[ACTIVITY REPORT] Visit to Yokohama Disaster Risk Reduction Learning Center #1

We visited Yokohama Disaster Risk Reduction Learning Center near Yokohama station with other families including little kids. The standard tour takes about an hour and it started with a movie in the Disaster Education Theater. We were a bit worried about this part but there were only us in the theater at that time and the children were rather calm. The movie came with English subtitles, too.  

Then we moved to the Earthquake Simulator. Moms have to hold a young one in the arms and also hold the safety bar, so it was harder!!! We experienced from level 4 to 7. We still felt shaking after getting off the machine. 

We went up to the second floor to learn how to use the fire extinguisher, then how to escape in the smoke (Fire Simulator). In the end, we entered the Disaster Mitigation Training Room to learn what to do in case of earthquake and rainstorm. 

Japan recently had a big earthquake in Osaka and rainstorm/flood in West Japan. We learned it is important that each family (especially with young children) prepare for disaster. 

We are planning to visit there again. It will be posted on our FB group so please keep an eye on it!

*For the tour, you can make a reservation beforehand. It seems to be possible to join the tour on the spot if there's a room (but reservation is recommended!). The staff on the day didn't speak much English but he tried to speak slowly in Japanese. The booklet they gave us is bilingual (Japanese/English).

[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

[Report] Recycling and Garbage workshop in Hodogaya 2017

The international mothers' gathering in Hodogaya, named Piccolo, held a workshop on recycling and garbage separation at Iwama Shimin Plaza. The officers of the department of environment and resources of the city of Yokohama came to explain how to separate the garbage.

もやすごみ（moyasu gomi) is burnable garbage. You can see plastic items in the photo: plastic wrappings are recyclable, but plastic items are not (for the moment in Yokohama). You can also see a yogurt cup, a noodle cup and laundry powder box: they are marked "paper" 紙（kami）but the paper  containers used for food and detergent etc. (,which are considered to be dirty) cannot be recycled. Also, a milk carton with aluminum inside cannot be collected as "Recyclable Paper". However, many supermarkets collect them to recycle. 

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プラスチック製容器包装（plastic sei youki housou) is a plastic wrapping. Just wrappings, so the plastic bag that contains a straw is recyclable, but the straw itself is burnable garbage even if it is made of plastic. The plastic label wrapped around a plastic bottle drink is a plastic wrapping, so remove it from the bottle along with the cap, and the bottle goes to No.3 below. 

かん　びん　ペットボトル (cans, glass bottles and plastic bottles)

They are collected on the same day as small metal articles. You can put cans, glass bottles, and plastic bottles in the same bag when you throw them away. However, metallic bottle caps are "small metal articles", so remove them and throw them away as "small metal articles" in a separated bag.

Paper and old cloths. You can put them out on a rainy day, too. Even if it is written "紙(paper)", paper food containers etc. cannot be included in this category. 

The gifts for the participants: garbage bags and handkerchiefs. 

Thank you very much!!!

[FILE UPLOADED] Calling Emergency 119 sheet by Smile Port

Calling 119 (ambulance) is not easy even in your native tongue…

Here's a very useful sheet for non-Japanese speakers. Print it out and hang it on the wall or the fridge. 

Please download the file from our Documents page.

This sheet was provided by Smile Port. We would like to show our gratitude to them.

[IMCY] Link Page Update "Helpline for Foreigners"

We added this URL to our Link page.
"Helpline for Foreigners"

Toll free number for consulting, available in 7 languages. Please visit the website for more information.

http://279338.jp/yorisoi/index-f.html

[UPDATE] Kanagawa Community Network Site was added to the "Links"

We added the links to Kanagawa Community Network Site and its subordinate pages to our Links page.

The site is run by Kanagawa International Foundation and is full of useful information for people living in Kanagawa prefecture. They provide information in various languages.

We added:
-Kanagawa Community Network Site
-Multilingual Medical Questionnaire
-The Map of Japanese Language Classroom, Supplementary Study Classroom, and Native Language Classroom in Kanagawa

[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

[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. 

[USEFUL INFO] When a Parcel Arrived While You Were Not Home: JAPAN POST Online Service

In most cases where you receive a parcel from overseas, it's the Japan Post who delivers it at your door in Japan. However, if you are not home, the postman leaves a piece of paper which is called 不在表（ふざいひょう fuzai-hyo), or officially 郵便物等お預かりのお知らせ（ゆうびんぶつ とう おあずかり の おしらせ yubinbutsu tou oazukari no oshirase）in case of JP.

Sample (image from the website of JP)

Here is a link to the page by JP for international exchange students, in which various postal services are explained.
Practical Guide for International Students (Japan Post)

And here is the page on re-delivery issues in English
Re-Delivery (Japan Post)

You can reschedule the delivery by:
1) the 24h automated answering telephone (toll free)
2) online from the JP website
3) mail (using the notice sheet)
4) Fax

Now we're going to explain How to Rescheduling Deliveries Online (opens a new window), which should be quick and easy for everyone that uses the Internet.

If you would like a PDF version, click here to download.

[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.