Job Discussion Forums

[Celeste]

Well, I am coming into the final stretch of my contract and I will be leaving Japan in late July. I am getting all of my paperwork done and getting stuff packed up. I have advertised some of my stuff for sale in a local magazine website forum, but have had no offers yet. Can anyone recommend some good places to advertise sayonara sale items?

Also, my husband and I would like to hire a cleaning company to do our move out cleaning. Can anyone recommend one?

I have shipped some books back already via the post office, but I suppose most of my stuff will just be jettisonned. Every day is a bit of an emotional roller coaster for me right now (Ranging from pure joy to sheer terror and desolation adn back to joy again) and I am trying to do all of the things that I would regret not doing. Trouble is that adding that into the working every day and getting ready to move every weekend, I am at a loss as to what I should be doing to say goodbye to Japan. Any suggestions?

[PAULH]

[spidey]

[PAULH]

[Sherri]

Good luck with your packing and planning Celeste. It was about a year ago that I left Japan after 14 years. I arrived with a backpack and left with a husband and 2 kids (and lots of luggage!).

I gave away most of my stuff to my friends. I thought since I got so many things for free when I arrived from nice people, I would return the gesture. The things my friends did not want or need I advertised on Metropolis in their classifieds and the Tokyo with Kids website. I got rid of everything that way. The hardest thing was juggling the last few days in our house. I didn't want to go even one day without a fridge, TV or the washing machine. We moved out of the house (rented) and went to an apartment hotel, then cleared out the final few things from the house. We did it that way because we had small children and it was easier. It was also good because then had time to tie up loose ends and do other errands.

The only thing I miss about Japan is the people. I do miss the friends that I made while there and recently went back to visit. I don't miss anything else really and have no regrets. Well maybe I miss the vending machines a little. In your last few weeks, spend as much time with your friends as you can!

Also I didn't hand over my gaijin card at immigration since I had a re-entry permit. It didn't occur to me to do that. I re-entered after being away for 10 months and left again and there were no questions asked.

All the best!
Sherri

[Glenski]

You may want to look at today's Japan Times for some pointers. There's an article in the Lifelines section on what to do when leaving Japan for good.

[craven]

Check out www.bigdaikon.com for smoe ideas. Since the JETs rotate out mostly on a yearly basis they have a lot of info on how to ship stuff home cheaply. There are some companies that offer "discounts for JETs", but I'm not sure if they actually check if you are one or not. Worth looking into anyway.

[Glenski]

Here's the article I mentioned above.

What's the deal with leaving Japan?

By KEN JOSEPH JR.
Leaving Japan
DAVE WRITES: I am considering whether or not to return to my country after having worked in Japan for almost 10 years. I would like some information on what official procedures are necessary to end my stay here, particularly with respect to my visa, income taxes, pensions, and health insurance.
When I first came to Japan, I worked on the JET Programme for three years. During that time I paid into the Employees' Pension system through my employer.

Since then I have worked for several private companies but none of them have deducted any pension contributions from my pay.

Being a foreigner who would probably not collect a Japanese pension, I assumed that I was not liable for pension premiums. But recently I have done a bit of research, and it seems that technically I should have been paying premiums. This is a terrifying prospect, since I have not paid premiums for quite a few years.

When I leave Japan, will I be required to retroactively pay missed premiums? Even if the letter of the law says that I have to pay the premiums, in practical terms, is there any way of avoiding them?

I have worked hard to save money in Japan, and I would hate to have my savings eaten up by contributions to a system from which I will never collect.

Throughout my time in Japan I have been enrolled in the National Health Plan ("kokumin kenko hoken"), and have been paying my premiums. But since the premiums are calculated based on the previous year's income, assuming I leave Japan at the end of this fiscal year, will I be required to pay a year's premiums before I can exit the system?

I understand that I will have to pay income tax for this year. I have heard that the assessment is not normally available until the following June, and that I need to designate a Japanese person to pay the tax form. That seems a bit troublesome; is there any way to pre-pay the tax?

