Paper, paper, and more paperwork

What nobody tells you when you emigrate is everything that comes with it. We are supported by a company, and even then we are barely keeping our heads above water.

There are several reasons for this. The first is that you think Japan is super innovative and ahead in terms of technology. That's certainly true; they have robot cuddly toys, they play robot soccer, they have companies that are world leaders in electronics, and they're the only country in the world that competes with ASML. But everything you need to arrange has to be done on PAPER! And not just any paper, but paper covered in Japanese characters and old-fashioned carbon paper. They don't have online forms, and if you ask for an English version, they look at you strangely. Translation apps (with the camera function) are your best friend here during your journey to become a resident of Japan.

At the time of the visa application in the Netherlands, a simple Excel file was the guiding document for the visa process, which gave us the impression that this file was the only thing we had to fill out for our trip and that the rest could be taken care of from there. We still had that feeling when we entered Japan via Narita Airport (Tokyo). The visa in our passport gave us access to a residence card that was neatly printed for us at customs at the airport. Piece of cake!

Nothing could be further from the truth, and from day one in Hiroshima, Mark went from office to office filling out all kinds of different forms. One for your residential address, then one for a My Number Card (a kind of Japanese ID), then one for child benefit, and another for the child vaccination program. Then you think you're done and go to open a bank account. But then the whole process starts all over again. The first paperwork you fill out is to open an account, then another to get an ATM card, and finally another form to get a debit card so you can pay with a card in stores. And you can't do any of this without first signing up for a phone plan. Anoeschka went to “just” play with the children... because, well, something like that can be done in 10 minutes. After 500 slides, 300 Duplo towers, playing hide and seek in a toy store, and buying three Lego sets to keep the children occupied, Mark was finally done after 2.5 hours ;-).

In hindsight, it's clear how important it is to have a residential address and bank account, because everything here depends on it and almost every form asks for one or both. Mark also discovered this on his first day at work. Even more paperwork to apply for health insurance, for example, which is not entirely unimportant but does mean extra work. The good thing is that in Japan, 70% of the healthcare provided comes from insurance/the government and you only have to pay 30% yourself. This means that trips to the doctor don't have to be very expensive, so you just have to hope that you don't need any expensive care...