Gakusei Travels

How Do I get this stuff home?!

I sadly leave Japan on July 30th. I really don’t want to go home, because going home means going back to reality. Lol. But I do really miss my family, so although I’m sad to be leaving, I am excited to see everyone and make going to Japan my entire personality for the next four months. I also want to give everyone the souvenirs I bought!

Unfortunately, this also means I have sooo much stuff to do before leaving, not just packing my suitcases. Before I can even leave the country, I actually had so much paperwork to fill out. I’m technically not a tourist; I’m a resident here with a resident card. This means that not only do I have to pay taxes, but I have to let the city I live in, Kodaira, know that I’m moving out. The first thing I had to do was go to Kodaira City Hall and fill out “a notice of moving out.” I went with Aicha, Sam, and Edana, because we were all sort of confused on what to do and figured if we went as a group, it would be easier to figure out. Basically, at City Hall we had to fill out this form that said where were we currently living, where were we moving to and when, and why were we moving. I’m like….I’m going home??

It just took a long time to get through, because City Hall was moving so slow….It was like going to the BMV. I actually had a classmate who studied abroad at Japan last summer. I texted him and asked did he have to fill out this paperwork too, to which he said he did. It’s just standard for all residents to do when moving out of their current address. I swear it’s more paperwork leaving than coming. If someone told me I’d have to do all this prior to studying abroad, I’d probably not have done it…

After filling out that form, we had to return our National Health Insurance Card and pay insurance taxes. I thankfully never had to go to the doctor and use the card while I was here, so I actually forgot that I had it. In the mail, all of us got this blue envelope with a bunch of payment slips in it, so it was kind of confusing. I tried to Google translate it, but it didn’t really make sense to me. So basically, we ended up getting in the mail the Health Insurance Tax payment slips for the ENTIRE year. I was so scared at first, because I thought we owed like 11,000￥. The months weren’t lining up, because we given stuff for September-February, when we wouldn’t even be here. When we went to City Hall, they adjusted the payment for the months we were actually here. So the total from April-July only came out to be 2900￥. Thankfully so, cause they were going to have to jump me at the airport if I was supposed to pay the original amount I thought T^T.

I also had some paperwork to do with the university. It wasn’t nearly as tedious. It was just to let the academic office know we were moving out of the dorm on what day and that there were no damages to the room. I also asked for a couple copies of my transcript. They would of course send one to my home institution, but I wanted a backup just in case. The last thing I have to do with the school will be to cancel my bike membership. I will have to give back the membership card along with my student ID and I’ll get a refund for my deposit. Then, the very last thing I have to do is when I go to the airport ask the agent to void my Resident Card. I want to keep it as a souvenir, so they need to invalidate it.

OK. Now, that’s just pre-departure paperwork. Packing was another beast. So, I weighed all my options for what was the best way to getting my stuff home. Really the main and biggest thing I got was all my manga, and books can be super heavy. I also wanted to keep all the pots, pans, and electric kettle I bought while here. My friends all ask why don’t I just trash them, but they’re in great condition still. And I figured I’m going to graduate school somewhere within the next year or two. I can save them for when I get my own place. I originally thought about mailing the books home, but come to find out, it was going to be around 19,000￥ per box to ship home. That would’ve been about $250 for two boxes, and I would still have so much stuff to bring home, which likely meant mailing out a third and maybe fourth box.

I called Delta Airline’s customer service to see how much it would cost to check another bag. I already get two free checked bags. They said it would cost $200. So, after talking with my mom, we decided the best course would be to just buy another suitcase and check it. The suitcase off Amazon ended up being $44. Buying a fourth suitcase and checking it ended up being way cheaper than trying to mail everything home. This may be the best course of action for any future travelers to Japan. That or bringing a relatively empty suitcase.

Since I have three suitcases and two carry-ons, there’s no way I can bring that all on the train by myself. Japan is also mostly stairs, so that would just be a nightmare trying to handle all that luggage by myself. There is something here called a Luggage Transfer service. I used Yamato Transport. They’ll ship your bags to and from the airport and to different hotels. I filled out the inquiry form via email, and the transfer service sent mailing labels to the dormitory. I have to ship my luggage at least 2-3 days before my flight, so I’m shipping my two biggest suitcases out on Friday the 26th. Both the suitcases lock, and I will put AirTags in them to track them. I would have preferred to send my medium case as well, but I need to keep it for my last few days in Japan. It’s not as big as the larger two, so hopefully it shouldn’t be too hard to bring on the train. It should cost around $40ish to ship the two. They price based on size and weight, and they’ll come straight to the dorm to pick them up. One bag ended up being 22Kg and the other 21Kg. Mind you, the max weight for the plane is 23Kg, so I was REALLY pushing it with one of them. lol

I’m really glad my mom told me to buy those air seal bags, because they were quite a life saver when packing. I tried to be smart. Since I had to ship two off early, I put all my bigger and heavier stuff I don’t need for the last few days in first. I packed away my jeans, sweatshirts, dresses, extra shoes, extra towels, and extra blanket. I packed away most of my manga and my kitchenware. In the medium suitcase I put the rest of my clothes, toiletries, and other little extra things I wanted from Japan, like skin care, my anime figurines, the stuff I bought from Disney, etc. Then in my carry-on, I’ll keep the smaller souvenirs that I bought just so they don’t get broken and my smaller clothes like shirts. And in my backpack, I’ll of course have all my electronics and paperwork

As I started packing, I really had to kind of play tetris to fit and place everything within. I ended up having to pull a lot of the boxes out and place items in without them, since it was taking up too much space. I also started putting smaller items inside some of the pots and containers just to save space. Like one of my pots is just full of those mini anime figures I collected, because I had no idea where else to put them. I hope that next week when I put the last of my things in, they will all fit, but if push came to shove, mailing out one small box would be way cheaper than sending out a bunch of stuff. I also hope that when I do get home, I remember where I put everything…

The mental gymnastics to pack and do paperwork has honestly been so stressful, that I’ve kinda forgotten I still have a week of classes. I really want to still enjoy my last few days here, spend time with all my friends, and buy any last souvenirs I want. I just can’t buy anything BIG without running the risk of my bag being overweight, but I think I got all that I want. I may get a couple more anime figures and video games, since they will be much cheaper than back home. I’m trying NOT to buy more manga, but there’s one more series I REALLY REALLY want. There are a couple events I get to go to as well before I leave, one being a fireworks show with the Wotagei Circle, and I’m going to start revisiting some of my favorite places one last time.

I’m on the countdown till I go home, but I’ve already started looking at airline flights to try to figure out when and how I can come back lol. I’m in the home stretch. It’s sad to see that this journey of mine is almost complete, but it has truly been one of the best summer’s of my life.