Nurul&Fira: Life in Japan as muslims #4

Hello ! How is your weekend? Welcome back to another "Foreign Students Interview" Post!📷🎤

Today we would like to share the last post of an interview with two girls from Indonesia, Fira and Nurul. They also told us a lot about the payment system for NHK TV(Japan Broadcasting Corporation) as well as complicated contracts which are unfamiliar to them.

ーDo you have any information that should have known beforehand? Nurul:

Payment for NHK TV. That is annoying. Because of the contract between my apartment which attach TV in every single room and TV, I have to deal with the TV staff who suddenly come in front of my room to talk in Japanese for payment. Of course, I do not watch Japanese TV, but he tries to explain while using translator and brochure in famous languages. Fira:

How much do you pay for the TV? Nurul:

¥2,000 for 2 months. But I do not watch because all the TV programs are Japanese. There seems to be only one TV program in English (NHK World), but it is the premium TV program and I cannot watch it now.

ーHow about usual contracts here? Fira:

I cannot understand why do they need guarantors in each contract. My contract with the apartment is full-year, but the owner said "you need a guarantor for the contract" though I do not need the one. The guarantors have to be someone I know who now live in Japan and will pay instead of me if I cannot pay for that.

Fira:

Exactly! But I said I`d pay the whole fee for the contract. Why I need the guarantor ?? Nurul:

You know, not all the foreigner have relatives in Japan, so the company officially have to prepare the reference who must pay instead in cases as a guarantee of the contract. But in my cases, I paid one-off payment so do not have to prepare the another person for the contract forever. I think it is more complicated.

ーHow about the payment system for utility charges ? Nurul:

Setting up electricity is difficult, too. I think you need to have Japanese friends to help you, because the staff cannot speak English. But I think it is progressing because public services now have call center in English.

These systems for payment is also annoying for all who live in Japan, but I hope they can enjoy their lives in Japan. Thank you so much, Fira, Nurul and you too who read this post. Arigatou gozaimasu📷☺️ We will continue to share another interview with international students from ASEAN, so please take a look !