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(ii) The Odakyuu line operates additional trains catering principally for tourists travelling to the Odawara and Hakone regions. Hon-Atsugi is served by some of these super expresses (orange, tokkyuu romance car, ロマンスカー). The fare is 920-yen. Be sure to take the sagami or asagiri expresses, and note that this service is not regular finishing before the evening rush hour.
(ii) Aiko-ishida train station to Tsuushin Kenkyuujo Mae (in front of the Communication Laboratory, i.e. NTT), Bus pole number 4 : bus number 18 or 19, (20 mins., 220-yen).
Location : Building No.1,210N Phone : 3839 Opening times : 9:30am to 11:00am and 12:00noon to 3:00pm, Mondays to Fridays
Location : Building No.1,2120N
Next to Fuji Bank branch office
Opening times : 9:00am to 5:00pm, Mondays to Fridays
WARNING: credit cards issued outside of Japan are generally not accepted.
Location : Building No.1,227S Phone : 4120 Opening times : Nurse : 9:00am to 5:00pm, Mondays to Fridays Doctor : 1:30pm to 3:30pm, Tuesdays to Fridays
Location: Building No.1, B1-14N
Phone: 4198
Opening times: 11:30am to 1:30pm and 4:30pm to 7:00pm,
Mondays to Fridays
Location : Building No.1, 1F Phone : 4600 Opening times : 8:00am to 8:00pm, Mondays to Fridays
Location : Building No.4,404N Phone : 4157 Opening times : 9:00am to 5:00pm, Mondays to Fridays
Location : Building No.1, B110S
Phone : 47-8257
Opening times : 8:00am to 5:30pm, Mondays to Fridays
Goods available : Magazines, books, cigarettes, bread,
confectionery, soft drinks, film, etc.
Services : Film processing (DPE), laundry,
ordering personal seals (inkan, いんかん, 印鑑)
Location : Building No.1, B-110N
Phone : 4296
Opening times : 9:00am to 11:30am, and 1:00pm to 4:00pm,
Mondays to Fridays
Goods available : General laboratory and office equipment
Name of Club (sakuru-me) サークル名 (1) The game of 'Go' 囲碁 いご (2) Floral art 華道 かどう (3) Microcomputers マイコン (4) Choir 合唱 がっしょう (5) Karate 空手 からて (6) Soft ball tennis 軟式テニス なんしきてにす (7) Tennis 硬式テニス こうしきてにす (8) Baseball 野球 やきゅう (9) Rugby ラグビー (10) Basket ball バスケット (11) Hiking 山の会 やまのかい (12) Badminton バドミントン (13) Golf ゴルフ (14) Pingpong 卓球 たっきゅう (15) Soccer サッカー (16) Kendo 剣道 けんどう
Location : Building No.2, 204S
Building No.4N, 320N
Opening time: 8:30am to 5:10pm, Mondays to Fridays
Facilities : AV system, Body-Sonic, etc.
Food stores are located in the basement of these department stores and restaurants can be found on the top floors. Discount price electrical goods can be obtained from LAOX. For a wider selection of goods go to Machida, Yokohama or Tokyo.
Atsugi City Hall 〒243 神奈川県厚木市 3-17-17 Naka-machi 中町3丁目17番17号 Atsugi, Kanagawa 243 厚木市役所 Tel: 0462-23-1511 The Information Center 本厚木駅 at Hon-Atsugi train station インフォメーションセンター Opening times : 8:30am to 7:30pm, Monday to Friday 8:30am to3:00pm, Saturday Atsugi City Library 〒243 神奈川県厚木市 1-1-3 Naka-machi 中町1丁目1番3号 Atsugi, Kanagawa 243 厚木市立図書館 Tel: 0462-23-0033 (Part of Atsugi City Plaza) Royal Park Hotel 〒243 神奈川県厚木市 2-13-1 Naka-machi 中町2丁目13番1号 Atsugi, Kanagawa 243 ロイヤルパークホテル Tel : 0462-21-0001Of these four places the Royal Park Hotel is probably your best bet since this hotel often has foreign guests and the staff at the information desk are familiar with dealing with non-Japanese-speaking people. A useful English-language map of Atsugi is available from this hotel.
Atsugi Bunka Kaikan 〒243 神奈川県厚木市恩名295-1 295-1 Onna 厚木文化会舘 Atsugi, Kanagawa 243 Tel : 0462-24-9000 Atsugi Culture Center 〒243 神奈川県厚木市中町2-1 2-1, Naka-machi 厚木カルチャーセンター Atsugi, Kanagawa 243 Tel : 0462-23-0307 Hon-atsugi movie theater: often has movies in English
Opening times : 9:30am to 7:00pm,
Tuesdays to Fridays
(of adult library section) 9:30am to 5:00pm,
Saturdays and Sundays.
i) Youth Community Center (City Plaza 6th floor),
Thursdays 18:45-20:15,
ii) Fujin Kaikan, Saturdays 10:00-11:30.
