Enjoy Japanese Culture in Kansai

National Health Insurance

It seems now that every employee has received the documents ending their employment at Nova. For those of you who have no more health insurance, i would advice to go to the national health insurance counter at your ward office. The bill for this insurance was usually pretty high when working for Nova. But now the dismissal give your reduced rate. I saw my bill go from 22 000¥ a month to 6 700¥ a month because of my unemployment. I think that it is a good move, especially for those who were on Shakkai Hokken. For those who were in JMA, be careful you might have to cover your bill for the last 2 years because you were then in an illegal position. If such issue araises, the general union might have some advice for you, so contact them. But basically you can argue about the fact that you were not responsible for this situation and then you can't afford such a back payment. Do not sign papers that you are not sure about what they say. It is better to find a Japanese speaker to come with you at the office. Here is my piece of advice from my own experience. Good luck to all.

Museum Open doors

This month, and especially next week-end (November 17th&18th), a particular event is organized in Kansai. The entry to numbers of museums and other entertainment is FREE.
You can find the list of place participating from all over Kansai (9 prefectures) on the event website.
Enjoy your visits.

Nova last days

Just to relay part of the information that the nova website provided today.

"We inform you that there will be information sessions for employees held on the following date/times.

Following each session it is planned that a government agency information seminar will be held regarding related matters at the same venue.

Please note that those who are not employees are not permitted to enter the venue.Date and times: November 10, 2007 10:00 and 14:00 Location:
1.Nova Multimedia Center
Kintetsu Shin Namba Bldg, 16F and 17F 1-4-38 Minatomachi, Naniwa-ku, Osaka-shi
(We ask that if possible Multimedia Center instructors attend the 10:00 session, and Kansai branch instructors attend the 14:00 session)
2. Nova Tokyo Head Office
Shinjuku NS Building 23F 2-4-1 Nishi Shinjuku, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo (We ask that if possible instructors from area 2 (Tokyo), area 4 and area 8 (Tokyo) attend the 10:00 session and Kanto branch instructors from other areas attend the 14:00 session)
3. Some branch locations (instructors will be informed individually)

* The content of the session starting from 10:00 and that of the session starting from 14:00 will be the same, so please do not attend both seminars as the capacity of the meeting place is limited."

Good luck to all of you.

Nova found a sponsor

It seems that a sponsor has been found for Nova. The "G communication group" is said, unofficially for the moment, that they would take over the 3 entities of Nova (Ochanoma Ryugaku, Ekimae & Nova kids) through their subsidiary "G education".

They would re-open 30 schools at first, when would gradually move over time to 200 schools re-opened.

They are considering taking as many nova employees as they can. The journalist asking about 2000 people, they answered that they would consider this as much as possible.

The subsidiary taking the Nova in charge has so far 4 networks of schools : 2 networks of Cram schools (Itto with 679 schools and Ganbaru with 185 schools) and 2 networks of english schools (Grip with 1 school and EC with 41 schools) and 42 english schools, mainly in Hokkaido. G communication seems to be very oriented to the food business (sake, restaurants) and is based in Nagoya.

The students from Nova could buy new tickets at this entity with a discount of 75%.

They haven't decided yet whether they keep Nova brand or not.

Labor Counsulting Counter for NOVA Employees

One-stop counseling corner will be placed at service centers for foreigners in Tokyo & Osaka.(See below)

At those two centers, counseling for below matters will be available.

1) Vocational Counseling, Placement Service
2) Unemployment Insurance
3) Wages, etc.

Interpreters will be placed at those centers as well as staffs from Regional Labour Bureau.

〒530-0001 Osaka-Ekimae Second Bldg.15F,
1-2-2 Umeda,Kita-ku,Osaka-shi,Osaka-fu
TEL 06-6344-1135　FAX 06-6344-1134
URL http://www.osaka-rodo.go.jp/hw/gaisen/

※Please visit in the center in the case of consultation. Since it becomes consultation through an interpreter, 　consultation by a telephone is not supported.

Labor Consulting Counter for NOVA Employees

Here is original press release in Japanese from Nova. Mr. Sahashi is fired by board of directers and file a petition for protection with the court under the Corporate Rehabilitation Law.

Nikkei Original press release

According to Yomiuri Online, 4 companies are under negociation as a sponsor including Aeon, Marui, Yahoo Japan and Rakuten.

According to this article, Yahoo Japan and Rakuten are interested in MM Center. I hope new board of directors make right decision very quick.

Yomiuri Online ＮＯＶＡ、４社に支援打診へ

Unemployement Insurance in Japan

As you should all know by now, Nova is on a severe downturn at the moment. People have been enduring late payments, while others are losing their appartments. For those losing their appartments, don't hesitate to contact us, we could be able to find out a new place.
For those who have pay issues, i wanted to remind you of a few facts i have gathered.

