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UO Bulletin Board #0915 – April 27, 2012

penguin Updating of the KEK Radiation Worker Registration for Visitors

Please make sure that you have updated the registration as visiting radiation workers in KEK before May 28, 2012.
Relevant law requires that you should renew your registration as radiation worker once a year.
This involves submission of your application form and watching a radiation safety video every year.
Failing to update the status will unable you to enter any radiation control area where ID card is required.
The registration forms No.9 and 10 are available from the offices of the laboratory and the Radiation-Control Main Office (telephone #3500).

You are required to watch the another safety videos to go inside the radiation controlled area as well. You can get these video programs from the Radiation-Control Main Office (telephone #3500),and the front desks at the Photon Factory (#5778）.

For more details, please contact Syuichi Ban(Call ext.5451)


# UO Bulletin Board 0913   - April 12, 2012 -

pe

About the correspondence concerning the missile launch
called the "artificial satellite" by North Korea ( Request )

North Korea has announced the missile launch called an "artificial satellite." between April 12 and 16th 7:00am -12:00.

Although it is usually hard to consider that a missile falls onto Japanese domain if, by any chance, you discover a thing like a falling object, please correspond as follows.

1) When the thing like a falling object should be discovered, never approach it but contact the 　　 　　　　below.
2) Also when there is a damage caused by falling object etc., you should contact below.

Contact:
8:30- 17:15 : General Affairs Division, General Affairs Chief #5114
Off duty   : Information Center #5552


#0905 March 26, 2012

# KEK Gym will reopen #
KEK Gym has been under repairing work after the big earthquake.  
Now it is completed and you can start using it by tomorrow, March  27th.   If you want to use the facility on Saturday, Sunday and holidays, you need to send in reservation ahead of time , as it had been.

http://room.kek.jp/undo/undo.cgi

For details, call Benefit Office at ext.6206


# 0708 January 5, 2011

#January 10th(Monday) is a National Holiday #
It is the day to cerabrate people who have reached 20 years of age, who will receive all the rights and responisilities as adults.
This is another long weekend and one should expect heavy traffic jams, etc.

 

#0661 July 21, 2010
# Introduction-to-Japan Class on August 11th #
As announced before, next Introduction-to-Japan Class will be held on August 11th, between 18:30 and 20:00, at the room adjacent to our Research Service Office. It is located in KEK Administration
Building. After you enter from the main entrance. turn left. Our office is on the right side, 6th door, right next to a fire hydrant. It is on the opposite side of International Affairs section.

The class will provided bare minimum knowledge to survive in Japan, including how to read/write Japanese alphabets ('kana'), what to do in case of emergency, cultural differences you should be aware of, daily conversation phrases, etc. Tuition is free and anyone, including family members, friends are welcome. Let me know if you will attend so that I can prepare for the teaching materials.

# “Doyoh-no-Ushi-no-Hi” for eating eels #unagi
After an ancient Chinese calendar, “Doyoh-no-Ushi-no-Hi” falls on July 26 (Monday) this year. (cf: July 21 in 2011, July 28 in 2012).

According to a story, in 1822, Gen-nai HIRAGA, by then a famous scientist who was considered to be an odd person yet highly respected, was asked for a help by a restaurant specialized for eels.
Gen-nai thought about it a bit and said “Let’s advertise it along with an ancient saying that it is good for your heath to eat something which name starts with “u” on the day of Ushi-no-Hi. It could be anything, but eel is called “u-na-gi” in Japan. So, he put up a big sign saying “It is U-Shi-No-Hi Today!” in front of the restaurant. This attracted the attention of people and since then the restaurant flourished. Naturally, this made other eel restaurants follow. As eels are rich in protein and other vitamins, it became a national custom. Every year, incredible number of eels is consumed on the day and just before.

