Banks and Cell Phones

Today was ‘doing the dirty work’ day. By which I mean to say, time to shut down all bank accounts and cut cell phone contracts. Luckily, I had my host mom with me which prevented any wrinkles in the process, and while I might have managed the bank accounts flying solo, I’m fairly well convinced that the cell phone situation would have drowned me. My ardent advice to anyone not planning on living here for more than a year would be not to get a cell phone as the entire situation surrounding them is way too expensive, and almost impossible to get in to and out of unless you speak perfectly fluent Japanese.

So we started our chores by going to the post office (first to drop off one of the many boxes I’m having to ship back home). Incidentally, you can ship rather large boxes of stuff home for not too much cash if you use surface shipping, though it takes a month or two to get them. So, after depositing the heavy box into the wafer-thin arms of the mousy girl behind the counter, my host mom and I took a number and waited to be called to the bank side of the post office. Here in Japan, the Post Office is a multi-headed beast. It not only serves as a PO, but also sells insurance, acts as a bank, and performs other services that I no nothing about. A few years ago, the PO was privatized, which is when it took on these many masks, and that is also the reason why it is open/running 7 days a week (which is handier than you know).

So, when our number was called, we went up to the counter and my host mom said that I wanted to close my account. I was asked to produce my bank book, my inkan (personalized stamp), ID, and my cash card. Having presented all of these to the lady, we were asked to go sit down and wait. I was called back up three different times to input my PIN number into a little, shielded calculator-like machine, and then the last time, I was giving a receipt, asked to sign a slip of paper, and then was presented with the remainder of my account (19 cents), and my bank book which had a ‘void’ sticker on it. And that was one check off the list. Pretty painless, huh?

Next, we hopped a bus to Sangenjaya and went to the Docomo store where I got my cell phone all those many months ago. We took a number and waited in the longest line of the day, despite it being before noon on a weekday. After about 45 min. we went up to the counter and my host mom talked in length to the lady beyond. I’m assuming she was saying that I wanted to cut the contract (I’d had to sign up for a 2 yr one remember?) I filled out a slip of paper with my name, address and cell number and then the Docomo girl worked her magic, stopping every few minutes to say things like, “After this, your cell phone will no longer work, so be advised,” etc. Cutting the contract ended up costing me $150, just further proving my point that it’s not cost-effective to have one of the bloody things here. And just so you don’t buy into the idea that Japan’s cell phones are so much more superior than ours in the US, they are not. They are more or less the same, only 3-6 times the cost.

Having rid myself of all means of mobile communication, we hopped another bus for Shibuya, to the third and last thing on our to-do list. This time it was to the Mitsui Sumitomo bank that we went (a bank I’ve grown to love for the sheer ease with which they handle everything), and again we took a number. We hadn’t been sitting a minute when we were called to the counter and, presenting the aforementioned articles once more (Inkan, ID, card, passbook), the girl started punching things into a computer, presented me with my balance and my voided passbook and all in under 10 min. And that was that.

All in all, the three checks on the list took 2 hours, and so, as a reward, my host mother and I went out to lunch in a restaurant situated on one of the top floors of Loft, an everything-you-could-ever-need sort of store situated in Shibuya. The small café-sized restaurant was technically Chinese, though it was more well known for its ample tea selection and so much lunch set came with spicy noodles in soup, three small side dishes of my choice (egg rolls and two types of dumplings), and I chose Lychee tea to finish it off.

After lunch we parted ways, my host mother going home and myself going to Tower Records to stock up on Korean Pop Cds for my return journey. Japanese Cds here usually cost around $12-18 for a single (avg. 4 songs) and around $30+ for a full album. DVDs cost about $35-50 for a regular DVD, and about $150-200 for a TV Box Set. Korean Cds, on the other hand, cost about the same as American Cds, and since buying them here and brining them home would eliminate shipping costs, so that’s what I went to Tower Records store. On the subject of DVDs and Cds (and games for that matter), I will leave this entry with some parting advice for the day. In Japan there are stores called Book Off (a huge one in Shibuya, way down the street HMV is on), and they specialize in used books, movies, magazines and cds. Because things are used, the prices vary, but everything is in good condition and remarkably cheaper than if you were to buy it new, so to anyone wanting to load up on any of the above, check at a Book Off first. They have stores everywhere in Tokyo, so it shouldn’t be too hard to find one. To those game enthusiasts out there, though, you should know that Japanese games (like Playstation, Wii, etc.) do not work on American or European game consoles, so if you really want a Japanese game, you’re going to have to buy the console here too (which they also sell at Book Off). Ta-ta for now! I’m off to my last Alice Nine concert!

Hello!

