Manila Standard Today – With Japan tightening up…….Japan itself has not continued to accept a steady stream of Filipino performing artists considering its stricter visa …. Japan has drawn up measures to curtail human trafficking.
…artists can be issued visa to Japan by either passing any of the two requirements namely, two-year experience as artists in other countries or two-year college education on performing arts.
Japan’s “Entertainer Visa” is dead. Even my Iowa farmboy friend Brian was refused that visa category this week and he has a dozen movie credits.
The above visa “rule” of ‘two-year experience as artists in other countries or two-year college education on performing arts’ is only a guideline and in reality everyone but Tom Cruise is being rejected at this time. If you really are an entertainer (and not a hooker) and you want to apply for an “Entertainer Visa” to Japan, just wait until next year and by then things will loosen up .
Question: What is the law regarding self-defense in Japan? What if someone hits you, what can you do in Japan, legally?
Answer: Nothing.
Really.
Japanese law does not have self defense as a “right” — it’s only an mitigating option.
If you attempt to defend yourself, you might be charged with assault. You are supposed to run away from an assault or lay on the ground and pee in your pants crying.
In Japan, self-defense is not a right—it’s a rare possible privilage.
Whether you get get charged with assault is up to determination of the lazy Japanese police and case-by-case-phase-of-the-moon basis. Japanese police only want to preserve the “wa” / 和 , so never expect justice. Basically, make sure you look very hurt and assaulted before the police get involved. Since you are an “evil” gaijin, you need a lot of mitigating circumstances to plea self-defence: you better be bleeding and your opponent better look like insane maniac.
Damn! All television viewers in Japan are “asked” to pay a monthly fee for NHK (Japanese Public Television) services, but but foreigners just ignored it because there was no penality for not paying till now….
NHK to press for subscription fee payments through summary court
japan today > japan > national Friday, October 6, 2006 at 05:00 EDT
TOKYO —NHK Chairman Genichi Hashimoto said Thursday that people who refuse to pay their viewer subscription fees will be pressed for payment through summary courts if they fail to pay by the end of this month…. Viewers’ property may be seized if they do not follow summary courts’ demand for payment.
The deal is that because of the fraud and money scandals of NHK Company, many Japanese people are very angry and stopped paying their fees. The national broadcaster—think of it as Stalinist/JapanInc version of the BBC—was fast going bankrupt. So now NHK is going to start busting down door and forcing people to pay. NHK service fees: 14,910 yen to 40,430 yen per year ($127 to $343 USD) WARNING! THIS IS OLD INFO….
Q: Do I have to pay for NHK TV?
A: Nope.
Like the BBC in Great Britain, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK TV changes fees of everyone with a TV in Japan. Unlike the BBC, Japan’s fees are not “manditory” since NHK does not have a way to force people to pay with fines or arrest. NHK goes door to door to collect—often with amusing results when they try to collect from foreigners who cannot be bullied or shamed into paying like the pavid Japanese.
Remember: NHK—Just Say No.(c)
However, note that the new digital TV will not show NHK unless you pay the fees since new digital signal is scrambled. Also according to the the Japan SAQ: [NHK door-to-door collectors] “are generally very aggressive and threatening, usually sticking their foot in the door so that you can’t close it on them, and somehow giving you the impression that dire consequences will ensue if you do not pay promptly. … (be careful if you have a satellite dish though).”
1.17 million subscribers refuse to pay NHK fee
According to NHK, there were a total of 201,000 new cases of refusal to pay or suspension of payment of the fee in the June-July period….An increasing number of viewers say they do not want to pay the fee because it is unfair that they pay while many others do not, rather than because of the scandals. There is no penalty for not paying the fee….
Refer also to the previous 3Yen reports: Japan’s NHK public TV is “unnecesary and Boycott NHK! 700,000 public TV subscribers wise up.
