hey all,
Things are still going pretty well at my new place. I've been going through the hoops to make sure I receive mail here, etc. I'm not sure if it works quite this way in other countries (as I never changed my address in Amsterdam), but every time I move, I need to go into the local city office and announce "Hey, just so you know, there'll be another scary, dangerous foreigner living nearby and I thought you might want to have my address registered so people know where to look when the neighborhood dogs and homeless start to go missing."
Not really, but I do need to let them know that my address has changed, then they update my "Alien registration card." In fact, it is impossible to inform my cellular service provider or my bank that my address has changed until I first get my registration card updated, as I found out yesterday. Yesterday was spent going over to Omiya, picking up my new registration card, picking up my cell phone bill (and paying it at a convenience store; truly truly convenient), and trying to let my bank, and cell company know about my change of address.
My bank said I'd have to update my card first, so I went to the local branch office, and they told me to go to the main building. Anyway, it took a while and involved the usual bureaucratic fun. By the time I finished, I only had time to update my cell company.
While other banks have branches just about everywhere, my bank has almost no branches anywhere. However, almost every other bank charges up to $2 just to use an ATM (even at the actual bank; this fee is higher on the weekends), while my bank charges nothing. The plan for today is to head to the Tokyo station office, and update my address there. I think I'll also get some materials printer-ready for my classes next week, and stop by an international foods store.
By the way, although I'm currently living in Tokyo, saying that is almost meaningless. According to wikipedia, Tokyo has almost 40,000,000 people living in it. That is about 4 times the population of my home state, all squeezed into an area 31 times smaller (250,000 km2 versus 8,000 km2). Because of that, although I live in Tokyo (in fact in "Shitamachi," or downtown), it still takes 19 minutes to get to Tokyo station.
Later, I want to write a post about my "interview" with the Board of Education last week, since it was incredibly interesting.
Cheers,
