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Every researcher will have to extend his/her visa once a year. To extend the visa you must go to the nearest immigration bureau. For central Tokyo (including Musashino), you should go to the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau (which is to the east of the Imperial gardens). The closest station is the Otemachi station (Subway Marunouchi Line, Chiyoda Line, Tozai Line or Mita-Line; exit C2). You can also walk there from the JR Tokyo station (about 15 minutes). The office is open from 9 am to 5 pm, Monday to Friday with a lunch break from 12 noon to 1 pm. It is no longer open on Saturdays. The bureau's telephone number is: (03) 3213-8111. Its address is: 1st Otemachi Common Government Office (2F.3F), 1-3-1, Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo.
For people in Yokosuka there is a very small immigration office next to JR Yokosuka station, looking out on the sea (on your left as you leave the station). The staff are very friendly and it is not at all crowded (there is rarely anyone else there). The phone number is 0468-23-0453. It is also possible to use the Yokohama immigration office but it tends to be very crowded.
Visa extension is normally done within a month before the expiration date of the visa but it can be done earlier if, for example, a member of your family plans to travel outside Japan and will be absent during that month. If done early, the new expiration date should still be a year after the old expiration date.
You will need the following documents: employment certificate, income certificate, completed application form(s) (one for each person), passport(s), alien registration card(s) and letter of guarantee for your family if you are married. The fee for each person is 4000-yen. Make sure you have all the required documents or you will have to go there again.
If a national holiday falls on a Sunday, the following Monday is a day off. Year End New Year's holidays are December 29 through January 3. The afternoon of Oct. 23 is an NTT holiday.
In addition, postdocs have 15 paid holidays per fiscal year. The fiscal year starts April 1st. If you commence work after the start of the fiscal year, your holidays will be calculated as follows: number of remaining months in the fiscal year /12 x 15 days. Holidays can, however, be carried over to the next fiscal year. Currently there is no possibility of cashing in on unused holidays at the end of your contract. In special cases (urgent family matters at home, application for a new job etc.) unpaid vacation can be taken. However, you will have to discuss this with your superiors.
When a postdoc is injured or falls ill, he/she is entitled to sick leave for the full period necessary to receive proper medical care, as certified by the attending physician, up to a maximum duration of three months. Sick leave is paid leave.
Shortly after your arrival you will receive an allowance to help cover
your out-of-pocket travel expenses as specified in your contract
(currently $1,460). Your shipping expenses (up to maximum 5 m^3 ) and a
one-way air ticket from your nearest airport to Tokyo (for arrival and
departure for both yourself and each of your dependents) will be
reimbursed once you have submitted the receipts. Since the
administrative procedure for these payments may take roughly one week,
please make sure that you have a reasonable amount of cash with you to
cover your expenses during this period. Credit cards may be somewhat
useful; Visa and American Express are the most convenient, while
Mastercard is not so useful.
Health Insurance: About 4% of your salary. (Compulsory, even for those with other Insurance).
Income Tax: About 7% of net salary.
Pension Plan (Retirement Tax): About 7% of your salary. (Compulsory, even if you are not going to retire in Japan). You should check with your own country whether there are any agreements on mutual acknowledgment of contributions for pension plans.
Residence (City) Tax: This tax is paid monthly after June of your second year. The residence tax is figured on an annual basis, with the total tax being a fixed percentage of your income for the last fiscal year, ending Dec. 31 (this percentage is on a sliding scale of roughly 2-8%, depending on your income). You pay 1/12 of the city tax each month, beginning June of your second calendar year in Japan. Therefore, your starting date may influence the amount of tax you have to pay during your stay in Japan. Example: postdoc A starts working in January 1991, and his salary is 450.000-yen. In the first year his income is 450,000-yen x 12 = 5,400,000-yen, and he pays no taxes. Beginning June 1992 he starts to pay 1/12 of 5,400,000-yen x 8% = 36,000-yen each month. By the end of his contract, December 1992, he would have then paid 7 x 36,000-yen = 252,000-yen. Postdoc B starts working on December 1990, also with salary of 450,000-yen. Since his annual income in 1990 was only 450,000-yen, his tax will only be 2%, and he must then pay from June 1991 to June 1992 the value 1/12 x 450,000-yen x 2% = 750-yen monthly. Then, from July 1992 to December 1992, he must pay according to his previous annual income, that is: 1/12 x 5,400,000-yen x 8% = 36,000-yen monthly. By the end of his contract (November 1992) he would have then paid 750 x 12 + 36000-yen x 5 = 189,000-yen. Please note that the above figures may change according to place of residence and arbitrary tax policy. If you work at NTT for less than 1 year as an invited professor, your income tax will be between 15% and 20%. However, if your 1 year contract is shortened for any reason, once you have started working at NTT, only the usual taxes will be applied. You should check in your home country about tax-exemption. For some countries your income in Japan will not be taxed.
Most of NTT's labs have a small branch office of one of Japan's major banks within the laboratory complex (Musashino: Fuji Bank 少晃朵乖, Yokosuka: Dai-ichi Kangyo 妈办传度朵乖). These branch offices can perform all the usual financial transactions, with a 24 hour delay in crediting your account. You can also arrange to have your electricity, gas and phone bills deducted directly from your account. It is recommended for the researcher to have an account at one of these banks, not only because of its convenient location, but also because the clerk is already familiar with the international researcher's problems. At Musashino, there is also a Fuji Bank cash dispenser, located on the first floor of building 1, where you can obtain money from your Fuji account. Note, however, that this dispenser is only open from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm on weekdays. Most banks also have cash dispensers near the larger train stations (e.g. Mitaka and Kichijooji). Please note that these operate on different schedules, usually not too different from the bank hours. You can use the cash dispenser of other banks as well, for a small extra charge. If you want to have an account in a foreign currency, you should open an account in one of the non-Japanese banks. Citibank is convenient, since it has offices both in Shinjuku and Kichijooji. Credit cards can be obtained from some banks, although it may turn out to be quite difficult to acquire one. The NTT ID cards can be "activated" to become credit cards as well.
For purchasing books that are not in the library as well as research equipment and other things, the labs use a distributed PC network connected to a central mainframe computer to place the orders. The system is called the "TA" system (Total Automation), and is quite a research project in itself. The system is entirely in Japanese and runs on NEC PCs. There is no manual in English, although there is an explanation of how to use it to purchase books in the Musashino Library Manual. With a less than "friendly" user interface, even our Japanese colleagues are often stumped by it. Learning to use it, however, can save great time and frustration in getting your work done. The capabilities of the TA system are quite large: it can also be used to reserve meeting rooms at all of the labs, do accounting and budgeting, handle taxation of capital equipment, request for the disposal of hazardous materials, report abstracts and titles of research papers, send e-mail (in a limited fashion compared to the internet), report expenses of overseas business trips, and process maintenance of the TA system itself!
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