Job Discussion Forums

[Mtnkiwi]

So, it has been training for about 3 days here now in Osaka. I decided to get a few DVDs to ease the boredom. I went to the local video shop and tried to use my wife's card (they had laughed at me once for trying to use it but had let me anyway). I had our family insurance papers etc to show that I was indeed from the same family. Well, that didn't fly this time so I asked to start my own membership, while questioning whether every family had individual cards for husband, wife and kids (apparently they do....). Showed my driver's licence, filled out the form (not in Kanji because I can't write it to save myself), and then as the handed me my new card it all turned ugly. "Can you write your address in Kanji please", me "No, but you can write it for me if you want.", "No (with massively exaggerated body language which I assumed to mean 'I am totally unable to to write on your behalf on this highly important document'). Then this 20 year old guy (the most senior member of staff) with missing front teeth told me that I couldn't join the video shop if I couldn't read the terms and conditions. Bear in mind that this was all happening in Japanese, and I could understand. They then picked up my wife's video card from the counter and told me that as she was Japanese she could come down and interpret. I told them I'm not going to get my wife to bring our newborn baby down here in this weather just so I can join a video shop that my family already belongs to. Then I (pretended to) read the terms and conditions and said "Yes, I understand." The assumption that I coudn't read Japanese because I couldn't write in kanji was maybe understandable, but rying to hold back my membership citing my supposed illiteracy as good reason was not cool with me. I was obviously speaking with them in Japanese and if they were really concerned about me understanding the terms and conditons they could have read them to me. Their 'rights to refuse membership' section mentioned lack of ID, living too far away, and being an Elementary School student, but nothing about being able to read Japanese obligatory legal language (which no one ever reads anyway).
They eventually 'let' me join despite me not being able to understand the terms and conditions (which I said I had understood). It left me with a very bad taste in my mouth. I can function in Japan quite well on my own, I do not see why I should have to bring an interpreter to help me join a video club, Immigration maybe (where the letter of the law matters), but not a damned video shop.
Thoughts?

[yamanote senbei]

Learn to write your address in Japanese?

[canuck]

I just think it's a rant. Solution is simple, find another video store. If your Japanese is still not that great, it's a good idea to carry in your wallet information in Japanese. For example, carry something with your address in Japanese. I found most people in Japan bend over backwards to help. You're also telling your side of the story. We don't know if maybe you played the mad-foreigner, things escalated etc.

If you don't know the language, it's frustrating.

My thoughts: Change video stores and study more.

[Mtnkiwi]

Yeah, it's a rant, in as much as any story about a frustrating experience in Japan is. As I said, I can speak Japanese, but not read and write (Kanji anyway). No, I didn't play the 'crazy foreigner', and No, things did not escalate. I'm simply saying what happened and wondering whether anyway else has had Japanese literacy demanded of them in such a situation.

[Brooks]

at Tsutaya I wrote my address in hiragana and it was ok. In fact, they had the membership rules in English too.
Not sure if this is true at all of their stores.
This Tsutaya is near Camp Zama (a US Army base).

[Gordon]

I've joined a few video stores and never had any problems playing the dumb foreigner and getting a card.

[JimDunlop2]

Thoughts? Sure. I'll purvey my thoughts on this one.

It's pretty much a well-known fact that Japanese video rental stores are a bastion of notoriety when it comes to allowing foreigners to join. Given Japan's nutless anti-discrimination laws that may as well be non-existant, it's not unusual to run into problems that Japanese nationals would never have.

First, my own experience. Upon arriving, I asked as many people as I could about video stores, how to get a membership, etc... I picked out one that was not too far away, and popular with foreigners as they had few issues letting them join. A Japanese friend wrote out a note for me how to ask for a membership card, which helped me immensely, my Japanese being non-existant at the time. I was told to bring my alien card for ID and a utility bill so as to prove my address. I filled out the application form, having learned how to write my name in katakana and my address in kanji. (Those two things were among the first things I learned how to do here). Then, the clerk showed me around the store, gave me some papers explaining the rules, went over them with me quickly (orally), explained the pricing structure, specials, discounts, etc, and turned me loose in the store.

Compare this to my friends' experiences in Tsutaya. There are many, many stories. Here is just ONE of them..... A friend of mine applied for a membership there. He was denied because he couldn't write his address in kanji. So he learned it and returned. This time, he was turned away because he didn't have a home phone number (apparently a cellular wouldn't do). So he came back with a "home" phone number (actually it was his place of work). Then he got turned away because he had no proof of residence (like a utility bill). Came back again. He JUST ABOUT got turned away again because they wanted him to agree to the terms of service verbally and he didn't know what they were asking. Luckily, another store patron (Japanese) told my friend -- just tell them "Hai, wakarimashita. It means you understand and agree to not lend out your card to anybody." So finally, he got his stinkin' Tsutaya membership.

