Hey guys,
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I came to Japan on a working holiday visa in October and registered my address at my local ward office as told to do at immigration. I had very little Japanese going over as i was going to attend language school. The school didn’t give me any support or information when going into the ward office. I unknowingly signed up for the national health insurance as there was no one at the ward office to explain the process to me in English. I paid for one month while I was in the ward office and got letters about paying further instalments but I only found out last month that it was mandatory to pay as well even if you have external health/travel insurance.
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Fast forward to today and I have changed my address and just received a sizeable bill as I haven’t paid since October. As I’m coming towards the end of my stay I don’t have a lot of money to spare and it seems from the prices on the slips that since June the price increased by 3x the amount and I am unable to go into my former ward office to refute as I am now half way across the country.
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What are the consequences if I don’t pay at all? I don’t have a Japanese bank account or phone number.
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1 comment
You can go to the current ward Office and ask them. If you are able to communicate now, that would be great, if not taking a translator (person) would be great.