Finally, a question about my visa. I have a three-year visa, which I renewed recently. Is it possible to leave Japan with my gaijin card and visa intact, live in my country for a year or so, and then to return to Japan if I do not find a good job at home? Would such a tactic get me in trouble with immigration or with the tax authorities?

LET'S TAKE Dave's questions one by one.

First, in terms of your pension, while you are required to be enrolled in the system if you are a full-time worker at a company, it's highly unlikely that you would be asked to pay premiums before you leave Japan.

However, should you decide to return to Japan and want to enroll in the system, then you will be required to pay up to two years' worth of back premiums (irrespective of how long you've been outside the system).

Also, having been part of the system during the JET Programme, you may be entitled to receive those contributions you made back under the Lump Sum Withdrawal System.

You should ask your local City Hall for more information about this, or perhaps even call up your old Board of Education and see if they still have your records.

As to your second question, regarding health insurance, if you decide to leave you simply let your local city office know and stop paying from the last month you will be in Japan.

As to your visa, and returning to Japan, as long as you have a valid re-entry permit you can stay out of Japan for a maximum of three years -- though to return you must have a valid visa too.

Ken Joseph Jr. directs The Japan Helpline at www.jhelp.com or on 0570 000 911
Send your queries, questions, problems and posers to [email protected]

[Celeste]

Thanks guys. It seems like I am up to date on all of the paperwork that I need to do to leave the country, and all I need to do now is get rid of my stuff. (WOW - have I accumulated a lot in the last 3 years!) Anybody want to buy some home furnishings? Everything must go! I think there will be good pickings outside the garbage bins at my building come the end of July.

[cafebleu]

Hello all, back in Japan for a quick visit from my secret destination where I now live and work. Thank God! Cheaper salary but warm, genuine people.

Celeste - you received some good advice and although I hate to contradict Glenski, one of the ESL Cafe Gods (not being sarky!) be careful if you are enrolled with your local city hall`s health insurance system or health and pension system. Japan Times` foreign writers give good advice sometimes but in the case of the one whose info Glenski posted, he omitted to say that it is not a simple, clear-cut case of cancelling your health insurance.

When I left Japan I had to cough up some health insurance/pension at city hall for when I wasn`t going to be in Japan. If you are lucky and maybe you are a Jet, you most probably will be in their own health and pension scheme. In which case you are lucky.

About the saynora sale - the only people who seem to make real money in Fukuoka from their sayonara sales are cheats. Note I say `seem to`. These kinds of people are the departing teacher who offers the new teacher `bargains - you are so lucky, I had to pay full prices for these!`. These `bargains` are actually goods the departing teacher bought secondhand for less than what they are charging the new teacher.
It happened to me.

If you posted in Fukuoka-Now`s ads you`ll probably see that there are so many people desperate to sell their things. Cars, for instance. After my first naive year in Japan I didn`t buy many things at all because I knew I would never get back even half of what I paid for the goods, irrespective of their original price or great condition. May I suggest finding a Christian Church and giving some of your things such as the refrigerator to the people there to pass on to somebody desperate? I gave my tv to somebody who passed it on to a Christian group near Hakata.

Sorry I don`t have the address or phone number. As for small things, you might want to do what I did. I went to a couple of parks where the homeless live (near Tenjin and near Hakata) and gave smaller, useful stuff. I had talked to these people before, admired their pets and they knew me by sight. I don`t know if you are in the same position. Or if you don`t know these people, leave things discreetly there for the goods to be found.

Best wishes post Japan. Leaving Japan was like waking up for me - I don`t think you will have the same feeling because your circumstances were different. Where I live now I don`t have rosy tinted glasses about the people but I do find that they don`t make life so difficult, complicated, and controlling as the Japanese do.

I also find they are not so pushy (I maintain the Japanese are not shy - they simply wear masks for different occasions and have no problem violating others` privacy) and they seem to be able to relax and let others live. Once I left Japan I understood just how sad the society here is in some ways although I do look forward to meeting again the real friends I made here.

[JimDunlop2]

[injapantoday]

cafebleu...just out of curiousty...what country did you move to?