Wednesday, June 24, 2015

[ACTIVITY REPORT] Hodogaya International Lounge AED Lesson for Foreign Families June 2015


When we find someone collapsed in the street or any of our family members choked while having meal… we might be in a panic. But if we learn some first-aid methods, stay calm and can deal with it, you may be able to save someone's life.

There were inquiries about this sort of session in English or for foreign people, especially those who have young children, so we asked Hodogaya International Lounge and they kindly accepted our proposal.

Hodogaya International Lounge holds International Mothers Gatherings supported by the ward, twice a month (basically 2nd and 4th Tuesday mornings at Iwama Shimin Plaza). The lesson was held on one of their gathering day, Tuesday June 23rd. 

Two officers from Hodogaya Fire Station came to teach us. One of IMCY members translated the leaflet "What to Do If You See Someone Who Has Collapsed"and also worked as an interpreter during the lesson. 


CPR for adults. If the person is unconscious, call other people for help and name one person for calling 119 and another to look for an AED set, then you start CPR. Two hands on the chest and push about 5cm in depth. If the person is a total stranger and you don't feel like comfortable (the person might be bleeding or vomit, which may cause you an infection, too), artificial respiration can be skipped. It takes about 8 minutes for an ambulance to arrive and considering the fact that there have been more and more ambulance calls, it may take more. So continuous cardiac massage is important. 


For young children, you use only one hand. 



For young babies, you use two fingers and you can do it on your lap or arm.


This is one of typical AED sets. This one has two cable-pat sets: one for adults and one for children. This one need to be switched on by the green button, but some starts automatically. The audio instruction will be in Japanese, but English instruction can be written, too. 



Stay away when it analyzes the person's heart and when it gives him/her an electric shock. 
For children, you put the pats one in front and one in back to place the heart in between the pats.
Participants then practiced how to use AED.


We also learned how to get rid of something stuck in the throat. From the back. 


Or push up with a fist. This should not be applied to young babies and pregnant women.



And participants also received gifts! 
We would like to show our deep gratitude to Hodogaya International Lounge, Hodogaya ward and Hodogaya Fire Station.  THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!

If you couldn't make it this time, Hodogaya International Lounge us willing to continue this session, so please stay tuned or you can also give them what exactly you would like to learn.





Sunday, June 21, 2015

[GOVERNMENT] "My Number" Social Security and Tax Number System


The Japanese government will start using Social Security and Tax Number System, so-called "My Number" System. The system officially starts in January 2016, and your number will be notified around October 2015. The letter will arrive at your registered address, so please keep an eye on your mailbox around that time!

This number will be used for Child Allowance (present condition form) from next year.
For more details, please read the official announcement by the government.

Official announcement by the government (cabinet secretariat)
http://www.cas.go.jp/jp/seisaku/bangoseido/english.html
In Japanese
http://www.cas.go.jp/jp/seisaku/bangoseido/gaiyou.html

Tuesday, June 9, 2015

[WELFARE] Child Allowance Genkyo Todoke 2015

You may have received an yellow envelop from the city. It's about Child Allowance and you need to turn it in by June 30th, 2015, to receive the allowance.

This year, the difference is the form is for two different purposes:
1) Child Allowance or Special Benefit*
2) Extra Benefit** for child-rearing household

*Special Benefit is for households whose income exceed the limit. Basically ¥5,000/month. Child Allowance is for households with income under the limit and the price depends on the number of your children and their age (¥10,000-15,000/month).

**Extra Benefit is to deal with the consumption tax raise in 2014, ¥3,000, and only once. Those who receive Special Benefit cannot apply for this.

In the envelop, you find:
1) A green sheet (the announcement of the present condition form)
2) A white one-sided sheet (how to fill in the form)
3) A white sheet (the child allowance present condition form/Extra Benefit application)
4) A green sheet (the announcement of the present condition form)

1) SUMMERY OF THE GREEN SHEET

 

You need to turn in the present condition form: in case it wasn't submitted, you will not receive the allowance in June and after.

What To Submit

-A present condition form
-A copy of your health insurance card or pension certificate etc.
-Your income certificate if you became a citizen of Yokohama after January 2nd, 2015.
*Please ask the office of your previous town/city for the certificate.
*Those who have been living in Yokoahama since before January 1st, 2015 don't need this.
-In case you need another document to turn in, you will be notified of it later.

Deadline

Tuesday, 30th June, 2015

How to Submit

1) By Post: Use the green envelop enclosed in the letter. Please put the right amount of postal stamp. You can also make use of registered mail system of the Japan Post if you wish.

2) At the Counter: You can bring it to your ward office, こども家庭支援課 (kodomo katei shien ka).
*Be careful of their business hours.

Income Check of the Recipient's Spouse

To confirm who is the main supporter of your household (=who earns more), the income of the recipient's spouse must be checked and the accordance is needed.

