Sorry for the weird request. But I’m a student with no work. Health insurance used to be 2100 Yen but now it’s 7300 Yen. I understand that I have to go to city hall and apply for exemption from income tax and re-apply my status as a student. But I have really bad anxiety and no Japanese friends. I would really appreciate if anyone with similar experience could list out step by step process to do it. Also some helpful Japanese words to use in this situation would be great. I’ve made a list of a few..
Anyway, would really appreciate the help. Thank you.
4 comments
Spreadsheets are your friend. Full it out with your income and any other stats that might be relevant and use that as a base to get the rest across.
You have the luxury of translating some key words in advance that way too. Got me through years of having to submit taxes before doing them online was an option.
Most larger city halls have translators who can help you, just ask.
I don’t have much personal experience with NHI but, I can give you some basic advice for city hall.
Go in knowing exactly what procedure you need to do. The city hall basically only does a smallish number of specific procedures, so if you know the exact name in Japanese, they will understand. Write the name of the procedure down (in Japanese) in your notes app, so you can show it to the attendants. It can also help to bookmark a webpage that describes the procedure in Japanese if you feel you can’t explain it yourself.
Bring your zairyuu card and your insurance card (which you should have anyway).
Remember, it is the employee’s job to help you. You pay taxes, so you are indirectly their employer.
Do not feel like you need to explain everything in Japanese. If you know the name of the procedure you want them to do in advance, they will understand.
Google translate is very helpful. When I first moved here I used it to type what I wanted to say, showed it to the attendant and then let them type their response. I think this works better than the voice translation.
Go to your City Hall and start using Google Translate. Then they will be able to call translators over the phone to help. Just make sure you have your data, don’t worry about explaining in Japanese, as long as you can explain everything in English at least