Ready Steady Go! (It’s L’arc! Geddit?)
Things are starting to happen.
Firstly, I found out today that I’ll be leaving 14th September. It’s a surprisingly long flight to Japan, longer than from Sydney to LAX, but at least it’s broken by a stopover in Malaysia. The company who hired me have specially booked flights, which are more expensive than your standard Student Flights flight, but apparently they make up for it with a extra 20kg baggage allowance. Which is nice, but having to haul around two suitcases by myself will be interesting. Also included is transfers and luggage delivery to my apartment. Which is a relief, because hauling two suitcases around Narita will be bad enough, I don’t fancy tackling the Japanese rail system with them. So, while probably still a money making venture for the company that hired me, it’s too convenient for me to try and be a bargain hunter.
Also finalised my travel insurance, which is also quite possibly more expensive than your standard Student Flights insurance, but those booklets have so much to read, and it’s all written in the third person, and they give me headaches, so I’m just going to trust them when they say “oh yes, we get a commission for selling you this insurance, but it only just covers our costs for organising it for you” and also just use their travel insurance for convenience. The Excess Buy Out clause is a puzzle though. May write a post on it when I figure it out later.
Next I have to organise a visa. Hooray for passport photos! Although, I like getting stamps and stickers in my passport, so I’m not complaining too loudly.
Will report back on Monday on the visa process. It looks…..interesting.
- 
July 25th, 2005 at 1:14 pm
One thing to be aware of if you aren’t already is the public health insurance trap. Many teachers only stay long enough to get a taste of life in Japan before taking off again. If, however, you would like to keep the option to stay a while open without being dicked for hundreds of thousands of yen in backpayments should you choose to switch to the public scheme at a later date, be sure to register for public health insurance at your local ward office when you arrive and let them know you’ve arranged your own. If you don’t, you will be registered automatically and quietly charged the monthly fee calculated in accordance with your income — without notification. Public health insurance is a cheaper option than most private insurance available, though not if you’re unknowingly paying for both at the same time…
July 26th, 2005 at 12:49 pm
Woah, thanks for the advice! There’s supposed to be an “orientation” day when I arrive in Japan which is meant to include filling out forms, getting a mobile phone, etc. Maybe it includes a trip to the Ward office for the public health insurance thingy. But thanks for the heads up. I’ll be sure to check on it.