Prescription of Child Allowance

You will no longer have right to receive Child Allowance in two years without submitting the present condition form.

Extra Benefit for Child-rearing Households

You can apply to this benefit by the present condition form of Child Allowance.
Target : Those who receive Child Allowance of June 2015 (except for those who receive Special Benefit)

Amount: 3,000 yen, one time only

How to receive: The money will be transferred to your bank account that you use to receive Child Allowance

Deadline: December 1st, 2015

2) SUMMERY OF THE WHITE ONE-SIDED SHEET

How to fill in the form

①Date of application  ex) June 15th, 2015 = 平成 27 年  6 月 15 日
Always in  yy-mm-dd order in Japan. The year 2015 is Heisei 27.
②Recipient information area
③The recipient's name (who earns the most in your household)
④Family name stamp if you have. Not necessary if the name was signed by the recipient.
⑤Sex: Male 男 Female 女
⑥Birthdate (may be already printed)
⑦Address (may be already printed), if the current address isn't what is printed here, erase with two parallel lines and fill in the correct address
⑧Telephone numbers (upper line: home, lower line: mobile phone number)
⑨Do you have a spouse? Circle Yes: 有 No: 無
If no, you don't have to fill in the Spouse area.
⑩Occupation: Circle  会社員 employee 自営業 self-employed 公務員 civil servant 無職 unemployed その他 others
⑪Office name and number
⑫Pension Type: (1) Employee's Pension (2) Mutual Aid Pension (3) National Pension (including no.3) (4) No Pension
Those with (1) and (2) are required to photocopy the health insurance card and attach it on the back of the form.
⑬Income Certificate: Where was your address on January 1st 2015? Circle 横浜市 the city of Yokohama 横浜市外 out of the city of Yokohama 国外 outside Japan
For those who lived outside Japan before January 2nd, 2015, no need to turn in the income certificate.
⑭Spouse's information area
⑮Name of the spouse
⑯Birthdate of the spouse
⑰Do you live together with your spouse? Circle Yes:同居 No:別居
⑱Address on January 1st 2015. Circle 横浜市 the city of Yokohama 横浜市外 out of the city of Yokohama 国外 outside Japan
⑲Occupation: Circle  会社員 employee 自営業 self-employed 公務員 civil servant 無職 unemployed その他 others
⑳Children information area: from left to right Name, Relationship (子child 孫 grandchild etc.), Birthdate, Living together or not, Living (must be 同一same if it's your child)
*Please fill in all your children from 0 year old to 18 years old (considered as 18 years old till March 31st after turning 18).
*Need another document if you live separately with your children. If your children live outside Yokohama, you need an original Jyumin-hyo (resident's card) with all your family member names.
*In case your children are studying abroad, write down the date of departure. Need another document to submit, too.

3) SUMMERY OF THE WHITE SHEET (FORM)

The bottom part



*You cannot change the recipient with this form. 
*If you have more than six children, you have two sheets of this form. Please submit both.

The number of target children of Extra Benefit and the amount.  Number of target children: (  **  persons)  Amount (****yen)

Convenant clauses and agreement
(1) I agree with that the city of Yokohama searches the recipient and his/her spouse's income information for official records or documents at other executive agencies  in order to judge the necessary conditions to provide Child Allowance and Extra Benefit. 
(2) In case the necessary information cannot be confirmed by official records, I will turn in necessary documents.
(3) After the application to Extra Benefit is passed, the application form is considered as a request (bill).
(4) After the application is passed, if the payment is not completed for reasons such as failure in transferring money caused by imperfect application, the application is considered to be withdrawn. 
(5) I agree that if the application didn't reach to the city by the postmark deadline (December 1st, 2015), the Extra Benefit of the year 2015 are not provided.
(6) I agree that the target children of Extra Benefit are the target of the June 2015 Child Allowance. 

The backside



①Please attach a copy of your health insurance on this side.
②Why a copy of our health insurance card is necessary?
We need to confirm that the claimant of the allowance is "employed" or not (*1) and we use the copy of "the health insurance card of the claimant" as an easy way to check it.
 You may need to turn in the pension certificate depending on your pension, so please read the following statements and submit what is necessary.
③1. The claimant is a member of
-Employees Pension (so-called Kosei Nenkin pension or Kyosai Nenkin pension)
If the recipient had an issuance card of one of below or don't know whats:
 (1) Health Insurance Membership Card (Japan Health Insurance Association/ Health Insurance Associations)
 (2) Japan Doboku Kenchiku (public engineering) Health Insurance Association Card
 (3) Private School Teachers mutual-aid Association Card
 (4) Japan Post mutual-aid Association Card
(5) Sailor Health Insurance Card
(6) Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology mutual-aid Membership Card (limited to branches like universities)
 (7) Among mutual-aid membership cards, the one that it is clear the employer is an independent administrative institution or a local independent administrative institution.
 ↓
Please attach the photocopy of the claimant's card. *Not the one of your children.

