[INFO] Garbage and Recyclables Collections during New Year Holidays

There is no garbage collection during the New Year holidays as follows:

Click to download the PDF files in each language

English

Spanish

Portuguese 

Chinese

Korean

(This information is provided through YOKE)

[LIVING TIPS] How to Call the Ambulance

Hodogaya International Mothers Gathering "Piccolo" held a workshop to learn Child First Aid on June 12th, 2018.  They hold this every year around this time, inviting local fire bureau officers, to learn how to use the AED and how to do the CPR.

When your family member or someone in the street collapses, first thing you do is to see if the person is conscious or not. If not, then you check s/he is breathing or not. If not, you call for an ambulance and start the CPR, and use the AED if necessary.

However, if you don't speak much Japanese, you may not be able to understand what the person on the emergency phone is asking or to tell him/her the situation. 

For more information about the emergency call system etc., you can read the guide for ambulance services by the Fire and Disaster Management Agency.  

English

Chinese

Korean

Japanese

So, here are some basic questions/answers in Japanese you may need to remember when you call an ambulance. 

The emergency number in Japan is 119. 

Then you will be asked if it's a fire or medical emergency.

Officer: 火事ですか、救急ですか？Kaji desuka? Kyukyu desuka?

You: 火事です。Kaji desu.（There is a fire.)  or  救急です。Kyukyu desu. (It's a medical emergency).

Remember your Jyusyo (address) in Japanese.

Officer: どこですか？Doko desuka? (Where is it?)  

住所を教えてください。Jyusyo wo oshiete kudasai. (Please give me your address.)

You: (when you are at home) 住所は横浜市XXXX区XXX123です。Jyusyo ha Yokohama shi, XXXX -ku, XXX 123 desu. (My address is ...). 

In case you are somewhere else and you don't know the exact address, you can give them some landmarks around you. 

XXの近くにいます。XX no chikaku ni imasu. (I am near XX.)

*ATTENTION: In Japanese, we start from the prefecture or the city and end with the street/land number etc. Prefecture=県Ken Ward= 区Ku, City=市Shi, Town=町Cho/Machi

Explain what has happened.

Officer: どうしましたか？Dou shimashita ka? (What has happened?)

You: 

(My husband is unconscious.)

私の夫の意識がありません。Watashi no otto no ishiki ga arimasen.

(My child is choked with something.)

私の子供が何かのどにつまらせました。Watashi no kodomo ga nanika nodo ni tsumarasemashita.

(XX is not breathing.)

XXは息をしていません。XX ha iki wo shite imasen.

(XX has gone into spasm.)

XXはけいれんしています。XX ha keiren shite imasu.

(XX is injured.)

XXはけがをしました。ZZ ha kega wo shimashita.

Give your name and number.

Officer: あなたの名前を教えてください。Anata no o namae wo oshiete kudasai. (Please give me your name.) 

You: 私の名前はXXXです。Watashi no namae ha XXX desu. (My name is XXX.)

Officer: 電話番号を教えてください。Den bangou wo oshiete kudasai. (Please give me your phone number.)

[LIFE] WaNavi Japan

Let us introduce a great NPO, WaNavi Japan. They have been providing workshops mainly about Bosai (防災 :disaster preparedness) and Japanese culture for non-Japanese speaking people. Please read their brief introduction and visit their sites for more information.

WaNavi Japan is a non profit organisation, empowering International residents and visitors to live comfortably and confidently in Japan through various services including Earthquake Preparedness Workshops, Life-skills workshops, navigations, networking, research and consulting.

The inspiration for WaNavi’s work comes from the events that deeply affected Japan on March 11, 2011 and the dislocation and concern experienced by international residents in Japan. We continue to support families who have been directly affected by earthquake disasters in Japan.

Please contact us for more information, to get involved or to organize a workshop.

Website: http://www.wanavi.org/
Facebook: http://facebook.com/wanavi.japan1
Email: wanavi.japan@gmail.com

[USEFUL INFO] Multilingual Life Information Application by CLAIR

CLAIR (Council of Local Authorities for International Relations) released a useful application that provides us daily life information in 13 languages (English, German, Chinese, Korean, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Thai, Russian and Japanese with furigana) Please download from here:

AppStore
https://itunes.apple.com/jp/app/duo-yan-yu-sheng-huo-qing-bao/id833314457?mt=8

Google Play
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=jp.co.rcsc.livingguide.android

[SHOP] WE Shop -A Reuse/Recycle Shop for Charity

Have you ever noticed an orange colored "WE Shop" in your neighborhood?

