Post 68: Thursday 6/20 Deregistration and Inhabitants Tax

Mary, mother of god. What a fucking shitty day. It started out well, but GODDAMMMMIT!

Let’s start with the good.

I had a really cool lady meet up with me to help with the deregistering process. I went to Doutor to grab a coffee early and just relaxed. I met with her at Mejiro station.

We took a cab over to the city hall. She studied in Michigan…I really liked her. Thought she was really cool. Anyway, I had a couple questions to the tax guy. I wanted to pay my taxes as one, but had to use the website that yahoo put together….it fucking sucks balls. Big sweaty donkey balls.

I had to get a special number to allow me to pay in whole. However, it would not let me get through. So this lady, myself, and the tax guy were sitting there and we even said IN JAPANESE, that we will need to split up the payments….so, we tried that option that the app GAVE US. Nothing.

The tax guy said that I may have a limit. So I went walking back home, but I felt a little uneasy, so I just tried calling my bank. Turns out that I have a limit of $9,999 a day and the amount I had to pay was like $16,000.

fml.

They were not able to adjust the limit, so I tried paying again using the “separate payment” option….I kept getting an error.

So I emailed, my tax person, my friends, and the person that is helping me coordinate the move.

I then went to the Japan bank to see if I could transfer money from the US bank account to the Japan account (EVEN THOUGH I JUST TRANSFERRED AN ASSLOAD TO THE US!!!!)… Just as I got to my bank across Tokyo, I got a call as the elevator opened on the 7th floor. It was the tax guy that said that in order for me to pay in installments, they have to give me a different number….

So, let me get this straight……I have to get a different number for single-pay and a different number if I wanted to pay in installments…EVEN THOUGH there is an option on the screen to pay in installments!?!?!?! WTF IS THAT OPTION EVEN THERE FOR!? WTF.

So, the tax guy ordered the number for me, but it would not get to me until Saturday. And if it did not work on Saturday, I would have to wait until Monday to get back in there. ….and Monday, I already had a SHIT LOAD of things I had to do…..

So I went home to charge my phone and eat something.

I had a nasty Burger King burger and then left with an almost-full charge. I was going to take the Toden line since it would drop me off right by the City Hall (区役所).

On the way, I saw a baby bird that fell out of it’s nest. Only new feathers were on its head. It’s nest was in a telephone pole and I could hear the mom chirp above. It was chirping too. There were some people that were walking right by ALMOST stepping on it or kicking it. I could not trust other people, so I picked it up and put it in a higher area with grass, right next to the side walk, so the mom can see it. I don’t think it would survive…it was too young and too naked. Though I had to think to myself, do I want it to die slowly and painfully with someone stepping on it or kicking it, or put it to the side where it may be eaten (faster) or just pass on quietly?…..I was a wreck.

I never went past there again.

I then went to the city office, and I am shaking mad, because the guy saw us trying to do it in separate payments and HE SAID NOTHING. So, I tell someone what I need and was really panicked about it, so they had someone take me to the same area I was at earlier. I waited in the seats until I was called….and I got the SAME GUY. I told him the situation and he told me that “yes, you need a different number”…and I, frustrated, said, “then why did you not tell us when we were trying it out. We even said we were trying to separate payment option…..and you said NOTHING!”. He went on about how he did not realize what we were trying to do and that he thought I was just going to call the bank to get the limit raised. (I was pissed…)

He looked as his computer and said that he saw my tax guy ordered the new number and I asked if I could get it since I am already here. He said that he could not give it to me because it was already prepared for the mail.

I then started crying…..I was frustrated and tired. I told him that I am just trying to do the right thing and that if I wait until Saturday to get it and it doesn’t work, I have NO TIME to be able to come back in and spend a day dealing with this. I need to leave Japan. I am still crying at this point.

He excuses himself….then comes back with an envelope and says, “Look, here….here….the mail did not go out yet….here is your number”. He walked me through all that I needed to do. I felt bad for crying, but I really just wanted to do the right thing. It is really hard to when there are “stupid” rules in the way. I do hope he did not get in trouble for breaking them.

I paid the first one off with no problem.