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I got my Alien Registration Card today – yes, I am officially an alien!
See, people should have believed me from the start…
Joking aside, an Alien Registration Card is a very necessary piece of ID
for anyone living in Japan for over 90 days. Gaijin have to carry their
card with them wherever they go, and a policeman can demand to see your
card at any time. If you’re caught without your card at any time, you have
to be taken to the police station and you’re normally fined. So, it really
is something you want to keep on you at all times.
We had our second “exercise” lesson today, in which we did another
introduction and then some general reading/listening/speaking practise. It
was pretty fun; once again, we met another teacher, Iwatani-sensei, who’s
also really nice and laid-back. I’m enjoying our exercise lessons so far,
they’re pretty fun, and the teachers are very good at speaking slowly and
using simple words that we can understand, which not only allows us to
follow what’s going on but also helps build our confidence.
One difference between Japan and the West is the attitude to money. In the
West, you can pay for most things with a credit card or cheque, and it is
thought to be unwise to carry large sums of money on you, because you
might get mugged. Japan, however, is a far more cash-orientated society.
In Kumamoto, I have only found two places that will accept a credit card
(and even then, they’re not really used to it), which means that you have
to make sure you have quite a bit of money on you. This is especially true
of us Durham students, because as of yet we have not received our Japanese
bank cards, and our British ATM cards are only accepted in the cash
machine in the post office in the centre of town. However, carrying large
sums of money on you is not unusual in Japan, as muggings and theft are
rare and people are generally safe.
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