WE21 Japan is an NPO which consists of 36 local NPOs that manage WE Shops throughout Kanagawa (and some parts of Tokyo).

"It is our mission to end the globally recurring problems of fighting over natural resources,　environmental destructions, poverty, and promote focusing on the environment and human rights and increased local awareness. To connect those activities to the next generation, we promote local activities within local community." 

(a citation from WE21 Japan official website)

For more details about the organization and their activities, please visit their website:
WE21 Japan English page

WE Shops are one of their activities and they sell donated goods and use the profit to support women and children, mainly in Asian countries, become independent. They also support the Great East Japan Earthquake reconstruction, especially Fukushima (Fukushima Poka Poka Project by FoEJAPAN).
WE Shop List in English

How to Donate goods

*Goods to be accepted may be slightly different at each shop. Please contact and confirm them beforehand.

They accept:
Clothes in good condition and of on season. Please wash before bring in.
Under-wears, socks and pyjamas must be new or unused.

Tablewares, kitchenwares without scratch, crack, chip, nor stain. Pots must be new.
Shoes and bags in good condition.
New or unused towels and handkerchiefs.
Cloths and yarns.
Accessories, scarfs and toys (almost new).

New or unused stationaries.

They cannot accept:
Detergents, soaps, medicines, cosmetics, electric devices, strollers, baby seats, ski goods, golf goods, furniture, books, video tapes, CDs, DVDs, stuffed toys.

[Update]
Some of the WE Shops collect used vegetable oil.
http://www.we21japan.org/we21/2013/01/we15.html (in Japanese)
The collected oil will be turned into VDF (vegetable diesel fuel) etc.

How to donate
Pour used (or unused but expired) vegetable oil in a plastic bottle with a lid.
Visit your closest WE Shop (in the list below) and place the bottle(s) in the pail at the shop.

15 WE Shops Collecting Vegetable Oil
Izumi-Nakata, Izumi-Ryoke, Izumi-Ogimaru, Fujisawa, Shonandai, Kugenuma-Kaigan, Hodogaya-Hoshikawa, Hodogaya-Tennocho, Isogo, Tuzuki, Yamato, Samukawa, Tsurumi, Hiratsuka-Daikancho, Hiratsuka-Asahi

Report

I visited the WE Shop Hoshikawa the other day and talked with the manager of the shop. This shop is run by WE21 Japan Hodogaya (they also manage Tennocho shop). Hoshikawa shop collects and sells kimonos, which can be said to be their specialty.

"No Poverty Campaign" was going on when I visited there. 16th October is the "World Food Day" and 17th October is "International Day for the Eradication of Poverty" (both recognized by the United Nations). The shop supports an NGO ACE (Action against Child Exploitation, Japan) who work in India and Ghana. 

Girl's kimono accessories for Shichi-Go-San (7-5-3), the celebration for kids at the ages of three, five and seven. They are going to hold "Kimono Fair" on 21st and 22nd October, 2013.

Japanese tablewares. I bought some nice Japanese dishes the other day (¥10 and ¥100/piece). There are also western-design tablewares, too. 

Toys for kids. My child found some for himself, too. There are clothes for kids in the shop.

Kimono "remake" accessories. They also provide Kimono remake workshops every month.

(Sakiori method, 2nd Thursday, ¥300. Zori Japanese slipper with cloth, 3rd Wednesday, ¥500. Small accessories, 4th Wednesday ¥300. Each workshop is 13:00-16:00. Reservation needed: 045-334-5140 We Shop Hoshikawa) 

They hope that a lot of people get to know their activities and visit the WE Shops, especially young people. 

In the end, I would like to show my gratitude to the president of WE21 Japan and the manager of WE Shop Hoshikawa to have kindly accepted this interview.