Here’s a new Japanese service to “explain” Japanese social security that’s coming soon:
Also refer to my old threads:
Foreigners: leave Japan and get a $5,000 bonus
Pension & Health Insurance payments
English Web site eyed to explain social security to foreigners
The Daily Yomiuri—August 1, 2005
English Web site eyed to explain social security to foreigners
The Social Insurance Agency will open an English-language Web site in September to provide information on the social security system to long-staying foreigners in Japan.
All foreigners living in Japan are obliged to pay social security premiums, such as for health care and pension programs…
The agency wants to make the new site easy to understand for non-Japanese residents who are not familiar with the complicated social insurance system.
Collect the $5,000 please-leave-Japan-you-evil-gaijin bonus!
About the J-Pension Refund… There is a Y590,000 limit on the refund so if you have paid lot of money into the Japanese Pension system having the 11 years you paid into the J-Pension transferred into your UK-Pension program is a better deal (if the UK and Japan have that pension swap). On the other hand, for folks who mostly worked “off the books” doing freelance work, hostessing and the like during their stay, the J-Pension Refund will be a good deal just as it is for 3-or-fewer-years gaijin. (The very name of the pension-refund scheme in Japanese refers to payments for “short-term” foreigners–the 90 percent who leave within three years.)
The Irish Net Nippon presents Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About The JAPANESE PENSION REFUND SYSTEM Adapted from an article originally published in the Japan Times.
[[ a bit old, but still valid]]
>Q. What if I have more questions? A. In Japanese, call the government offices mentioned earlier where the pension payment application will be distibuted and ask to speak to someone who can tell you about pensions (nenkin). Specifically, ask about lump-sum withdrawal payments for foreigners (tanki zairyu gaikokujin ni taisuru dattai ichijikin.) Also be aware of this possible refund… I don’t know if I would trust these folks with my money, but they do seem to have a “method” to get both the: “1. The pension refund itself (below) 2. The additional 20% tax refund.”
Also refer to my old threads:
Pension & Health Insurance payments
Well yes, sort of….but not really.
However, that’s part of the reason for the popularity of Enjo kyosai (援助交際) aka “compensated dating” where high school-aged girls are paid by older men to “date” them (and render sexual services generally).
Here’s the way the so-called “age 13 is age of consent” works:
The age of consent in Japan is 13 years old under the Japanese national criminal law code. However, all municipalities and prefectures have their own particular laws such as Tokyo’s “Youth Protection Law” which prohibit adults from having sex with youths who are under 17 years old. Because the age of consent in Japan ranges from 13 to 17, depending on jurisdiction, many enjo kyosai clients cannot be charged with statutory rape. See the website: Japan — Age of Consent
As an added note, even though the age of consent in Japan can be 13, the age of majority is 20 for voting. The age of adulthood is considered 20 and driving age in 20.
Weird? Here’s a better one. Japan’s “Prostitution Prevention Act”(1958) only prohibts actual sexual
intercourse (or sex controlled by organized crime). That law defines as That law defines as “true” sexual conduct between men and women, and not to “imitation” between same sex persons, so gay prostitution is not prohibited directly. That also makes hand jobs, water queens, or homosexual SM nuns legal.
Therefore, creatively kinky places like the “Sexual Harassment Corporation” where you pay to molest girls in school and business sets are totally legal.
If you’re American in Japan who has not filed an IRS tax return in years, all is not lost. The IRS will work something out. Most of my friends in the situation have sweated this problem out and ended up wihout much of any penalities. Read on…
FAQ of the IRS
….the statute of limitations for IRS to assess and collect any outstanding balances does not start until a return has been filed. In other words, there is no statute of limitations for assessing and collecting the tax if no return has been filed. ….
…The IRS continues to improve its database of income transactions and increase its ability to identify people who have a filing requirement but have failed to file a return. Eventually, contact will be made and the correct tax liability computed. By this time, howevr, the original tax bill will be multiplied many times by the addition of interest and penalties….
