MADO Japanese Free Lesson

There is a group of Japanese teacher volunteer in Sapporo which named themselves as MADO who provide free Japanese Lesson. Their website is here.

The lesson is held every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, from 1 to 5 pm except on specific National Holiday. The place is in Conference Room, 2nd Floor of Sapporo International House, just behind Gakuen Mae Subway Station (学園前駅）。

Today I joined the event for the first time. They assigned one volunteer to each student. The lesson can be customized according to the Japanese level of the student. It is a one to one lesson. Great! Even if one does not know anything, the teacher will teach patiently and very helpful. I was with Satou-sensei, a housewife. She is very very nice. We are in the same age..she is funny too :)

Do come and join the group, I hope I can improve my Japanese conversation skill. Ganbareyou!

shaken (車検） renewal

Shaken needs to be renewed every two years. My car which I got yesterday will due its shaken in two days. So I just bring it to Eneos petrol station at Kita 19 Nishi 4. Make sure the following documents are ready:
1- Inspection certificate (shakesho - 車検書）
2- Compulsory Insurance certificate (jibaiseki hoken - 自賠責保険） - get this from the previous owner
3- The latest yearly tax receipt （nouzei shoumeisho - 納税証明書） - get this from the previous owner. If he already paid the tax, and the recipt is lost, you have to pay extra charge about Yen3,000 to request for the new receipt)

The whole shaken price depends on your car engine transmission. For 2.0 cc class, the basic price is about Yen80,000. This does not include some part which might need to be repaired. You just give the car to the shop and they will handle everything. They will call you when the new shaken is ready. It takes about a day if you let the shop to handle it.

You can also renew the shaken by yourself. Since I don't know Japanese and my knowledge about car is nearly null, I just bring it to the shop.

*If your shaken period is going to finish, I suggest that you make a reservation at least one month earlier at the shaken shop/station. Some shop give a price reduction about Yen5,000 on the prior reservation.

medical check up (kenkou shindan - 健康診断)

For Hokudai students, there is free medical check up provided by Health Center in April. Only in April, so please watch out the date which will be announced at your faculty. I suggest you (I mean Hokudai students) should take this opportunity since later perhaps you may need the medical certificate for other purposes for example applying for academic course, job and moving to the new house where this certificate is one of the required documents.

I wrote this entry because I missed the chance and I need to give the medical certificate to my new house management. TPublish Postoday I went to on of the medical check up center. click here to its webpage (in Japanese). The location is at 5th Floor, Sapporo Erupu Plaza, Kita 8 Nishi 3. There are fluent English speaking nurses who can help you through the process. Don't worry, they are really nice. I made the following check up :
- blood pressure
- weight and height measurement
- hearing and sight test
- chest check
- urine test
- x-ray
which cost overall for about Yen2,200 (Next year I will for sure take the free medical check-up at Hokudai Health Center)
I also did blood type test which cost another Yen900 because I forgot what type of blood I have :)

The report will be ready in a week. ki wo tsukete!

Ja!

Change Ownership

My friend want to give way his Toyota Corona 2.0 to me. So we have to transfer the ownership of the car.

MAKE SURE before you change the ownership,
1- the current owner MUST handover to you the following documents
- recycle fee receipt
- inspection certificate (shaken- 車検）
- compulsory insurance certificate (jibaiseki hoken -　自賠責保険）
2- the current owner give you the latest yearly tax receipt (nouzei shoumeisho - 納税証明書）. The tax should be paid before the end of May every year. If he wants to give away the car to you on June, MAKE SURE he already paid the tax　otherwise you will face BIG PROBLEM when you want to renew the shaken.)


In case you and the current owner want to do it yourself, make sure the following documents are ready :

From current owner
1- Alien Registeration card (gaikokujin touroku shoumeisho - 外国人登録証明書）
2-Current valid inspection certificate (shaken - 車検）
3- Stamp and Stamp certificate (inkan & inkan touroku shoumeisho - 印鑑　＆　印鑑登録証明書)

From owner-to-be
1- Alien Registration card (gaikokujin touroku shoumeisho - 外国人登録証明書）
2- Stamp and Stamp certificate (inkan & inkan touroku shoumeisho - 印鑑　＆　印鑑登録証明書)
3- Prepare some cash around Yen3,000
4- In case the car plate is not Sapporo (札幌） number, you need a new plate which cost around Yen2,000.
5- Parking certificate (shako shoumeisho - 車庫証明書)

Ｂring the documents to Sapporo Transport Office (unyu shikyoku 運輸支局) at Higashi-ku Kita 28 Nishi 1 (東区北２８条西１丁目). Please bring some one who can speak Japanese to help you.

It takes only about 15 minutes to finish the process. You will receive shaken with your name on it. That's all.

*for Kei-car or yellow plate care, the process is quite different and at the different office.

mosque and muslim society

In hokkaido, even the muslim community is really small, but we do have a strong relation between each other. Here is the web site of the community Hokkaido Islamic Society (HIS).

It is actually a small two-levels white building which is marked with "HIS" and マスジド. Among the activities are Arabic language, Quran recitation, Quran reading class for kids and Friday prayer (12.15 pm).

Address :
Sapporo-shi Kita-ku Kita 14 Jyou Nishi-3 Choume 7-Ban
北海道札幌市北区北１４条西３丁目７番

updated June 18, 2008
I just found a list of mosque in Japan. click here
This includes Sapporo Mosque and Otaru Mosque in Hokkaido.