Of NTT

This post is about NTT, which is a telecommunications company here in Japan. When I signed up for internet, I had make a contract through NTT as well as OCN, which I believe is the service provider. Oddly enough, I get three mailings every month. Bills from both NTT Finance and NTT Communications well as information from OCN. If that sounds confusing to you, don't worry. I don't really understand it either.

The reason for this post is that when I signed up, they were running a special campaign. Sign up for internet when you buy your washer, fridge, and other appliances, and we'll dock money off both our internet service and all the appliances. I already mentioned in a previous post that I had gotten my washer, fridge, rice cooker, and hair dryer all for 30,000 yen (roughly 450 dollars under the current exchange rate). My internet bill also had all kinds of free unnecessary services, free telephone, etc. that totaled to about 2,000 yen a month. For a few months, everything was peachy. I bought good appliances for cheaply and I had cheap internet that easily rivals the US speeds. Then, the campaign ended last month. I couldn't cancel the services before the campaign ended, or I would end up paying a huge fee.

Last month, my internet/phone bill skyrocketed to 5,000 yen. This month it was 6,000 yen. Fed up with paying for services I wasn't using, I tried to cancel the services. This is easier said than done though. After wading through a dozen documents with five or six different usernames and passwords along with almost a dozen different phone numbers to call, I admitted that I had no idea what I doing. I asked Tai to call OCN for me, but he was promptly turned down. They had no idea what he was talking about, and and said to go to NTT.

Tai being considerate and having promised me that he would take care of it, tried to call NTT, but they put him on hold forever and basically he was told that he wouldn't pass the "verification test." So I called myself. The conversation went something like this:

Representative: "Hello, this is NTT Financial Services. My name is X. How can I help you?"
Me: "Yes, hello. This is my account information. I want to cancel some services that I'm no longer using. Can you help me with that?"
Representative: "Of course. First, we'll have to verify your identity."

This was the part I was worried about. Verifying your identity in Japan is kind of like nailing jello to a tree. Unless you have the exact information that they want, you will never ever pass. This is because they give you like hundreds of pieces of paper with different usernames and passwords. You also have to sign everything with your personal seal. If you don't have the seal, they'll just send you away until you find it. This is a major problem for people that have many seals. So, here I am all worried, and what do they ask for? My customer ID number, my phone number, my address, and then, my personal favorite: "Are you the person who owns this account?" I answered yes, and that was it. My account verification was me saying, "Yes, I am Michelle." Only in Japan is that considered an acceptable form of verification.

We continued to the reason for my call, which was canceling the services. Before I cancelled the services, I asked her to explain each one. This took about 5 minutes. Then, I cancelled the ones I didn't want. Easy-peasy. Before I could get too confident though, she asked one final question.

Representative: "It says here that you have a couple of boxes for the internet and phone."
Me: "I have one box for the internet, yes. I do not have a box for the phone. Is there something you need?"
Representative: "No, you definitely have two boxes. We need you to return the phone box for us."

Now, that's odd. I know I only have one box. And I told her so. Over and over and over again. This took roughly 20 minutes. She said, "Maybe you have a box in your genkan (entry way)?" No, no box. "Maybe it's under your bed?" No, no box. I only have one box. "Maybe it's somewhere that you've never seen before?" My apartment is not large. I only have one box. "If you could just go and look at the boxes' numbers for me, I could look them up?" Unfortunately, I couldn't fulfill her request because 1. I only had one box. And 2. I was at work.

She thought about this for quite a while, and then, you would think this wouldn't be a problem since we were talking in Japanese and I said the same exact thing in many different ways, but it took roughly 20 minutes for her to have a "a-ha" moment.

Representative: "You only have one box."
Me: "Yes, that's what I've been saying. I only have one box."
Representative: "Then that means you must have box where both things are in one box!"

Perhaps this service is new. I'm not sure. But it was the correct conclusion. She notified me that I would have to return that box. The fact that she shut the service off for the internet wasn't enough. They needed to send me an all new modem to replace my current one. After realizing at this point that logic was pretty futile, I agreed and asked when I had to be at my apartment for the maintenance person to come by. "Oh, oh, that's not necessary," she assured me. "We can just send you the new box by mail, and you can send your current box back to us by mail."

Now, that's all well and good, and it's actually pretty convenient. However, there was one little issue. The last time I got a modem from NTT, the guy saw my Mac, and his eyes went huge. Surprise. He didn't know how to work a Mac. But that wasn't a problem, he assured me. "You have the CD?" he asked in his gruff voice. I did. "Use the CD." He said.

I know this will really surprise you, but that CD didn't work. Macs can read NTT's CDs. They show up in little Wingdings - boxes, exclamation points, hearts, clovers, etc. No words. The reason for this, is that Macs are supposed to be able to hook up automatically, but mine doesn't. I have no idea why. So, I set myself up with a PPoE server because that's the only way I could get it to connect. Whether or not this is correct, I have no idea.

