japanlife 内の AutoModerator によるリンク Weekly Stupid Questions Thread - 28 February 2016

[–]dokool 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

Keep emailing and calling until they send it to you just to shut you up.

Tokyo 内の Not_A_Greenhouse によるリンク **TOKYO TOURIST MEGATHREAD** ALL TOKYO QUESTIONS HERE

[–]dokool 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

caffeine pills

Don Quixote, maybe?

retro videogame logo bucket hats

Super Potato might have some stuff but that sort of thing isn't as easily available as it would be in the US.

a good facial piercing parlor that is English/broken Japanese friendly

First result that came up is EXTREME in Harajuku. Their Facebook has positive reviews, including some in English. Also their top news item is that they closed the shop yesterday to attend a meeting of the Japan Professional Piercers Association which tells me they're not a back-alley operation.

japanlife 内の Senorahlan によるリンク Looking for an embroidery shop that can do large pieces.

[–]dokool 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

Might want to look on AliExpress for vendors.

japan 内の TreeDiagram によるリンク Playing a concert in Japan?

[–]dokool 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

If you haven't arranged for a busking permit then it doesn't matter whether or not you're asking for money, the cops probably won't be your best friend.

And you won't get an entertainer visa playing streetside, so you'll want to disavow yourself of that notion. It's used for legit entertainers like major touring bands, Cirque du Soleil, Disney Land, etc.

japan 内の strongsandwichrunawa によるリンク Are you going to Fuji Rock Festival 2016?

[–]dokool 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

Identical thread from last year: http://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/comments/2ynd0h/anyone_been_to_fuji_rock_festival/

Fujirockers.org should have an English edition as well; it's the festival with the most English support in Japan.

japan 内の bonkybonky によるリンク Tax season is upon us

[–]dokool 2ポイント3ポイント  (0子コメント)

As long as you have all of your certificates of withholding, you bring them to the tax office, plug the numbers into the right boxes, add your health insurance/pension payments to the right boxes (because surely you've saved all those slips too), I think if you have life insurance or earthquake insurance you can claim that, pick an appropriate number for the work-related expenses box (you probably wouldn't be able to claim anything for your full-time job but maybe your part-time job), add up all the columns, and pray you aren't taking too big a hit. You may find yourself pleasantly surprised to receive a refund.

Your local ward/town/city office will usually have a Tax Return Center set up, with plenty of assistants flitting around and helping people fill out their applications, laptop stations for people filing electronically, etc. If you live in a more populated area they will probably have a couple English speakers as well. I think this will be my 7th or so year of filing my own taxes and my level was below yours when I started (now it's probably N1 but I inevitably rope one of the helpers, wave last year's tax return at them, and say "I did this but with different numbers").

TBH, if you're working full-time at one company and they'll do the taxes for you, I would just give them the withholding slip from the part-time job and be done with it. But there's a few resources online for foreigners filing taxes in Japan, so maybe if you do the math you'll find that it's to your advantage to do it yourself.*

*IANAA - I Am Not An Accountant - and have no idea how taxes work for married couples here. YMMV.

japan 内の bonkybonky によるリンク Tax season is upon us

[–]dokool 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

You should have gotten the certificate of withholding (源泉徴収書) from your part-time dispatch company; you could theoretically give that to your company and they add it to your figures, assuming that they are aware you're doing part-time work.

Or you could get the 源泉徴収書 from both companies and do the income tax return (確定申告) yourself.

japan 内の letteradegree によるリンク JR Staff has some fun, puts American flag on sign for USA (Station; 宇佐駅) in Ōita Prefecture, Kyūshū.

[–]dokool 5ポイント6ポイント  (0子コメント)

I imagine putting the actual flag would be too controversial (for both countries).

Maybe they're not trying to avoid controversy and this is just cleverer.

japan 内の Merkypie によるリンク Foreign comedian Jason Atsugiri tweeted, "I hate haphazard explanations like, ' It's the rules so obey them '" and apparently ruffled some feathers.

[–]dokool 9ポイント10ポイント  (0子コメント)

I can't help but think this is the same guy who was on TV talking about why apprenticing to a sushi chef was pointless when one could just go to school and learn how to slice fish and slap it on rice.

I thought that was Takafumi Horie.

japan 内の kolnidur によるリンク Does anyone know of a ferry or boat that crosses Tokyo Bay like this?

[–]dokool[M] -1ポイント0ポイント  (0子コメント)

Removing this because you clearly weren't smart enough to put "Tokyo Bay ferry" into Google and read the first result.

travel 内の JQbd によるリンク First time traveller going from Edmonton, Alberta to Riga, Latvia. Not entirely sure what I'm doing and could probably use some help

[–]dokool 0ポイント1ポイント  (0子コメント)

I was commenting more that people freak out and make Tolkienesque self posts for the most minor situations.

The motto of this sub could be "Keep Calm and Book the Fucking Flight."

travel 内の JQbd によるリンク First time traveller going from Edmonton, Alberta to Riga, Latvia. Not entirely sure what I'm doing and could probably use some help

[–]dokool 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

This could be automatically posted to half of the threads in this sub and it'd still be true.

japanlife 内の AutoModerator によるリンク Weekly Stupid Questions Thread - 28 February 2016

[–]dokool 7ポイント8ポイント  (0子コメント)

They're currently ¥8,000 a piece with nothing (no food nor drink) - I paid ¥3,000 the week it opened.

Christ almighty. They should peg the price of admission against the national interest rate or something.

Voyagin has non-bento tickets for 6000.

japanlife 内の AutoModerator によるリンク Weekly Stupid Questions Thread - 28 February 2016

[–]dokool 7ポイント8ポイント  (0子コメント)

You make it sound like the general public will judge those fans

The general public judges everything, why should Vocaloid fans be any different?

Idol fans in Japan have earned a reputation for being... the polite word would be "dedicated", but others might say "creepily obsessed." And when you add that culture to the whole otaku culture of "my 2D waifu", another trend which is judged by the general public, you get... Vocaloid.

japanlife 内の RaigekiAKH によるリンク Donating blood in Japan

[–]dokool 1ポイント2ポイント  (0子コメント)

The clause I quoted is #5, it says that any time spent visiting/living in the countries mentioned in clauses 1-4 or 6 also count toward that five-year span.

So basically if you spent 4.5 years in Sweden and 5 months in Italy (Clause #3), they count it as five years and you're out.

japanlife 内の AutoModerator によるリンク Weekly Stupid Questions Thread - 28 February 2016

[–]dokool 7ポイント8ポイント  (0子コメント)

The same tour that did SEA and the US in the last couple years is doing Japan this coming month. I think there's maybe one concert (or tour) per year if that.

It's a subculture thing; a well-known subculture thing, yes, but we're not living in William Gibson's Idoru. It's like asking if the entire US is into anime because of how media covers conventions.

japanlife 内の RaigekiAKH によるリンク Donating blood in Japan

[–]dokool 13ポイント14ポイント  (0子コメント)

Here are the full rules.

And more specifically here is why you're DQed under the Mad Cow Disease-related rules:

オーストリア、ギリシャ、スウェーデン、デンマーク、フィンランド、ルクセンブルグに、昭和55年(1980年)から平成16年(2004年)までに、通算5年以上の滞在(居住)歴のある方(通算5年の計算には1、2、3、4、6の滞在(居住)歴も含みます)。

"Persons who lived in Austria, Greece, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, or Luxembourg for a total of at least five years between 1980 and 2004."