I would personally refrain from eating eel on the day, as it is a long line of waiting. I would go for it a few days to a week after the crazy day. There are quite a few Unagi restaurants in Tsukuba, but I do not know one I can highly recommend within what I have tried so far. If you have tried one, please give me your feed back. (Note: Many eel restaurants, except for expensive specialized ones, would often serve prepared and pre-frozen eels imported from overseas. )

As for the ways eels are cooked, most popular is “Ka-ba-ya-ki” style, basically BBQ’ed. (Japanese BBQ source for eels is NOT the same for BBQ’ing beef.) You could try “Shi-ra-ya-ki” which is eel roasted without the BBQ source. It is more delicate taste, eaten with a bit of ground wasabi radish. However, this would taste good only at excellent restaurants. So, don’t push your luck.

#0607 March 3rd, 2010
# Bicycle control onsite #
As there has been so many abandoned bicycles onsite, KEK will change regulation effective April 1st, 2010.After that date, not only automobiles, but motorcycles and bicycles must be registers if you bring them into KEK site. The registration should be done the same way as for automobiles. I have complained that there is NO notice in English was provided, so that they will prepare for application forms, notification in English soon, I hope. When English version is ready, I shall let you know about it.

# Plum blossoms are nearly in full bloom at Mt. Tsukuba #
You would enjoy pink and white plum blossoms. There are 3000 plum trees there. Expect that parking lots (500 yen or so) are quite full unless you go there early. Various kind of festivities will be held there especially on weekend. http://www.umematsuri.jp/

#0606 March 01,2010
This came to my attention recently and I had a look at the present traffic law which has been keep changing recently. Since I summarized what I have found, I thought it would be useful for some of you to know about this. Tokio You can also see this through our KEK Research Service Office Web page (http://www.kek.jp/RSO/eng/) at: http://www.kek.jp/RSO/eng/living/automobile.html

------------------------------------------------------------------------ car

Intoxicated driving in Japan 25th February, 2010
PLEASE NOTE: Actual Japanese traffic law is far more complicated than what I write below. This writing is only to give you an idea to keep you away from getting into a trouble. Traffic law on intoxicated driving gets tighter and tighter recently. So, what I write here may be valid for only a short time. Also note that it is NOT only the driver who gets punished. If you are in the same car, you get heavily punished as well.

Penalty on intoxicated driving is imposed on you through a penalty point system in Japanese law. Penalty level is decided by your penalty points taking into account of your past traffic violation record. Naturally, if you have done this before, the penalty imposed on you will be is significantly heavier. When injury, fatality, damaging properties are involved along with your being drunk, penalty points will be significantly higher. If a police stops you and checks the level of alcohol contents in your breath, following points are charged against you, providing no accidents or other illegal activity (such as driving over the speed limit, etc.) is associated at the same time.

Amount of alcohol detected is above 0.15mg/liter of your breath: 13 points, above 0.25mg/liter: 25 points. These are called ‘Shuki-obi-Un- ten’. Refusing to take the test to check your alcohol contents level in your breath will result maximum sentence of less than three years of imprisonment or under half a million yen penalty.

‘Yopparai-Un-ten’ is defined as you being under the influence of alcohol and are in a condition of not capable of driving a car safely. It is not a matter of detected alcohol in your breath. You are judged to be doing a ‘Yopparai-Un-ten’ if you cannot walk straight, if your vision is affected, if you cannot do a proper action for safe driving etc. It is a matter judged by a police.

If judged to be in a state of ‘Yopparai-Un-ten’, 35 points is charged against you along with imprisonment of less than 5 years and/ or fine of less than 1 million yen. Your driving license will be revoked immediately. You will not be allowed to reapply for a driving license test for three years.

If you have record(s) of traffic law violation beforehand, penalties will be even heavier than this. If you were in the same car (or if you had offered alcoholic drink(s) to the driver) when the driver of the car was found to be driving intoxicated, your will get imprisonment of less than 2 years and/or fine of under half a million yen.

If you were in the same car (or if you had offered alcoholic drink(s) to the driver) when the driver of the car was judged to be drunken driving, your will get imprisonment of less than 3 years and/or fine of under one million yen. If you offered the drive a car to drive and the driver is judged to be either driving intoxicated or drunken, you will get the same punishment as that for the driver.