Tokai Univ. Hospital Dr.Shinohara 0463-93-1121
ext. 2270
Japan Times subscriptions 03-3453-4350 Tokyo Journal subscriptions 03-5379-6214 Nihongo Journal subscriptions 03-3327-1101
Kanachu takushii (神奈中タクシー) 0462-21-1746 Sagami-chuo kotsu (相模中央交通) 0462-21-5221
Musashino (武蔵野) 156 Yokosuka (横須賀) 158 Ibaraki (茨城) 157 Head Office (日比谷) 159
03-3423-0111 This hotline gives information about the Japan Railload (JR) System throughout Japan. 03-3586-0110 This hotline gives a wide range of information about customs, culture, daily life, shopping, what's going on etc.. 03-3201-1010 English language telephone directory assistance for telephone numbers within Japan. Kanagawa Prefectural 横浜市中区山下町1 Tourist Association シルクセンタービル1階 Silk Center Bldg. 1F 神奈川県観光協会 Yamashita-cho Naka-ku Yokohama-shi Tel : 045-681-0007 Yokohama International 横浜市中区山下町1 Tourist Association シルクセンタービル1階 Silk Center Bldg 1F 横浜海外旅行協会 Yamashita-cho Naka-ku Yokohama-shi Tel : 045-641-5824 Kanagawa International Association (KIA) TEL: 045-671-7070 Yokohama Association for International Communication and Exchanges (YOKE) TEL: 045-671-7128 YOKE Community Lounge Information Corner Volunteers TEL: 045-671-7209
Bring along two photographs and your passport. You will be asked to fill out some forms (available in English) and be fingerprinted. Two weeks later you can pick up your Alien Registration Card at the City Hall. Usually there are no queues.
For a visa extension bring along two photographs, your passport, your foreign resident card, a copy of your contract with NTT, a document showing how much money you have earned from NTT, and 4000 Yen (March 1992).
Reentry permits and visa extensions are issued immediately. However, be prepared to queue for 2 to 5 hours before being served, and take into account that it takes about 1.5 hours to go to the Immigration Office from Aikoishida or Hon-Atsugi station.
The Yokohama Immigration Office is located near J.R. Ishikawacho station (石川町) on the Negishi line or the Keihin Tohoku line. From Aikoishida or Hon-Atsugi go to Ebina on the Odakyuu line, then go to Yokohama station with the Sotetsu line and change on to the J.R. Negishi or Keihin Tohoku line. Ishikawacho is the third station from Yokohama station on trains bound for Ofuna (大船).
At Ishikawacho turn to the right when exiting the station from either of the two exits. After 50m, at the first crossing, turn left and cross the river. Then turn right again and walk along the river for approximately 400 m until you reach the office which is on the left hand side.
There is a 24-hour telephone information service in English giving details of visa related matters. The service is available from push-button phones only. Dial 03-3213-8141. After hearing the instructions press 2 for English. Then press the code number of the information you require. The ones that are most applicable to postdocs are listed below:
You can give your gas and phone bills directly to the bank clerk, who will fill out a form #6 and cash the amount. There is no fee for paying gas and phone bills. In case you have to transfer money to some bank account within Japan, you should fill out form #4 (if the account is at Fuji Bank) or form #5 (if the account is at any other bank). Note that the name of the bank and the name and address of the recipient must be written in Japanese. Ask a colleague to fill out the form for you. Each money transfer will cost a few hundred Yen.
If you have to pay money on a post office account, you may go to the Morinosato post office (a 10 minutes walk from the laboratory ). The post office does not close at lunch time. Notice that even though bigger post offices (for example the main post office in Hon-Atsugi) are open on Saturdays and Sunday mornings, payments can be done only from Monday to Friday. During the weekend you can only buy stamps, or send parcels and registered mail.
Note: neither the national nor the international driver's license are accepted in Japan, not even for renting a car only. However, it's not a big problem to get the Japanese transcription of your national license, except for the fact that you have to invest a whole morning to get it.
You need:
Get into the left building and buy a revenue stamp for 3200 yen in the ground floor ( or 1st floor, according to the Japanese counting system), then go to second floor and find the appropriate counter (No.10; English signs are available). Note that you do not have to fill out a form before that, in contrast to other applicants. At the counter, they eventually ask you some Japanese traffic signs. Most of them are the same as in western countries. Then, they will send you to an eye test. You have to identify where the large one is located, respectively. It helps if you know the Japanese expressions "ue"(up), "shita"(down), "hidari"(left), "migi"(right). If you are not blind, you will probably pass the test.
Then, they will take a picture of you (which will appear in your license; it's not the passport photograph mentioned above), and then you will have to watch a 30 minute video and listen to a 60 minute talk (both in Japanese). Basically, they want to tell you to drive carefully. They do not check whether you actually take part in this, but even if you don't, you will not get your license earlier. After the talk, you can fetch it in the ground floor of the building. Here, fortunately you do not have to wait so long because foreigners are processed first. Anyway, it's a good idea to have something to read with you during the waiting times.
A note on the validity: the license is valid until your third birthday from the date when you obtained the license (so usually, for sometime less than three years). Then, it has to be renewed, and such a procedure must be followed every three years.
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