This time, I didn't want to relive that moment, so I asked the representative if she could send a representative this time to set it up. In front of me. Using my Mac. "I'd love to-" she wheedled, "But you just cancelled the Remote Support Service. If you want to keep it on for another month-."

"If I don't cancel the service, someone from your company will come set it up for me?" I clarified.

"No, we don't do that."

"Then what is the Remote Support Service?" I asked again.

"Well, you can call us..." she continued.

"Can't I just call you without the Remote Support Service?"

"Yes," she agreed.

"Then cancel it." Why I would keep a service that I can get for free, when they do not even come to my apartment, I don't know. So I cancelled it. And I got my box, and it was also a bear to set up. I set it up with PPoE again. It's a mystery. But it works. In short, NTT is probably the most unhelpful company ever.

Foreign ID Part 2

Success! After arriving at the kuyakusho at 8:30, which is earlier than most things open here, I finally managed to get everything sorted out. It took a lot of paperwork and a far bit of explanation since they had never done the process after the system change.  All it took was some input into some computer system on their end and writing the new address on the back of my card. What a relief! Thankfully it's all taken care of now, and I can focus on more pressing matters.

Of the Foreigner ID

The foreigner ID (在留カード) is a peculiar thing. In some ways, it looks a lot like your driver's license. It serves as your official identification if you live in Japan for longer than 3 months, and it's necessary to get anything from a cell phone to an apartment contract. Despite its necessity, it's fairly difficult to obtain. I began the process as soon as I came to Japan, and I just received it after nearly a month of living here. When I was a student, I received it within a couple weeks. Since they changed the system a few days ago, no one really understands the correct process now. Not even the government.

I initially waited to get the card because  in the past you had to be at your permanent address before you were allowed to apply for it. My realtor kept asking for the paperwork even though I told him that I wasn't able to receive it. Finally, he told me that I wouldn't be able to apply for any apartment without the paperwork, so I went to the office and gave my temporary address. I learned that this was completely okay. When I asked about the changing card process, I was told not to worry and that everything would be handled. All I needed to do was take the paperwork to my new ward office after I moved, and they would handle the rest.

After the move, I contacted the Company and asked for permission to go early Monday morning before work so that I could handle the last of this government process. As I traveled to my local ward office (kuyakusho), I expected to miss only an hour of work max. I could easily make it up with some overtime that night. Little did I know what I was getting myself into.

I made it to the kuyakusho and asked the nice guard waiting outside for directions to the office. The map was something of a maze and wasn't to scale, so I figured it would be easier to just ask someone. When I got to the desk, I handed the gentleman my paperwork and explained that I recently moved. He informed me that I had to go to the prefectural office. Why? I asked, The system changes today. The local ward offices are supposed to issue the cards now. The man had no idea of the system change and told me just to go to the other office about an hour away by train. When I asked for directions, he told me he had no idea how to get there but he'd search for a map. The search took roughly 20 minutes. The map I received was more than a little frightening. It told me to get off on the wrong bus stop, so I walked about 25 minutes to the office after spending about half an hour by train and another 5 minutes on a bus. I walked on the sides of overpasses, past giant abandoned factories, and through neighborhoods that no woman should walk alone. But I did it all to receive this card.

I finally made it to that office and was told to fill out the same paperwork that I was currently carrying copies of because they needed originals. I figured this was just another example of the bureaucracy and quickly filled out my paperwork and headed upstairs. Little did I know that I know that I would wait in that line for 3 hours. I finally saw a person and she informed me that I needed to cancel my previous registration so that I could register again for this card. She wrote everything out for me on a piece of paper, told me to copy it to another piece of paper (signing under her handwriting wasn't allowed), and wait to be called again to receive my card. I called the Company, and told them that there was no way I was making it to work today. I'd work overtime the rest of the week to make up for it.

I waited another 4 hours. I only had a rice ball for breakfast; I never ate lunch. I rationed my little bottle of lemon tea like I was stranded on a desert island and it was the last ounce of liquid for a 1,000 miles. After 4 hours, I was called up again. "Write your name on this envelope please," I was told. "The computer system has regrettably gone down. We can't do anything else today." I'd been in this office for 7 hours. There was no way I was leaving without anything. Please, I need this paperwork for my company, I told her. Please is there anything you can do? Yoroshiku onegai itashimasu (Please do this for me. I'm putting myself in your care.) She talked to her boss. Her boss asked why I didn't take care of this at the local ward office. She talked to her boss's boss. No, there was nothing she could do. "Fill out the envelope please. We'll mail the card to you in a few weeks."


It's been another week. I finally received the card, but the address is wrong. I'll have to head to my local ward office in the morning. Here's hoping this time it works.

Yoroshiku onegai itashimasu.