Hello !
My friend and I are students in Tokyo in a Japanese language school. She received a bill from the health insurance of 60,000yens‚ and I didn’t receive anything.
She saw online that she only had to go to the city hall to notify them that she was a student so no income for them to modify the amount of the bill. She just came back from it in tears‚ telling me that they made fun of her for still not being able to speak Japanese properly (we arrived last October) and that because she didn’t report it immediately she still has to pay that price. But she received it around the 17 of June it doesn’t seem too late to me. Is it normal ? Sorry to bother I don’t know how to help her :/
Edit : I already want to go back with her to make sure this isn’t a misunderstanding‚ but before doing so I wanted to check if the situation was normal. Maybe it was‚ and she has to pay‚ and maybe it’s not and there is a way to fix the situation and the bill. Please it’s the only thing I wanted to check here.
15 comments
I would take out the crying part.
Not relative to the story and this is Reddit. People are not gonna sympathize
Did they announce it over a tannoy like that other guy in a shop the other day?
Don’t think this is normal. Made fun of her? And the city office doesn’t say it’s too late, I believe they refund you the amount paid and change your price. Almost sounds fake. Or maybe she misunderstood what they said if she doesn’t speak Japanese?
Tell her to go again and get the paperwork done this time.
If you just received it on the 17th then it’s hard to believe it’s ‘too late’ to challenge it. That’s only six business days. As you suggest below, probably a good plan to go together and try again. Also, is there a support person at the language school who could advise?
It seems to me that unless you are very fluent in Japanese, the best and safest option would be to take someone who is along with you when you go to visit city hall or do any other official business – just to prevent any misunderstandings.
I would certainly do the same if I had to go to city hall in France or something.
Health insurance that isn’t billed correctly will normally be fixed, so it is likely she is not fully understanding something.
(and fwiw, being at a language school means you are still studying the language, so I wouldn’t expect her to be native level or anything – no shame in that).
Probably go back to the city hall with somebody that back speak Japanese
Go ask if they have a translator at the city hall. I really doubt they made fun of her, it was probably lost in translation. They usually speak business Japanese, which isn’t spoken in normal conversation.
If you arrived in Japan last October and immediately registered as a resident, you should have received your health insurance bill around November. Did you not apply for exemption from payment at that time?
If you applied for exemption from paying health insurance at that time because you are a student, you should have received a document to renew your exemption period around April of this year.
Maybe you ignored the unfamiliar paperwork or threw it away with the ad?
Did she do paperwork to get the student exemption? If you don’t file paperwork, they send you a bill. Same for pension, I believe.
I had similar situation with pension when I was a student. You are exempt from paying pension as a student but have to do whats called a 免除申請 which I never did. This came out 2 years later, I went to the city office and was able to do the 免除申請 for my time as a student then and there and didn’t have to pay a penny.
All that is to say, if there was a mistake with the amount your friend was charged, I think its highly unlikely that there is nothing that can be done about it after the fact. Nothing for it but to go again to the city office and hope they are less of a dick to her this time. Also maybe a good idea if someone is there even just for emotional support.
There often are assholes that abuse the situation and take the chance to have a little fun with gaijins. Years after I got better at Japanese, I look back and realize there were some people at ward office or mcdonalds that were being passive aggressive and sometimes talking without the honorifics.
Anyways… Under normal circumstances, and assuming your friend received “normal” medical care, there’s no really no reason that an international student without an income be charged that much.
Just avoid trouble, and find a different day of the week to go in with a fluent speaker this time. Also, make sure to leave a specific but more compact review on google reviews.
I had to do the same thing but my experience wasn’t that bad? I only speak very little Japanese. Also you only have to pay the first month which is June’s amount because the new amount can’t be generated until next month. Also I have a lot of friends who speak no Japanese but I have never heard anyone make fun of them? Instead they are very kind and helpful even when they don’t understand what we are trying to say.
I’m flabergasted that someone in Cityhall would make fun of someone for not speaking Japanese. I’m living here over 25 years and have never experienced anything like that from the Govt.
My answer to someone doing this in this contry that I now call home would be….”I’m sorry that you slept in English class for 6 years and now we cannot communicate. Go get your supervisor please”.
Try translation app next time.