| Requirements
- Foreigner Registration (外国人登録)
- Taxes (税金)
- Health Insurance (健康保険)
- National Pension (年金)
- Driver's License (運転免許)
Schools and Education (学校と教育)
Public Services
- Postal Service
- Phone: NTT for a home line. This can be economical so many foreigners, especially those who don't plan to be here for a long time, simply get a cell phone which can be economical if you don't make many outgoing calls.
- Electricity: Electricity can be expensive here, and conserve energy as possible is highly advisable, especially in light of the rolling blackouts hitting Honshu in the midst of the Fukushima crisis.
- Water and Sewage: These are billed together by the Suidokyoku local Water & Sewage authority.
- Garbage: You have to sort you garbage in Hakodate into burnable (pink bags) and non-burnable (green bags). The bags come in 10, 20, 30, and 40 liter sizes and are available at most convenience, food, and drug stores. For recycling you can use cheap clear bags, but remember to sort these bags into plastics, bottles, cans, etc. and then put them out on the appropriate day. Burnable trash usually gets picked up twice weekly, plastics once a week, and recyclables and non-burnable rubbish only every other week.
- For Internet access in your home, the main options are NTT, YahooBB, or the local cable company, NCV. I've found NTT with OCN as provider to be top notch.
Health Care
- Insurance
- Hospitals
- Clinics
- Dental
- Emergency Rooms
Emergencies
- Police: Dial #110 to report a crime or a traffic accident, but also feel free to drop by a "kouban", a police box, if you are in need of assistance. They usually have a red light outside and are easily spotted throughout Hakodate.
- Fire: Dial #119 for fire or medical health emergencies.
- Earthquakes are a fact of life in Japan, and Hakodate is no exception, with several large quakes in the last decade alone.
- sunamis, preparedness and heeding alerts are paramount. Free maps are available at the Hakodate "Machizukuri" Community Design Center in Suehirocho showing tsunami flood zones and evacuation areas.
- If you don't speak Japanese fluently it is probably a good idea to write down how to pronounce, in Japanese, your home address and any other information required to find your home. It is important that you are able to clearly communicate that information over the telephone in an emergency situation. Remembering how to say this clearly and concisely in Japanese will also win you bonus points from taxi drivers.
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