Foreword

Introduction

We are very pleased to welcome you, as a member of the research staff, to the laboratories of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation. Located in Musashino, Atsugi, Ibaraki and Yokosuka (in or near the Tokyo Metropolis area), our laboratories are highly reputed for their excellent academic facilities and human resources. The 170-strong research staff of the Basic Research Laboratories study fundamental issues in communication, information and material sciences and physics. They form a part of the 7,000-member R&D body of NTT.

Scope

This guide is partly based on a former one compiled by a number of Japanese colleagues who volunteered for this task. However, since that manual was put together, the number of International Researchers at NTT Musashino has drastically increased from just a few to, currently, over 20. Each newcomer has various questions which need to be answered and thus this new extended living manual appeared to be called for. It deals with questions you may have when preparing to leave for Japan (such as housing, visa, shipment of your belongings etc.) and some others that might be important once you have arrived in this country (such as how to get to the Lab or where to buy certain items). Primarily, it is written for those staying for an extended period of time, i.e. postdocs or permanent employees. While most of the information included will also apply to people staying for just a short period, e.g. invited professors and researchers, some details, especially with regards to housing, may vary. Please check your contract or letter of agreement for such special regulations.

This guide has been put together by some of those who have asked the questions which it tries to answer (i.e. some international researchers) with the help of the NTT Basic Research Laboratories' administration. Since the Basic Research Laboratories have the largest number of international researchers, much of the information in this guide focuses on that group (and more specifically on the Musashino labs since that is where the Basic Research Labs are located, although they will move to Atsugi in 1993-1994). We have tried to expand its contents to include information for international researchers in all of NTT's labs, but it is far from complete. If you have questions that are not answered by this manual, find mistakes or out-of-date information, please let us know. Your contribution will be helpful in providing the newcomers following you with information as complete and up to date as possible. Please see the section on Electronic information sources for an e-mail address for such contributions.

For any questions or suggestions please contact (see note):

	Masao MORITA
	Senior Manager, Research Planning Department
	NTT Basic Research Laboratories
	Tel.: 0422-59-3311   (domestic)
	      81-422-59-3311 (international)
	Fax.: 0422-59-4069   (domestic)
	      81-422-59-4069 (international)
	e-mail:  morita@will.ntt.jp

Organization of the manual

This guide is divided into 9 chapters. It begins with information on important issues like how to get to the Labs, the general conditions for working, visa applications and the housing you may expect to find when joining NTT. It goes on to discuss the medical care and insurance, and the education of your children. Less vital information, designed to give you a taste of what to expect in your neighborhood, is divided into sections on shopping, leisure and recreation. The final sections list further useful information and sources of more information about Japan in general. Several appendices are included covering emergency telephone numbers, useful addresses, and hospitals where English is spoken. The bibliography includes all the books whose titles are italicized in the text.

Since some things (visa, additional insurance etc.) can only be arranged in your home country and not once you are in Japan, please pay special attention to the paragraphs of this manual highlighted by vertical bars (see note) . These areas highlight special things which you must know or do before you come to Japan.

In this manual, we have used overbars (see note) in the romanization of Japanese words with long vowel sounds such as Chuuoo and kyuukoo. The difference in pronunciation is important when speaking Japanese. For some words that frequently appear in English, the overbars have been omitted (e.g. Tokyo instead of Tookyoo).

The Living Manual was compiled with the help of all the international researchers and many Japanese colleagues at the NTT Musashino R&D center. It was written and edited by Ken DeLong, Ricardo Horowicz, Craig Tombling, Jim Maxka, Markus Weyers and Norihiro Hagita. Corrections and contributions for the 1992 edition have come from John Canning, Farzin Mokhtarian, Niko van der Post, Francis Bond, David Rogers, Ferechteh Hosseini Teherani, Benoit Gennart, Ralf Fischer, Ayako Nakamura and Masao Morita.

September 30, 1992.

(table of contents) (next chapter)

________________________________________________________________________

HTML markup by TAKADA Toshihiro