With some of your first payslips you got a little paper like this :
This is the proof that you have been paying the unemployment insurance.

You can go to the ハロワーク agency in charge of your area (the area of your accomodation, not work) with this paper.

WIth the pay problems going on in Nova, if you had your pay delayed (different payment day than usual) 2 months in a row (as far as i know, only staff are such a situation so far), you will be entitled to declaring your job insecure and be admitted by ハロワーク just like a fired employee. The length of the unemployment compensation will be calculated on your age and the length of your payments to the insurance like shows the first table of this page.

I do not garantuee to you all that it will happen exactly like this but it is what i was told for my personal case and i'm pretty standard...

The ハロワーク doesn't have any documentation in english as far as i know but they have some documents pretty clear in japanese and it should possible for most of us to obtain a clean enough translation from friends.

SoHo Art Gallery Cafe

Another exhibition at SoHo Art Gallery Café. This time, all is to be seen through cubes. Sounds interesting. This exhibition is from 4th to 16th of September 2007.

Shopping for your home

Yesterday we went to the "orange street" in Osaka. It is a shopping street at Minami Horie, behind Namba.
When the half closest to namba is full of clothes shops, the other end of the street has very nice furniture stores.
This end of the street is easier to access from the Nishinagahori station. Some stores are cheap places without specific brands, some others are outlets of european brands.

A noticeable one is BO concept, that can help you figure out you interior with a 3D software. Their prices are of the upper range but the quality is too. You can see online furniture catalog at their web site.
BOConcept Web site

On the other hand, Hirata and flat's are places with nice products at an affordable price. They have 5 floors and each floor is specialized in different category. To see furniture and price, visit their web site. They have some fliers as well.
Hirata Kagu

Whatever you might be looking for will be in one of those shops.

Art

Here is the website of a friend, artist-photographer, exposing until 17th. Already the second exhibition in this gallery as far as i understand. Hopefully we might be able tell you about the visit at some point.

Gambate Celio !

Loan

Just a few words to tell a small part of the experience i had on sunday.

I went to a meeting with my bank to fill up the papers. Being the main of the loan i discovered that i had to fill out all papers in kanjis and kanas, even my name had to be written in kanas. They didn't want to accept anything written in romanjis..

Just to tell i know that you will be confronted to this at some point.

Having my seal registered

I was told recently that in order to be able to borrow money from a bank to buy my appartment i had to have a "hanko" registered.

So i went to my city ward with my "gaijin card" and asked at the foreign resident counter to have my brand new seal registered.

I was given 3 forms to fill out with my name, adress and date of birth. They checked the conformity of my seal, as well as the correct writing in katakana of my name (my shakai Hoken card proved very helpful at this time), and give me 3 form to fill out. My name had to be in katakanas on all forms, the rest could be in roman characters.

They also checked if i had paid my local taxes.

Then they processed the registration, indicated on the back side of my Foreign registration card my name in katakana.

I received a registration certificate and a registration card. The card is to be used to obtain more copies of my registration certificate. I took 20 minutes and cost me 200 yens.

Living in Kansai : Housing and Living Info

Living in Kansai Started!

My husband and I opened this site for English speaking people to provide info on housing and living information in Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo prefectures.

If you are looking for city info or a place to live, please visit our Living in Kansai site. I'm a real estate agent and try to help you to get the most suitable apartment for you.

We are always welcome your advice and comments on our new site. Currently we introduce Hirakata City and going to introduce one city or one ward little by little. We pick up city or ward among Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo prefectures. If you have a request, please send e-mail to info@livinginkansai.com or jsut leave a comment on this blog. We will do our best to reflect your advice on our site.

Thank you for your help in advance.

Filing the final income tax return at the local tax office

Yesterday I went to the local tax office and filed the final income tax return for my husband. I brought his certificate of income and withholding tax: "源泉徴収票　げんせんちょうしゅうひょう", our family seal, 印鑑　いんかん, and a certificate of life insurance payment, 生命保険料控除証明書　せいめいほけんりょうこうじょしょうめいしょ, issued by a life insurance company. If you belong to a private life insurance program, you can get deduction for life insurance premium from your tax payment. This time I got ¥4500 back. On filing the final income tax return, your local tax amount will be calculated automatically and the tax office will send you a bill in June. You can choose to pay at a post office or bank or ask them to charge directly to your bank account.

If you would like to know if you would have tax return or not, visit National Tax Agency web site. But they only have Japanese version.

At local tax office or your Ward office, you will find help to fill out your paper. In my case, I brought 3 items and an officer entered the necessary data for me. Then he brought a paper and asked me to write down my address, my husband name and other very simple things. I waited in a line about 30 minutes and actual procedure took 5 minutes only. If you expect to get some money back, it is better to bring your bank book. I did file the stuff for my husband and he has a right to get this money. So I needed to have my husband bank account info but I didn't. They game me a phone number to call and tell them about his account info.

