LEAVING

 

Moving residence within Sayama or leaving the city

When moving to another apartment or city, please remember to do the following:

Before Moving

National Health Insurance: If you have a national health insurance card, you must return it to City Hall (only if you move to another city / town).

Mail: Fill in a tenkyo todoke (change of address) form, available from post offices. This form is written in both Japanese and English. Submit it to your local post office to have mail forwarded to your new address. Mail can be forwarded for one year.

Telephone: To transfer the phone line call NTT on 116. If the telephone number is changed, a message informing callers of the new number can be provided free for about three to six months depending on the location. For further information call NTT's English helpline ( number given in The Telephone section ). Remember to tell any phone companies that deal with international calls that you are moving.

Utilities: Call the electric, gas and water companies, telling them your name, customer number (written on receipts and bills), when the service should be discontinued and your new address. Meter readers are able to come on the requested date and calculate your bill straight away. Payment can be made at the time or a bill can be sent to your new address.

After Moving

Alien Registration Card: Go to City Hall (even if you have moved residence within Sayama) and have the officials write your new address on the back of your card. They will then stamp it. A change of address should be reported within fourteen days.

National Health Insurance: Apply for a new card when registering at your new City Hall.

Telephone: Make sure your phone line has "moved" with you and tell the company that deals with your foreign calls of your new address.

Utilities: Electricity can be turned on by throwing the breaker switch. Hanging from the breaker is a form which is addressed to the electric power company and includes postage. Fill in your name, address and telephone number and the date on which the electricity was turned on and mail it.

Gas companies can be called before moving into your new residence or afterwards. You must make a call to the company that deals with gas in your new neighbourhood to arrange a date for a serviceperson to open the stopcock and check the gas fittings. This person will also give you a rundown of what to do in an earthquake, and there will be an obligatory form to fill in.

Water usually does not need to be connected. However, you should call the water bureau (normally in City Hall) to tell them your name, address and the date you started using wate

 

 

For Anyone Leaving Japan

Naturally the above also apply to those departing the country for good.

Your national health insurance card must be handed into City Hall, the telephone disconnected, the phone line sold and those companies dealing with foreign calls notified. All utilities must be switched off and bills paid. The tenkyo todoke form does not work for redirecting mail to a foreign country. Your Alien Registration Card has to be handed to an immigration official at your port of departure when going through passport control.

The rush home can be alleviated by sending in advance items you do not need, such as seasonal clothing. You can send belongings home by post or by any of the various companies that deal with overseas moving. Some of these and their telephone numbers are listed below. Make sure to check around for prices. For example, the Post Office has cheap rates for shipping books via sea mail under the category of printed matter mail, insatsubutsu. Using the Post Office, a box packed with miscellaneous items and weighing up to 20 kg costs Y10,250 to the USA. Yamato, (listed on a previous page), will send your belongings in a box weighing 30kg for Y21,000 and for each 30 kg box after that for Y10,000 (to the USA). It pays to do your arithmetic. However, as stated above, make sure to shop around for prices and be careful of companies who quote you different prices for delivering to your door in your home country or merely delivering to a central depot in your home country. Boxes will go straight to your house when sent through the Post Office.

Unwanted items can be sold to friends, colleagues, at flea markets or by advertising them in publications such as Tokyo Classified or Tokyo Notice Board (more on these in the Things Foreign section).

 

Delivering bags to Narita airport

The companies listed below will deliver your luggage to Narita airport. Make sure you call and reserve the service a few days in advance. Tell them your name, address, telephone number, departure date, airline, flight number and departure wing, i.e. north or south.

ABC Sky Partners 03-3545-1131
N.P.S. Sky Porter 03-3590-1919
QL Liner 03-5994-3332
Yamato 03-3541-3411

 

The day before your flight they will come and collect your baggage. You will receive a receipt and when you go to the airport, hand this in to the delivery counter to pick up your belongings.

The cost of delivering your luggage to Narita airport begins at around Y2,000 for a piece. Call the above for more details.

All the companies are open daily, even on weekends and national holidays. Opening hours on these days however are slightly shorter. All close for business at 6 pm on a normal working day.

Please remember to check with the companies for permitted dimensions of luggage, weight restrictions and as to where their collection counter is. Irregular items like golf clubs might be accepted by one company and not by another. Such items will be subject to a surcharge.

English speaking staff are always available at ABC and NPS and occasionally at QL Liner and Yamato.

Storing bags at Narita is also possible. ABC will hold your luggage up to a month. The cost will increase with the number of bags and days. Call 0476-32-8866 for more details.

 

For those people leaving Japan a refund on payments made into the pension scheme is possible

If you pay into the employees welfare pension and national pension plans then you are entitled to a refund once you have left the country. The monthly fee can vary depending on your salary. A person counted as a full time employee and earning Y300,000 might pay about Y45,000 every month. You must be legally regarded as full time. This point must be stressed because many language schools have their employees work 40 hour weeks but get around pension and tax laws by telling the authorities that their workers are in fact part time. This is often done by getting foreigners to sign forms in Kanji that wave their right to proper days off for sickness or so the companies involved do not have to pay health insurance contributions.

You must file the application known as

Soon...full details on the following can be found in Nippon Living...

Domestic Moving Services
Overseas Moving Services
Pension contribution refunds and tax rebates, and detailed information on how to fill out the forms to get your money back

Finally, remember to check for current procedures before applying for anything in Japan. Things change fast and NEVER rely upon one source or the hearsay of a friend or acquaintance. Despite some rumours to the contrary, those people who have applied for the lump-sum once and returned to Japan to work again can apply for the money a second, third or fourth time. As long as you have paid at least 6 months into the above mentioned schemes you are able to receive a rebate on leaving Japan.

Home - Daily Life - Shopping - Japanese Language - Culture - Recreation - Medical Information - The Telephone - Things Foreign - Visa Information - Leaving - Chinese Zodiac