A day of firsts

I know I said I was going to write my blog in both English and Japanese but I'm not sure how to say everything in Japanese I need to say. I might have a go at updating this post a bit later in Japanese, but for the time being here is the English version.

We were on a triple mission this morning:
1) Collect Alien Card
2) Open a bank account
3) Get a phone

Mission 1: Alien Card
So our first port of call was the Shinjuku City Office to collect our Alien Registration cards. No real issues there - just a bit of a wait. And the fact that mine says I was born in Potts Point, Forbes. Not a biggie.

Then, just as we were about to leave, an American guy came and sat next to me, asking me if I speak English. When I said yes, he told me he had a small favour to ask. He was there to marry his fiancee (also an American but who was born in Japan) and they needed two witnesses to sign the papers. So Pat and I were the lucky candidates to witness their wedding. We were offered bottles of scotch as a thank you but said that it wasn't necessary. So instead, the new bride handed over her business card - she is cabin crew for United, and told us that if we ever need to get back to Australia quickly, or if we just want to be pampered on our flight, to let her know. All a bit random really. 

Mission 2: Bank Account
We had decided that we wanted to bank with Mizuho bank so after bidding farewell to the happy couple, we went straight to the Shinjuku branch. The stock-standard questions "Do you have your Alien Card?" "Do you have your name stamp?" Tick and tick. But when we showed them our Alien Card, our service lady kindly said "Sorry you don't have a job and you haven't been here for more than 6 months. Please come back then." Right. Now I had heard that this sometimes happens at Mizuho, and for that reason, a lot of foreigners bank at Shinsei Bank. I was prepared for this situation and had researched where the closest Shinsei branch was and we headed there.

After checking with the clerk and her checking our Alien Cards she said we were fine to open a bank account. Awesome. Then came her next question "Do you have a Japanese mobile phone?" Our answer was no - we needed to open the bank account to get a mobile phone so we could pay by direct debit payments. A little bit of teeth sucking before going and checking with someone else. "Sorry, you need to have your Alien Card and a phone in order to open the bank account." This presented a slight hitch in our morning plan. We knew that we could get a phone using our Australian credit card but didn't want to do that. However, knowing that we would hit similar obstacles at other banks, we decided to park Mission 2 and move on to Mission 3.

Mission 3: Mobile Phone
We had done quite a bit of research already on the phones we wanted to get so today was just the formality of going in and making the purchase. Or so we thought.

While the process was relatively simple, it took over an hour to complete. Pat was running late for an interview so we had to rush his paperwork through so that he could go, leaving me to complete everything. An hour of solid Japanese, talking through contracts, what you can do, what you can't do, the options that come with the plan which you can cancel later but can't cancel up front, the fact that phones in Japan don't come with chargers anymore and you need to buy them separately, the fact that Android phones are susceptible to viruses and we should purchase a better security application than what is offered by the provider...

BUT - now we are mobile. And the bill will be coming off our Australian credit cards until we go and change it to direct debit from our Japanese bank account, which I am hoping we can open tomorrow. I don't have the mental strength to go through that today. Besides, banks close at 3pm here.

On the way home, I was waiting at the lights to cross the street near our house and two police officers just happened to be standing there too. The young one started speaking to me, and then I realised, for the first time ever, a police officer was asking me for my Alien Registration card. In the 3 years I had lived here previously, not once was I asked at random to produce it. And today - of all days - to be asked that question. Lucky we had completed Mission 1: Alien Card.

So tomorrow, we will revert to Misson 2: Bank Account. Will let you know how it goes.