To know more about taxes in general, visit National Tax Agency Web site English version

Social secruity for the french and japanese

I have received news about the convention for social security between France and Japan through the AFJ Kansai. Some files of the official papers are available on the first page of their website AFJ Kansai.

Emergency Hospital for Kids

Our son got a flue and we took him to an emergency hospital for kids on Sunday.

At first we didn't know it was flue but our son got around 40 degree temparature. On sunday most of the hospitals are closed and we needed to take him to an emergency one : Nakano Kodomo Byoin.

A doctor spoke English fortunatelly and I didn't need to translate what he said for my husband.

The total amount ¥22,000 is very expensive but Osaka local government gives special discound for kids' medication. The actual amount we paid was ¥500 on that day. This kind of discount depends on your local government in Japan. To get this discount, the kid needs to be involved in somebody's health insurance, usually one of his/her parent.

Further details about health insurance discount, ask your town office.

Osaka City Wards List

Ward	Location
Kita	530-8401 2-1-27 Ogimachi, Kita-ku, Osaka City
Miyakojima	534-8501 2-16-20 Nakanocho, Miyakojima-ku, Osaka City
Miyakojima	534-0027 5-15-21 Nakanocho, Miyakojima-ku, Osaka City *
Fukushima	553-8501 3-17-23 Yoshino, Fukushima-ku, Osaka City
Konohana	554-8501 1-8-4 Kasugadekita, Konohana-ku, Osaka City
Chuo	541-8518 1-2-27 Kyutarocho, Chuo-ku, Osaka City
Nishi	550-8501 4-5-14 Shimmachi, Nishi-ku, Osaka City
Minato	552-8510 1-15-25 Ichioka, Minato-ku, Osaka City
Taisho	551-8501 2-7-95 Chishima, Taisho-ku, Osaka City
Tennoji	543-8501 20-33 Shimpoincho, Tennoji-ku, Osaka City
Tennoji	543-0002 4-3-2 Ueshio, Tennoji-ku, Osaka City *
Naniwa	556-8501 1-4-20 Shikitsuhigashi, Naniwa-ku, Osaka City
Nishiyodogawa	555-8501 1-2-10 Mitejima, Nishiyodogawa-ku, Osaka City
Yodogawa	532-8501 1-18-21 Jusohigashi, Yodogawa-ku, Osaka City
Yodogawa	532-0023 1-18-31 Jusohigashi, Yodogawa-ku, Osaka City *
Higashiyodogawa	533-8501 2-1-4 Toyoshin, Higashiyodogawa-ku, Osaka City
Higashiyodogawa Branch Office	535-0023 4-15-1 Higashiawaji, Higashiyodogawa-ku, Osaka City
Higashinari	537-8501 2-8-4 Oimazatonishi, Higashinari-ku, Osaka City
Higashinari	537-0014 1-19-29 Oimazatonishi, Higashinari-ku, Osaka City *
Ikuno	544-8501 3-1-19 Katsuyamaminami, Ikuno-ku, Osaka City
Asahi	535-8501 1-1-17 Omiya, Asahi-ku, Osaka City
Asahi	535-0013 2-5-26 Morishoji, Asahi-ku, Osaka City *
Joto	536-8510 3-4-29 Chuo, Joto-ku, Osaka City
Joto	536-0005 3-5-11 Chuo, Joto-ku, Osaka City *
Tsurumi	538-8510 5-4-19 Yokozutsumi, Tsurumi-ku, Osaka City
Abeno	545-8501 1-1-40 Fuminosato, Abeno-ku, Osaka City
Suminoe	559-8601 3-1-17 Misaki, Suminoe-ku, Osaka City
Suminoe	559-0002 3-5-16 Hamaguchihigashi, Suminoe-ku, Osaka City *
Sumiyoshi	558-8501 1-8-18 Tonotsuji, Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka City
Sumiyoshi	558-0042 1-4-8 Tonotsuji, Sumiyoshi-ku, Osaka City *
Higashisumiyoshi	546-8501 1-13-4 Higashitanabe, Higashisumiyoshi-ku, Osaka City
Yata Branch Office	546-0023 6-7-25 Yata, Higashisumiyoshi-ku, Osaka City
Hirano	547-8580 3-8-19 Setoguchi, Hirano-ku, Osaka City
Nagayoshi Branch Office	547-0016 2-6-58 Nagayoshinagahara, Hirano-ku, Osaka City
Uriwari Branch Office	547-0024 7-2-7 Uriwari, Hirano-ku, Osaka City
Kami Branch Office	547-0004 1-9-3 Kamikuratsukuri, Hirano-ku, Osaka City
Nishinari	557-8501 1-5-20 Kishinosato, Nishinari-ku, Osaka City