④2. The claimant is a member of (1) Employees Pension or (2) Mutual Aid Pension (as declared on the surface) but the health insurance is National Health Insurance.

Please receive a certificate from your office.
*Your office (company) will fill in the form on the bottom.


Monday, June 8, 2015

[ACTIVITY REPORT] Exchange & Chat Cafe June 3rd, 2015

Despite the rain in the morning, more than 15 families joined our very first Exchange & Chat Cafe!

We had a play area where there were some volunteer staff who watched the children and moms can chat with others. In the right corner, we had an "Exchange" table where we displayed second-hand items and exchanged an item to/with an IMCY point. On the left we had "Idea" table where moms wrote ideas for our future events or needed information etc. and sticked them on the white board to exchange to IMCY points. There was also a cafe corner where you can have a cup of tea and a piece of cake using the IMCY point.
Cakes of the Day: Yogurt cake, cinnamon waffle, maple cookies, Japanese confections and baby sembei rice crackers.



Many ideas for IMCY future events and needed information for international moms. These ideas will be put together and we will decide new events in September and later.

We had an unexpected visit by a man from a volunteer group that performs a wall theater for children. Once he started the story, eyes of the children were glued to the theater. It was an interesting story!! We really appreciated it!!



Thanks again for those who joined the Cafe. We had a great time!! 
Next Exchange & Chat Cafe will be on July 1st at the same place and same hours. Don't forget to sign up!!

[EVENT] Introduction to Kindergarten and Nursery School in Japan at Drop (Kohoku)

Are you thinking of sending your kids to Japanese kindergarten or nursery school?

Drop MSC (Multicultural Support Club) will hold a session on Japanese kindergarten and nursery school in Easy-Japanese and English.

 

Download the flyer (PDF)

***************************************************************
にほんご が にがてな おかあさん ・ おとうさん ・ほごしゃ のかた へ
やさしい にほんご と えいご で おこなう ようちえん・ほいくえん せつめいかい

にほん の ようちえん ・ ほいくえん が どんな ところ か しりたい
こうほくく に どんな ようちえん ・ ほいくえん が あるのか しりたい
こども がようちえん ・ ほいくえん に かよっている おかあさん の はなし が ききたい

★ひにち と じかん: 7がつ 15にち (すいようび) 10:00 ~ 11:30
★ばしょ: どろっぷ 2かい
★せつめい: やさしい にほんご と えいご
★りょうきん: ¥0
★もうしこみ: どろっぷへ
でんわ・・・ 045(540)7420
メール・・・ admin*kohoku-drop.com (*を@に かえて ください)
ファクス・・ 045(540)7421
★もっと くわしく ききたい ひと は、 うえの 「でんわ」 に れんらく して ください. チラシ

この せつめいかい は、 こうほくく ちいき こそだて しえんきょてん
どろっぷ MSC(Multicultural Support Club) が しゅさい します

English and Easy-Japanese Introduction to Kindergarten/Nursery School in
Japan

Find out what it is like at Kindergarten/Nursery School in Japan
Find out what kind of Kindergarten/Nursery School there is in Kohoku-ku
Learn the system:How to apply What needs to be done
Get information from Moms whose kids are already enrolled or graduated

★ Date and Time: July 15th (Wed), 10:00 - 11:30
★ Place: 2nd Floor, at DROP
★ Language: in English and Easy-Japanese
★ Fees: Free of charge
★ Reservation:Leave your name and contact number at DROP either by
TEL:045-540-7420

★For detail: If you want to know more, please call us at above number.
* This Event is hosted by Multicultural Support Club (MSC)at DROP,
Kohoku-ku Child Care Support Center
E-mail:admin*kohoku-drop.com  (please change * into @)
FAX:045-540-7421

Thursday, June 4, 2015

[NEWS] Red Back Spider Found for the First Time in Yokohama

Kanagawa Shinbun reported that a red back spider was found in a field of a company in Tsurumi, Yokohama. This is the first case in Yokohama while the spiders were already found in Atsugi and Kawasaki.

If you get bitten by the spider, you feel pain and it might cause a cramp. It will cease in a few days but you might have severe symptoms. If you are bitten, please see the doctor and bring the dead spider (that bit you) if possible so that the doctor will know what type of spider it is.
Do not touch the spider with a bare hand/foot. It is advised to kill it by trampling with your shoes on.

The article on Kana Loco by Kanagawa Shinbun (Japanese)
http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20150605-00001519-kana-l14

The warning from Kanagawa prefecture (Japanese)
http://www.pref.kanagawa.jp/cnt/f762/p844926.html