringing your family over to Japan
- Leaving Japan temporarily
- Extending your stay in Japan
- Changing jobs in Japan
- Changing SOR so you can work
- Chart summarizing Immigration procedures
4 - What kinds of Status of Residence are there?
- Chart outlining all 27 possible SOR
- Recommendations for specific jobs
- Requirements for select Statuses of Residence
5 - What if you overstay or work without proper status?
- Recent changes to Immigration law
- Examples of unintended violations
- Our advice if you overstay your SOR
6 - Getting Permanent Residency and Japanese Nationality
- Chart summarizing the requirements and differences between the two
7 - Conclusions and final advice on how to make your SOR stable

Chapter Two: STABILIZING EMPLOYMENT AND LIFESTYLES
1 - Characteristics of Japanese labor environment
2 - Labor law
3 - Labor contract
4 - Salary system
5 - Deduction and Taxes
6 - Labor insurance and Social Insurance for workers
7 - Summary

Chapter Three: STARTING A BUSINESS
1 Why start a business?
2 Sole Proprietorship (kojin jigyou) or Corporation (houjin jigyou)?
3 Type of corporations
4 Other forms of business (NPO, LLP)
5 Procedures for starting a business by setting up a kabushiki gaisha
6 Business license
7 Periodical procedures to keep your business going
8 Advice for a successful business
9 Terminology

Chapter Four: WHAT TO DO IF RESOLVING PROBLEMS
LIFESTYLE:
(These are frequently asked questions about overcoming obstacles and
improving your lifestyle in Japan.)
if you want to study Japanese
if you want to open a bank account (and get an inkan seal)
if you want a credit card
if you want insurance (auto, life, property)
if you want a driver license
if you want to buy a car
if you are involved in a traffic accident
if you want Permanent Residency (eijuuken)
if you want to buy property
if you want to sell your property, apartment or house
if you need counseling or psychiatric help
if you want to take Japanese citizenship (kika)

POLICING:
if you are asked for a passport or ID ("Gaijin Card") check by police
if you are asked for a passport or Gaijin Card check by anyone else
if you are arrested or taken into custody by the police
if you are a victim of a crime

DISCRIMINATION:
(What we mean by "discrimination", pg ##)
if you are refused entry to a business
if you are refused entry to a hotel
if you are refused an apartment
if you have a problem with your landlord, or are threatened with
eviction
if you are refused a loan
if you want to protest something you feel is discriminatory

GOING TO COURT:
if you want legal advice, or need to find a lawyer
if you want to go to court
if you want to go to small-claims court (for fraud, broken business
contracts, etc.)

WORKPLACE DISPUTES:
if you want government support for labor dispute negotiations
if you want to join or form a labor union
if you want to find another job

FAMILY MATTERS:
if you want to get married
if you want to register your children in Japanese schools
if you want to register your newborn Japanese children with
non-Japanese names
if you have a problem (such as ijime bullying) in your children's
schools
if you want to change your children's schools
if you suffer from Domestic Violence
if you want to get divorced
if you are having visitation, child custody, or child support problems
if you are a pregnant out of wedlock by a Japanese man

Chapter Five: RETIREMENT AND PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE
1 FINANCIALLY PREPARING FOR OLD AGE
- Corporate Retirement Benefits (taishokukin)
- Pension (nenkin)
- Private annuity (kojin nenkin)
- Long-term investment
2 LIFESTYLE AND HEALTHCARE
- Elderly care and Nursing Care Insurance (kaigo hoken)
- Medical care and Medical services for the aged (roujin hoken)
- Guardian for adults (seinen kouken)
3 INHERITANCE AND WILL
- Inheritance (souzoku) and taxes
- Last Will and Testament (yuigon, igon)
- Japanese rules regarding family inheritance
4- POSTHUMOUS CARE
- Culturally-sensitive funerals (osoushiki)
- Japanese cremation rules
- Repatriating a body for ceremonies overseas
- Maintaining a funeral plot in Japan

Chapter Six: GIVING SOMETHING BACK: DEVELOPING THE CIVIL SOCIETY
1. How to find a group
2. Starting your own group
3. Formalizing your group (NGOs etc.)
4. Making activism more than just a hobby.
5. Running for elected office
6. Staying positive when people claim "Japan will never change"
7. Conclusions

Chapter Seven: CONCLUSIONS: SUMMARIZING WHAT WE THINK YOU SHOULD DO TO
CREATE STRONGER ROOTS IN JAPAN

The Most Important Things That You Need To Know Before Getting Japanese Kanji Symbols For Kanji Tattoo Designs

Pictured: FAG Motors in Kanagawa, an example of what can happen when you don`t know what you are writing in another language. Let`s be careful out there! Photo courtesy
of Chris Zanella

The Most Important Things That You Need To Know Before Getting Japanese Kanji Symbols For Kanji Tattoo Designs

by: Jun Yamamoto


The Most Important Things That You Need To Know Before Getting Japanese Kanji Symbols For Kanji Tattoo Designs

Today, thousands of people from western countries such as USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and from most of European countries have already some Japanese Kanji symbols tattooed into their skin. In other interesting cases, the Japanese Kanji symbols are often placed on cards, cars, motorcycles, and other personal things to express their uniqueness. Most of those people are eager to find a way of having one, or information about the Japanese Kanji symbols.

For those who have considered themselves more unique than others, or who want to stand out from the crowd, having a tattoo designed with the Japanese Kanji symbols seems to be one of the best solutions for them, because of the fact that the Japanese Kanji symbols have three distinctive features; form, sound, and meaning. Kanji is a set of ideographic alphabets which represents concepts and ideas, by which you can easily put your thoughts and ideas in the Kanji symbols used. This is why Kanji tattoos have gotten so popular among unique people all over the world.

With a Kanji tattoo, you can express how unique and special you are considering these features of Kanji symbols mentioned above. When having your name, a word or phrase translated into Kanji symbols, therefore, it is extremely important to choose accurate and appropriate ones that convey the meaning you wish to express with the Kanji tattoo.

Why am I saying this here? Because I have seen so many people who unfortunately have wrongly-put Kanji symbols tattooed, or have them tattooed upside down in their skin! I really want you to avoid this kind of situation. Also, beware of picking wrong Kanji symbols scattered across the Web, and some of the Japanese name generators that you can access for free, which may only cost you in the end.

In order for you to avoid this situation, I would strongly recommend consulting with a native speaker of Japanese who has a solid knowledge of the Japanese Kanji system. Based on my research on this subject, Your-Name-In-Japanese.com would be the best solution to this. Mr. Ken Suzuki, the operator of this site, is a native speaker of Japanese, and has been a reliable Japanese translator for many years. In case you decided to create a Kanji tattoo on your own, it is always safer for you have a Japanese translator check the Kanji symbols you are going to use, or consult a reliable resource like “The Image Dictionary of 500 Japanese Symbols for Creative People.”

Either way, just be sure to have the Kanji symbols that you are going to use for your tattoo checked by a professional Japanese translator.

Jun Yamamoto

About The Author
Jun Yamamoto is a professional translator (from English to Japanese) for many years, and is based in Tokyo, Japan. For more information about the article, please visit http://Your-Name-In-Japanese.com.