[LIFE] Yokohama City Garbage Separation Application and MIctionary

*This contents is an extraction from the flyer by the city:

Change "How do I separate this garbage?" to "Okay, now I know!"

YOKOHAMA CITY GARBAGE SEPARATION APPLICATION
Enables garbage separation items to be searched for by word, and reflects collection dates back onto a built-in calendar. An extremely useful tool that also provides information on garbage separation.

[Application]
Available free of charge at the App Store and Play Store.


[Website]
MIctionary website
MIctionary for mobile

A retrieval system that provides details on garbage separation simply by entering the name of the item in question. Provides easy searches on cellphones and PCs whenever you are perplexed.

*************************end of citation ******************************

Yokohama city succeeded in reducing a lot of garbage in the past few years. 

Thank you very much for your cooperation. Keep separating/recycling!! And it uses less energy to burn kitchen garbage if we drain it well. 

[LIFE] How To Maintain Your Air Conditioner

One of my friends told me that her air conditioner didn't produce enough cool wind, so I asked her if she had cleaned it up.

Yes, air conditioners need cleaning. And the first thing you should check when you have problem with your air condoner is if it's cleaned or not.

There are various models and the latest ones don't require cleaning but they do it by themselves.

 For example, this is one of our air conditioner. It's  a DAIKIN 2012 model and they don't require cleaning often. It automatically cleans the dust or dries up inside if we set it (Yes, we must set it using a remote).

フィルター掃除: Filter Cleaning
内部クリーン: Inside Cleaning (reduce molds and bad smell by drying)
The spec guide advises that "Filter Cleaning" should be done everyday.

 When I open the front panel, it looks like this. If they need cleaning (the streamer unit, the dust box and the dust brush), they let us know by blinking each lamp.

 This is another one which is rather old (Mitsubishi).

 We can see the filters and they need to be cleaned once a month using a vacuum cleaner. These filters are removable, so please get them off and vacuum.

If they're really dirty/oily, you can prepare a warm water with some drops of neutral detergent in a bucket soak, rinse and dry.
CAUTION: Please don't put back the wet filters to the air conditioner!

Inside, we can see it's dirty but can't reach... in this case, we need to call the professional...

Air conditioner cleaning (エアコンクリーニング）costs about 8000~12000yen per machine. Discount available for the second and more machines at the same time. The easiest way is to ask 家電量販店 household electrical appliance retailer such as Yodobashi, Bic, Kojima, Yamada etc... where you bought the conditioner (if possible).  The leading house cleaning company Duskin also offers air conditioner cleaning.

*Please note that these are just two examples. There are various models and each of them has different way of maintaining... Please have someone to translate the specification guide of your air conditioner.

After the earthquake, we are asked to save electricity. The government recommend that we set the temperature of air conditioner to 28 degrees C or use an electric fan (or a circulator) if possible. And switching off the air conditioner often doesn't save electricity, because it uses a lot of energy to boot. But we should keep the room temperature at about 28 C for our health!!

Here I embed the Electricity Usage Status gadget by TEPCO. 

[LIFE]Basic Residence Registration Network System starts for Foreign Residents

Basic Residence Registration Network System （住民基本台帳制度 Jyumin Kihon Daicho Seido/ in short 住基ネット Jyuki Net）starts for foreign residents in Japan from 8th July, 2013.

You don't really have to do anything about this system, but your number will be sent to your post around that date so please check out.

If you would like the Basic Residence Registration Card, you are supposed to ask at the counter of your local ward office after 8th July.


Please read the following PDF provided by the government for more detail.

Source (in English):
http://www.soumu.go.jp/main_sosiki/jichi_gyousei/c-gyousei/pdf/net-card_leaflet/net-card_leaflet_eng.pdf

[LIFE] Air Conditioning Remotes

It is getting hotter in Yokohama, so I’m going to write about“air conditioning remotes”.
If your air conditioning is like a picture below (the arrow is pointing to “暖房”),it’s in heater mode. When you want to use cooling, push the “冷房” button and fix the temperature. “運転切換” button can also swich operation modes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

入（運転）/切（停止）＝turn on（start）/turn off (stop)

冷房＝cooling
暖房＝heater
除湿＝dehumidification
運転切換＝switching operation modes
温度＝temperature