Relevant information (not detailed but in Englis)
http://www.keishicho.metro.tokyo.jp/foreign/traffic/nodriving.html
http://www.keishicho.metro.tokyo.jp/foreign/submenu.htm

#0594 January 25, 2010
# Hospitals on weekend #
When you get sick or injured while you are on-site, contact KEK Guards' Office (Infomation Center) at 3399 first. They will help you. Do not try to go to a hospital by yourself, as some hospitals are not capable to handle patients who does not speak Japanese. If you are outside of KEK and get sick or injured, I would recommend you to go to Tukuba Kinen Byoin (5.2km from KEK) or Tsukuba Medical Center (7.8km from KEK). They can accept patients 24 hours a day if it is an emergency. (We will be revising the information on hospitals. Most Hospitals and clinics are closed on weekends, but they take turns to take care of people who got sick on weekends. This information has been shown on our web page in Tsukuba City News, but is not easily found.)

#0590 January 13, 2010
# KEK Library will be temporarily closed # (repeated message)
As part of the renovation work of Kenkyu-Honkan Building, KEK library will be closed as follows: Closed between 17:00 and 9:00 next morning between January 12th and February 14th. Closed whole day on Saturday, Sunday and Holidays between January 12th and February 14th. Closed between February 15th and March 14. Returning books: The book-return post at the entrance of the library will be there (or relocated) so that you can return the book you have taken out. Please return them before the due date. Electric journals/electric books: Between the February 15th and March 14 period, you could still use the Electric journal/electric book service through Library Home Page. You can contact librarian at ext. 5137, 5138 or at idlib@mail.kek.jp during these periods.

#0578 December 1, 2009
#Carry-on luggage size #
Effective today, limiting the size of carry-on luggage on airplane is strictly enforced. @ Airplane more than 100 seats ; The dimension should not exceed 25cm x 40cm x 55cm . The sum of width+height+thickness should not exceed 115cm. @ Airplane less than 100 seats ; 20cm x 35cm x 45cm, 100cm. There also is a weight limit of 10kgs. This practically rejects most musical instruments to be carried on board. They should be either checked-in or buy one more seat as passenger just for the instruments. Narita Airport Web : http://www.narita-airport.jp/en/news/091126.html

#0482 January 4, 2009
# Be aware #
Some people in Tsukuba might have a merry new year party and go home driving. Due to heavy fine and punishment on drunken driving, the number of drunken drivers were reduced dramatically for the last few years. However, you should drive carefully and watch for a car that does not stay on a straight line. Don't get involved with these people.

#Traffic to and from Mt.Tsukuba#
Although the traffic will be reduce by now, many people goes to Mt.Tsukuba on the first week of January, which is related to Japanese Shintoism. Many locals go to Mt.Tsukuba by car. It could take more than a few hours to get to the Tsukuba Shrine, which should normally take less than half an hour from here.

#0462 November 4, 2008
# The Health Consultation Room and the Health and Safety Office will be relocated #
The Health Consultation Room and the Health and Safety Office (has been in Administration Building) will be relocated and start their work on November 10th at the new location in Advanced nstrumentation Laboratory building.
(See http://www.kek.jp/intra-j/health/oshirase/sahe.pdf pdf for the map.)

Please be aware that what they could respond to will be limited to emergency cases during the transition period from November 6 to November 11, 2008.
For more details, please contact the Health and Safety Office at extension 5120 or 5119.
Hope this will not cause you a problem.


Reminder to all of you

2007.Jun 7

Although these had been talked about before, I now feel I should remind you of the following. Some of you might say that these statements are insults to you. Well, if I do not have enough reasons to state the below, I would not say. Tokio K. OHSKA

(1) National Health Insurance Anyone staying in Japan for longer than 1 year must join the National Health Insurance Plan. You go to the City Office (where you do Alien Registration) and file your application.

You MUST not forget to inform them when you will be leaving Japan. Without this process of termination, you will be continuously required to pay the insurance premium.