Hello everyone! Well, I've just gotten through my first three days of 'school,' though really all we've done so far was orientation, but still, it's tuckered me out. I won't recount the full thing in detail (especially since we hit a rough patch on day two), but overall, I've survived, got a basic outline of my classes, and am more than ready to get this beast underway. As it happens, I'm going to be taking three Japanese classes (the Japanese language), one about Japan and the world, a Comparative Culture class, a Regional Sociology class, and two independent study classes, so that should be interesting. We got our full tour of the library and I've already managed to check a few books out, we got a tour of the healthcare center/nurse's office, where I got a free thermometer (score!), and then we got a self defense class, where we learned how to assault perverts, should we be accosted by any, getting to practice on each other. Also, we had our opening ceremony, which we managed to be one minute late for, and got our sweaty pictures taken about a hundred times with various members of the faculty, though we did get three very nice bentos out of it (complete with sliced duck). But, more than all the school crap, what was really fun was getting to hang out with my fellow whiteys and explore the Grandberry Mall by the station, and the 109 movie theater, and best of all, the Tokyu Supermarket, which is the size of a home depot and has every kind of food or kitchen ware you could ever even imagine needing. That place has been a real exercise in restraint for me, because I still have food in my apartment, but everytime we go, I want to buy more (they have purple sweet potatoes roasting before you on a grill that you can just pick up and eat!). I've managed to skate by without spending too much, but I've learned that, contrary to everything I believed, I have fallen in love with Natto (the fermented beans). They were the highlight of my lunch today (which is saying something, since I bought fried beef and mashed potato pancakes). After this hard, albeit short week, I took last night off, having myself a pretty dessert I'd bought, some irish coffee (homemade), and watched a movie, which was so nice.

I've managed to figure out the bathtub contraption on the wall, which up until this point has remained a mystery to me. It seems to monitor the amount of water in the bath, and plays a tune when it's done. So, that's good to know. Also, I got a bank account with the post office (JP), but for anyone planning on studying here, don't try it with the post office, as they too have the six month rule (though the fudged it for me). My recommendation would first be the Sumitomo bank, which I've heard you can get easily, without a stamp (inkan), or to buy a stamp (at a stationary store, an inkan store, or ask you school for help), and use the Mitzubishi UFJ, which should let you get an account. Anyways, somehow it sort of worked out, I think, but I'm not entirely certain. In other news, I bought some Tajomaru movie merchandise like I've been wanting, and hope to see the movie again before it goes out of theaters this Friday, though we'll see if I can. And this morning I had a political discussion with my host brother about Obama, Abortion, Bush, North Korea, the KKK (he couldn't believe it still exists), Racism/descrimination and illegal immigrants. Of course, all of this was discussed in a mixture of English and Japanese, as I'm not nearly good enough at Japanese to hold a candle to really explaining American politics to anyone in another language. The hardest thing to explain is what a redneck is. Yeah, just try it. He explained to me the relationship between Japan and North Korea, saying that he hopes someday that America will help fight N. Korea, because as it stands, N.Korea shoots missiles at Japan frequently, comes over in boats and abducts Japanese people, then takes them back to N.Korea to brainwash them or hold them as POWs, sort of, and yet Japan is still bound by the sanction (or clause or whatever) that America put on it after WWII, so it is unable to rearm itself and wage war on N. Korea, and South Korea is unwilling to help out. So anyways, it was a very interesting, very educational discussion for the both of us. Anywho, I'm going to go (I've got tea ceremony today), but I'll try to post whenever I can. TTYL!

I'm Back Now

Hello again everyone! So I went to the doc today and was informed that I just need to be careful about the old leg, and that part of my problem is that I have moving, or as I believe she called them, floating something which meant kneecaps. So my kneecaps don't stay where they're supposed to. So that was fun to find out. But, so long as they don't go popping around again, I can't complain. I've managed to more or less get packed. I will be carrying a small dufflebag for carry on, a 25ish in. bag of clothes and a 21ish in. bag for shoes, etc. The only concern is that the bags each have to be under 50 lbs. I haven't weighed them yet, so we'll be holding our breath. On a different front, me and the family finally figured out our banking situation problem. Up until this point, our problem was how to get money from an American account into a Japanese account (which I will set up when I get there). First of all, personal checks are not used in Japan. A Japanese bank can accept them, but it takes a few months, as many of the banks send them back to the US to check them out, before accepting the money. There are also things called INTERNATIONAL POSTAL MONEY ORDERS (not like regular money orders). These cost $3.85 at the US post office and can run any amount up to $700. Then, when you recieve them in the mail in Japan, you simply take it to the Post Office and they cash it out, then I would take the cash and deposit it. The snag here is that they are relatively cheap to send snail mail, but can get stolen, and to ship them securely and quickly, it's $40-50. Before I go on, let me explain why just using my American account is an issue. My bank charges 3% every time I make a debit or a credit purchase, or withdraw money, whereas there is no fee for a Japanese card. Also, not all ATMs in Japan are international (usually the post office adn some 7/11s have international 24 hr ATMs), so that means I'll be limited, and many places do not take credit cards. In Japan, most people pay with cash, so it is not unusual to carry hundreds of dollars (yen) on your person (the low crime rates allow this to be possible). Also, because I got the JASSO scholarship, $800/month are being given to me by the govt. into a Japanese account, so I have to get one. Anyhoo, so here's what we settled on. I am going to go with some yen with me, with a IPMO, and then, I'm going to withdraw money from my American account until I get a Japanese bank account. At that point, my family can then wire money directly into my account. For wiring money, there is no limit to how much you can wire, but there is a $45 fee. Even so, if you do it sparingly, it comes out to be the cheapest way to do things.

I still haven't heard any more about my family, but I'll e-mail the coordinator soon to find out. One should note that Citibank in the US is not connected in accounts to the Citibank in Japan, so having a Citibank account here will still be a problem once you get over there, though I've heard that the Citibank's have international ATMs, for anyone who needs to know. My next project is figuring out the different rail passes, so we'll be checking onto that soon. MY ADVICE: check different banks rates well in advance of your leaving to find which ones charge no fees for overseas spending. I've heard that Commerce and First Bank have no fees, though I'm not positive about that. This will save you some cash if you'll be paying out of that account for any amount of time overseas (this goes for places outside of Japan as well).