….There are numerous practical reasons to file tax returns. Whether buying a home or financing a business, copies of filed returns must be submitted to the lending institution. Important programs like federal aid to higher education also require applicants to submit copies of tax returns to qualify for loans. And the filing of tax returns has a tremendous impact on the future. Social Security retirement and disability benefits as well as Medicare are all computed based on a person’s lifetime earnings reported to the IRS and the Social Security Administration. State benefits such as unemployment compensation and industrial insurance are also based on reported income… For people with multiple unfiled returns, IRS practice is generally to limit investigations and examinations to the last six years.
…more…
Previously in “Getting a job in Japan, the hard way”, I failed to cover the the best way to come to Japan: O.P.M. ,other people’s money or as it universally called here:
THE PACKAGE.
The best way to come to Japan is to be Joining a foreign software company and being sent to Japan on the all expense paid “The Package” for expats is the best. Why live in Japan as an “in-country hire” low-life like me when you can live the fatcat expat life?
The terms for an expat Package traditionally include fully paid Western-style housing and all private school fees, business-class travel home annually, a car, cost-of-living benefits of an additional 20 to 40 percent over local pay levels. For example, an expat friend of mine working for a global electronics company (GE) at middle/lower senior management receives a $3,000 USD housing allowance per month, of airfares to home country, three weeks holiday on top of the numerous Japanese holidays, full medical/dental/legal, and private school fees for their children.
“Ideally” if you want to come to Japan, you should try to be hired at a non-Japanese company with a large Japanese division and then get transferred here to live as royalty. The greater the Japanese presence the non-Japanese company has, the more chances you have to transfer here on the all-important Package. Occasionally, a smaller company will have a gaijin director position available but you would have to have inside connections to know that and generally the smaller the company the higher the level of Japanese is required.
I am saying you need to work for non-Japanese companies because Japanese companies don’t like to transfer folks from the Real World to Japan except for specific projects of less than six months. The game industry has the greatest amount of cross-border transfers most other industries use in-country hiring of very F’ed gaijin and “astronauts” who commute to Japan for a couple weeks or months at a time. Also Japanese company do not want to hire a foreigner sight unseen…and it’s a pain in the ass to come to Japan without work (and often a visa) just to interview for a job. Besides, Japanese companies don’t provide the Package, bah.
The real “Answer” to getting a job in Japan is: “Don’t.”
Ok, I’ve warned you. Now please go ahead and buy any of the books about getting a job in Japan and read it cover to cover. The old Bible of thousands of FG wannabes for the past 20 years, “JOBS in JAPAN” and most others likeHow to Land Jobs in Japan advice to come here cold and semi-illegal to find a job.
Then visit the web forums like GaijinPot for a reality check.
Pleeeease do your homework. Don’t email me and ask for the magic answer to getting a job in Japan. After 20 years, I haven’t the foggest idea what the special trick is. Don’t take this personally; I simply do not know. I fell into my job by mistake.
So what is it like to find a job in Japan? Here’s a few of my random thoughts….
Most J-companies do NOT wanna hire a Pig-in-Poke. It’s tough to be hired overseas in your home country to work in Japan. The Bad-Case scenerio is it’s gonna take you 6-to-3 months to find job and more than $5-10K to get your own apartment, phone, fridge, etc. The Good-Case scenerio is it’s gonna take you 4 weeks and $1,900. The Best-Case scenerio does not exist.
Please note many major Japanese companies will not sponsor visas (your soon-to-be-bucho/manager is forced to privately sponsor you).
Come to think of it, most of the long-term gaijin came here under some sponsorship such as a job transfer, Japanese education, martial arts, JET program, etc.
Me? I got headhunted here but I was told to “wait” for 3-4 months. I scrapped by as a semi-illegal worker in a bunch shitty jobs to survive. Then had to do the Korean visa run on at my own expense to get my work visa. It was DAMN TOUGH. I ran out of money ($3,500 spent in 9 weeks). Without leeching off my Judo teacher and a friendly mama-san who frequently gave me “taxi money” I would never have “made it”.
BOTTOM LINE: Go for it! What do got to lose but your sanity?
- 
