beginning my 3rd phase in japan

Went to the Bunkyo-ku Ward Office this afternoon to get my Alien Registration Card (ARC) amended. I figured I would be staying at this place for quite some time, so decided to have the address registered. Everytime we need to move, we have to register our new address with the nearest city office. The original address will be on the front side of the card, while the new address will be written/typed at the back.


It's kinda strange coz in Malaysia, we just change the whole card and get a new one with the latest address. But here in Japan, maybe because it's more environmentally friendly, they just list down your latest address and the date of move. So the more you more, the more addresses you accumulate at the back of your ARC.

If you notice on the date there, it says "19.11.3". Allow me to explain another reason why Japan is different from the rest of the world. 19 is the Heisei Japanese year, which is named according to the Emperor. Of course his name is not Heisei, but it's like the Dynasty concept in China. Before Heisei, it was Showa, Taisho, Meiji (these 3 being the previous Emperors' names) and many many others with Taika beginning in the Gregorian year 645.

The other is the order in which dates are written. I was so used to writing DDMMYY that I always had to switch back when filling dates the Japanese way. I also had to remember my birth year which was Showa xx and count my way front to the Heisei to get the current year correct. Sometimes I have to look back at my alien registration card to fill up the right year.

For those who can read kanji, you would have noticed that the order of the address is also the reverse of what we usually write. It starts with Tokyo-to (prefecture), Bunkyo-ku (district), Suido 2-10-18 (Block, but no road names!), and then the name. And when sending letters or parcels, the postcode will be the first before the prefecture.

And then this evening, the remaining 4 of my 7 boxes came in from Niigata. They're finally here, my books and kitchen stuff. I was about to have them shipped to my previous accomodation but that place was too small and I realised I should wait until I get a better place, which is where I'm living right now. Watanabe-san was kind enough to help me bring it up (our rooms are on the 2nd floor - 2nd floor is what 1st floor is to the Japanese) despite these 4 being the heaviest of them all!

With the above done, it's like an official stamp saying I'm officially a resident of Tokyo, no longer tied to Niigata nor having any belongings there. The only things remaining are memories and friends. Which reminds me, I have to get ready for this weekend. My uni is having its annual Open Day and this year is the biggest since they're celebrating its 25th anniversary. It would be good to catch up with friends again, I still miss campus a lot.