Category: experiences

Finally! After four months and a week, renovations are practically over. There are still some smaller things to be done in and outside of the building, but the main work is finished. Today, the last parts of the scaffolding were removed from the northern part of my apartment, which means that I have my view back! The first thing I did was to open up all the curtains and windows to again let in fresh air and, more importantly: light.

I’m glad it is over even though I found the experience interesting. As I suspected, nothing really important has been done, my water pipes are still as rusty as before for example. Also, I noticed that the rusty lamps on the parking lots were simply painted over without taking care of the rusty parts beforehand. I know that there is paint that allows that, but still… Then again, both my balconies received a water-proof coating, and I suspect that something similar has been done on the roof as well.

At least, everything went very smoothly and I felt well-informed about the procedures. All workers were very polite and courteous, from the two guys in charge of the whole renovations who took time out to personally repair my screen door, to the youngsters who were painting the hallway and had to get off their ladders every time I passed by.

I guess, for the next 10 years, I will have my peace and quiet in the mornings back again. Of course, not that I’m planning to stay quite as long in this place, but still, it’s good to know.

Since the scaffolding is gone from the south side of my building and it is now getting warm enough, I am keeping my windows and balcony doors open, at least during the day. Mostly my neighborhood is rather quiet, with the exception of the road next to the river. And the schools. No, I am not talking about screaming kids during breaks or sports classes. Even though there are three schools nearby, I do not hear any of them.

What I do hear though, all through the day, are the school bells. They probably come from a different school each time depending on wind direction, but still, I can hear them very often. And every time I hear them, I am reminded of my own time in school. Because, wouldn’t you believe it, the bells have the same tone, even melody, as the one we had in my middle school 30 years ago!

Is this not a neat way of bridging the gaps between cultures? Of course, this leads to interesting questions: Why this particular bell sound – and not any other? The question remains even if this is the standard setting for school bells – who thought this was a good idea? Or, maybe, there is only a single producer of school bell systems worldwide! But then, where do they come from – Austria or Japan?

Today, finally, the scaffolding was removed from the south side of my apartment building. I am genuinely thrilled of having my view back, and even more so, of not having to close my curtains during the day anymore to prevent being watched. Even though my curtains are lightweight, it got surprisingly dark in my apartment, something I really don’t like – I prefer bright rooms throughout, and a view, as I said.

It was very funny to watch when the scaffolding was removed from the building behind mine. Pretty much the moment a balcony was free, people came out with things to dry, with their laundry – and their futons. Futons need regular airing and/or drying because they may get moldy otherwise. This actually happened to a friend of mine who, after months of never turning the futons over had to throw them away… Another reason to put them away every day, although it’s not an exciting piece of housework.  Even though potential mold is not a pressing issue at the moment, since the humidity is hardly noticeable, it is nice to be able to put the futon in the sun for the first time in months.

Of course, on my quest to become more Japanese, I followed the model of my neighbours and put out my futon today. This gave me the perfect opportunity to thoroughly clean my bedroom and get my summer clothes out as well. I am now fully prepared for whatever may come in the way of summer heat…

I’m back – well, I didn’t go anywhere, but I’m back posting here. Golden Week was nice and relaxing, the temperature has picked up a bit even though it is raining now. There were several things I did last week that I had put off for quite a while, and it is wonderful to start with a clean slate, or at least, with a clean apartment again.

Finally, after all these months I have managed to unpack my books! It took me that long because there is no good spot to place bookshelves in my apartment. I did not want any tall ones in my bedroom, nor in that part of my living room I intend to use for guests – if there is a heavy earthquake, you don’t want to be buried under books. And the one livingroom wall where bookshelves would fit gets the full sunlight in winter, which is not good either. So I decided to have only very low bookshelves underneath a window, but it was hard to find the right size, and I ended up doing a significant amount of DIY there…

Anyway, I have now unpacked, catalogued, and stowed away my books – all 366 of them. Surprisingly, even though what is left is only one third of my library, there were only two books I missed (and will certainly buy again); and I do somewhat regret getting rid of my complete collection of discworld novels, mostly because the current covers are not that nice anymore. Other than that I did not feel too bad about what I kept, which is good.

Also, I have looked at furniture and lamps for the livingroom as well. As I said, I want the part with the tatami to be in Japanese style, but unfortunately, the really nice lamps I like are very expensive and the cheap ones are either ugly or plastic… I am still contemplating about some lamps that took my fancy. We will see – and I promise to post pictures once the living room is finished.

Besides that I enjoyed the nice days of last week by sitting on my balcony. Although the scaffolding is still there, the black sheets were removed from the south side of the building, so I have a (mostly) unobstructed view again. Now, people are busy on the north side, but it seems that they are slightly less enthusiastic about it there.