When I got mine, I anticipated all this crap, so I came well-prepared. I even brought a fluent Japanese-speaking friend with me just in case I ran into any snags.... Didn't need him in the end. Smooth sailing. It also made a difference that I filled out the form in Japanese and when they asked for ID I didn't give them my alien card, but my Japanese driver's license, which has become my standard form of ID for EVERYTHING. And if it ain't good enough, then they don't get my business. It's that plain and simple.

There is also an onsen near where I live that will refuse entry to many foreigners... They will ask for an alien card (under the pretense that they don't want any illegal foreigners such as visa overstayers on their premises) and they insist that all their guests know sufficient Japanese in order to properly use the onsen (apparently for health and safety reasons). You can read about it on Debito Arudo's website. It's up there somewhere on the Rogues Gallery... Never been there -- never had the desire to given the fact that there are more than enough onsens in the area that actually appreciate my business...

[travelasia]

hi ive been here in japan..and am lucky that ive never encountered discrimanation in this country..(yet) i agree with everyone else..learn the kanji and show that you are wiling to make an effort. everyone else will try to bend over backwards to help you. ive lived in canada for 10 years..and have encountered so much more discrimantion there. its heaven here for me. i dont need to deal with people that marvel that i can speak english...blah blah.

[Celeste]

I am so sorry to hear of the OP's terrible experience. THe video store that I belong to is one that my husband joined our first week in Japan. Not only could he not read or write ANY Japanese at the time, but he didn't yet have any Japanese ID, so he used his passport as ID and wrote his address in English. While the selection of films at this store is not totally to my tastes, the staff is totally sympathetic. I have not encountered such attitudes during my 3 years here, and count myself very lucky.

[AndyH]

I've gotten memberships to two different videostores In Japan, each without a problem (GEO in Hokkaido and Tsutaya in Chiba). My Gaijin card was sufficient ID.

[dove]

If you live in a town with a Brazilian community, there will probably be a Brazilian store with videos and DVDs to rent. I joined and the selection of videos is so much more up-to-date than Japanese video stores (I rented Sideways yesterday). They are subtitled in Portuguese. I also use the Brazilian store to buy things like anti-perspirant. I also just like going in the store for a mini escape from Japan.

[Synne]

Maybe you used too much Japanese when attempting to receive the membership card.

Stupid as that may sound it could have been the case.

[Mtnkiwi]

I think maybe you might be on to something there Synne. But it is really difficult to pretend to know no Japanese even when it may help you out. I got stopped by the police the other week, for making a right turn at an intersection (on a 50cc scooter). Apparently this is against the law on multi-lane streets (mine was two lanes plus another one turning lane), in this situation you are supposed to turn left into the street running perpendicular and do a small U-turn so you can wait for that light to go green and then proceed forward- the same goes for bicycles for those of you who ride on the road. Previously I thought it was only a rule at intersections that had a special sign, and markings where you were supposed to stop your scooter (in front of the crosswalk), not the case. Anyway, I tried to play the naive foreigner, but it didn't earn me any favours. When it was definite that I was getting a ticket, despite pleading ignorance and the fact that I had a proper licence, helmet, insurance and was not speeding when they pulled me over, I told them they were too strict and that a warning would have sufficed in this situation. After all was done I spent 10 minutes asking them all sorts of road rule questions that I thought might be handy to get straight. These guys took my fingerprint for this ticket because I didn't have a hanko, that was creepy and I think unwarranted but I don't know the official rule in this case so I didn't refuse. Anyone know anything about this? Anyway, if anyone else rides a scooter beware of this rule and many other scooter/bicycle-specific rules. The police in Osaka are now ticketing cyclists who run red lights, and cyclists who double, whereas previously it was just a warning. My ticket was 3000 yen and a one point deduction from my licence.

[JimDunlop2]

[J.]

I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience. I think it is probable that you were encountering prejudice because usually staff will go out of their way to treat customers with respect. Especially in light of the fact that your wife has a card and they had prevously rented videos to you, this level of insistence on writing kanji was silly. Most everyone here can read English (romaji); it is so terribly simple compared to Japanese that school children can do it. But some rather small-minded people everywhere always insist on sticking to the letter of the "rules". Perhaps they have an ogre of a boss who is giving them grief over this.

I've always used romaji to write my address and no one has had any trouble, whether they are delivery people or video store clerks. (Or I show them my foreign registration card and someone writes it for me.) But if I had to, I could copy the address off a piece of ID in kanji; it sure couldn't look any worse than some of the people's handwriting I've seen. How about carrying a card/piece of paper with the address on it and "practicing" each time you need your address until you learn it? Probably I should do the same. :)

But anyway, depite the practicalities, I think they were being rude to you and just trying to make things difficult for whatever reason. I also know that after these kinds of incidents you feel just totally frustrated and out of sorts. Keep your spirits up and don't let them "hammer you down".