It is better for you to arrange with your bank that the insurance premium will be automatically paid from your saving account so that you do not forget to pay. Going to the office and pay every other months will be too time consuming and you may forget. I am aware of the cases that someone did not pay attention to the notice from the city office because it was written in Japanese only. Well, I have been urging the city office to at least add statements in English. This was done several years ago and they still have not done anything yet. I feel the city office is not doing a right thing and I have complained to the superior of the division. Please note that I am not blaming only on this side.

PLEASE NOTE: There have been cases that someone left Japan with the insurance premiums unpaid and the host researcher for the person had to pay the due amount out of his pocket. It is unfair and unethical. Make sure that your host researcher knows your contact address for at least a few years after you leave from Japan.

As the National Health Insurance takes care of the medical cost for up to 70%, you may consider additional medical insurance from a private insurance company. I also recommend you to add in coverage for other conceivable troubles which should not cost you much more. One of the known ones is to take care of the rescue cost. When you go to a mountain or to a lake or an ocean on your own and get involved in an accident. The cost for searching/rescuing you can be quite expensive as they might be trying to find you for many days with large number of people and with heavy equipments, including helicopters, etc. It is not an amount which your host researcher could possibly pay for you. (Don't tell me that you would pay for it. You could be dead by the accident. Someone has to pay for it.)

(2) Automobile Insurance There are two kinds of insurance for car owners. One is called "Jibaiseki" which you must pay every year when you pay tax. It is mandatory. It is designed to assure bare minimum cost in case of accident and quite often insufficient to take care of serious injuries. Hence you should get an additional coverage from private insurance company. (Unless you have unlimited amount of money and you do not know how to spend them.)

KEK has special contract with several insurance companies to which you pay less insurance premium for the same coverage.

When you choose the condition of contract, I recommend you to put in a coverage for your own car. I learned a hard lesson myself. If you do not have the contract to take care of the damages to your own car when you car was hit by other car, your insurance company will not be involved. This means that you have to deal with the professional negotiator from the insurance company of the other car. Well, I was not a specialist on legal matters and I had to go through a hard time when other driver had been solely responsible for the accident.

Just like National Health Insurance, it is better for you to arrange with your bank that the insurance premium will be automatically paid from your saving account so that you do not forget to pay.

(3) Please consider that we (this includes me) are guests to this country and we should respect Japanese laws and customs. True that they may not always be a rational rule to follow. But, I have not been in a country where there is no fault in the society. Remember that we are representing our own country and our own people.

(4) Car ownership I have heard a case that someone leaving Japan did not do a legal ownership transfer and left the car to other non-Japanese, just to save the cost or because they did not have time for it. By the time when the later owner of the car realized that the car was not worth repairing any more, he realized that he could NOT do the legal process of disposing the car. It requires the proof of ownership, in such a case the Alien Registration of the original owner. Naturally the original owner did not have it after he had left Japan. I do not know how much trouble that followed this. You will have a car you can not even dispose of it. What I can repeatedly say is do all what you are expected to do. NO argument that this is NOT required in your own country.

(5) Alien Registration You must have your Alien Registration Card with you always. There has been a case that someone was questioned by a police and taken to a police station because he did not have the registration card with him.

(6) Do not take a bicycle from a garbage collection area. It is true that one finds bicycles dumped in garbage collection area. A person was questioned by a police when he was with a bicycle which he had picked up at a garbage collection area. As he could not prove it was his, he was taken to a police station for further questioning. One is expected to register one's bicycle which serves as a proof of ownership. When you get a bicycle by buying or given to you, do get it registered officially under your name. It does not cost much and can be done at any bicycle shop. Remember that there are overwhelming number of incidents of bicycle thefts per year in Tsukuba and police are irritated about it.

(7) Scheme of garbage collection is getting stricter as recycling is the recognized practice. The type of garbage you can put out to garbage collection area is specified and the day of the week you can put it out is also specified by the city. Please respect the rule. It is essential to do so to be accepted as a good neighbor.