I also went to a special event last Sunday: The Kyoto State Guest House had open days. Everybody could go and have a look how state guests are housed and entertained in Japan – and I can tell you, it’s not shabby at all! I will write about this in depth in the weekend.

At the first day of each new month, I am always terribly busy – so I was today, and now I am very tired. I wish all the work I am doing would directly translate into money on my account, but it does not seem to do that…

Anyway, next week is Japan’s Golden Week with three holidays in a row which gives the country a reason to shut down. Well, so will I, even though I am not sure I will have the opportunity to take it very easy… But, my next regular post will be on Tuesday, May 10th. I hope I have something exciting to tell you then!

 

My accountant was here today and we finished the year-end taxes for the company. With “we” I mean that he did all the work producing all the documents for the tax office, and I signed a final document approving of what he has done. And this is why you need to have a trustworthy accountant: I have no idea, really, what I signed… Anyway, I assume he did the right thing since I will not have to pay taxes this year.

Okay, that’s a bit simplified: There are three types of taxes the company has to pay: Local/city, prefectural, and national taxes. The first two are – in part at least – taxes that are based on where the business is located, and you have to pay them regardless of whether you made a profit or not. This year it’s some 65.000 YEN for the privilege of owning a company in Kyoto.

National taxes are different – you pay them from company profits only. Since I am quite a bit in the reds, I don’t have to pay anything. In fact, I even received a tax return! And this is how:

The company owns a bank account, on which interest is paid, albeit very little. From this interest, I have to pay capital gains tax, which is automatically deducted by the bank and sent to the tax office. Now, the amount of national tax you have to pay “manually”, so to speak, is reduced by this capital gains tax. But since I don’t have to pay national tax this year, I have overpaid, and will receive that money back. Got it?

Long story short: I will receive a tax refund. The amount is a breath-taking 49 YEN (about 0.30 EUR). Yes, I know: the banking fees alone must be a multiple of this. At that rate, I can buy myself a celebratory cup of hot chocolate in about 7 years. Not that immigration will allow that, since I must make a profit in the second business year at the latest, or else… But that’s another story.

Apparently, it has been a whole year already since I went through the last visa procedure. The other day I received a reminder from my lawyer that we’ll need to start with the application again…

Hence, I have started collecting paperwork of my own, taking another mug shot for the new ID, and my accountant will have to produce some company documents, including my profit/loss statement. I am pretty much in the reds this year, which is not good for visa renewal, but my lawyer says that my visa will probably be renewed – for another year – regardless. I am a bit anxious about this, obviously, but I trust her; so far she has been right about everything.

She also remarked that I will have to give her both my passport and foreign ID during the application procedure, and again, the same helpless feeling from last year is creeping up my spine: “But how do I prove that I am me??” It’s totally irrational, obviously, but I’ll have to live with it.

Renovations on the building are progressing.For some reason they do the noisy bits on Saturdays, during the week there’s only painting. This week was especially productive in this respect. For a day or two my south balcony was covered in a thick water-repellent layer – in bright blue. I’m glad it has been painted over in a more standard tone of grey. In any case, it now seems that the south side of the building is almost finished.

This means that the plastic coverings have been removed from my windows and were promptly reapplied onto the staircase; the stairwell is now being painted in several layers of particularly stinky paint. Especially Tuesday was bad when the smell entered my apartment from both sides. Nothing else to do than to seek exile again.

Some time next week the entrance doors will be painted, and I could even ask for the painting being done on the inside as well. Still, it seems that most of the things that are being done are strictly cosmetic and not really improving the substance of the building. But, since this is not my home…

There are elections again in Austria. This time it’s the presidential elections and they will take place on April 24th. There are six candidates for the post and I am eager to cast my vote. Hence, I have applied for an absentee ballot, which I have received today.

Of course, just like last time, the documents came too late to send them to the embassy which would take care of them, so I had to send them back to Austria myself per express mail service – and pay myself for the privilege. At least, if there is a second round of voting, I already received the documents for that one, so my vote will definitely be on time then.

Anyway, that’s not what I wanted to talk about. The documents I received were in a rather sorry state. Obviously, somewhere on the journey from Austria, the letter became wet and although dry by the time it ended up in my mailbox, it looked the part inside and out…

What I found very nice was the extra sticker the post office at Haneda airport put on the envelope, apologising for the state of the letter. Essentially it says:

This item was already received wet at East Kawasaki Post Office. We do not know how this happened. We did dry the item but we deeply (!) apologize that we have to send you your valuable letter in such a state.

At least I know now why the documents came that late. In any case, they are already back on their way to Austria. Let’s hope for the best for the elections…