Family Registers and other fun errands

So, if all the moons and stars align, we will be moving this Saturday. It's been a harrowing few days playing "float the money" with our bank in the U.S. while we try and wire the funds to meet our closing on Friday.

I've spent yesterday and today trying to get everything ready for the closing. I had to change our family register to our new address so Kazuya can get our mortgage. Japan still has the same antiquated system that Joseph and Mary had 2007 years ago. My husband is the head of household and his place of domicile is registered in his hometown. If you want to do anything, you need a copy of your family register. Technically, you can't change your address until after you move, but you can't move until you close and you can't close unless you have a family register in your new address. Sound like a Catch-22? I just smiled and lied when the nice man behind the counter at City Hall asked me when the move took place. At least I'm not 9 months pregnant, riding on a donkey and heading to the backwoods of the promised land.

Everything in Japan requires forms. I filled out a ton of forms at City Hall to move our address. Oh wait, that's right, I moved my husband and sons' address. Since I'm a foreigner, I'm not on his family register. I had to fill out a separate form to move my Alien Card address. This is in addition to the forms I had to fill out to get copies of all the new registers. And I had to pay 1200 yen ($10) to get copies of the register and hanko registration.

Because I hadn't had my fill of filling out forms in Kanji (Chinese characters), I decided to go to the bank and transfer the contract money to the construction company. After filling out all the forms in Kanji along with the furigana (phonetic syllabary) reading for those Kanji, I got to take out the big hanko (seal) and spend 840 yen ($8) to transfer the money. I get to do the same thing on Friday, but I get to send a really large sum of money that hopefully is in our account since we are waiting for the wire to go through...

It will all be worth it to have a mosquito free condo with running hot water.