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This July, Sakai will see the opening of a brand new hospital in
Nishi-ku, the Sa-kai City Medical Center, which will take over from
the old Sakai Municipal Hospital as the main public hospital in the
city. Spanning 27 specialties, the hospital will be a hub for
cutting edge specialist and emergency medical care, equipped with
all the won-ders that modern medical technology has to offer. Its
487 beds include 30 for emergency medical care and seven for the
treatment of infectious diseases. The new hospital will also house
an emergency pedi-atric centre which will pro-vide year-round
primary
JUNE / JULY 2015 EDITION
CITY LIFE
Food Safety in Summer 2
Sakai Citizens Noh 3
Grand Evening Fish Market 3
Sakai City Museum 4
Sofia Sakai Planetarium 4
Financial Assistance 5
Fire Prevention Visits 6
Inside this issue:
Message from the Editor
Greetings all! Things area starting to heat up and it looks like
another hot summer - I can say this before the rainy season (tsuyu)
has even arrived!
Theres still plenty to do in Sakai through the summer though,
de-spite the heat.
In this edition there wasnt any space to put in details of
Sakais public swimming pools, but rest assured, theyll be up on the
website.
This summer Ill be doing my best to re-member to drink plenty of
water and get out into the forests and hills to the west from time
to time to unwind.
Felix
Sakai City Medical CenterNew!
1-L5-15-0052
care for children, including on weekends and holidays and at
night. The hospital incorporates base isolation
(earthquake-proofing) technology, high performance off-the-grid
power generation capaci-ty and a helipad to allow it provide
continuation of care and fulfill its role as a regional base for
medical care in the event of a large-scale natural disaster. The
hospitals ad-dress will be 1 Ebaraji-cho, Ni-shi-ku, Sakai
City.
(Note: medical treat-ment will not be avail-able here until the
hospital has officially opened.)
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Watch out for food poisoning during the rainy season!
Every year between June and Octo-ber cases of food poisoning
abound. In particular, germs are very active during the hot and
humid rainy sea-son. Even though food poisoning bac-teria may be
present in your food and multiplying, there may be no change in the
foods appearance, smell or taste, making it very difficult to
detect.
Pay attention to the following pointers to keep yourself and
your family safe.
When buying food:
Before buying, check the use-by date and level of freshness.
Only buy what you need. When buying food that needs to be kept
refrigerated or fro-zen, aim to purchase it last. After buy-ing
such food, get it into the fridge or freezer as soon as you
can.
Storage:
Generally speaking, fridges should be kept below 10 degrees
centigrade and freezers below -15 degrees centi-grade. Leaving the
door of your fridge or freezer open, or putting too much inside it
can cause the inside temper-ature to increase, so aim to close the
door as soon as you can when taking things out, and try not to fill
your fridge or freezer above 70 percent.
When cooking:
Always wash your hands before pre-paring food. Make sure you
also wash your chopping board and knives in hot water to kill germs
before you start cooking. In particular, after handling raw meat or
fish, be sure to wash your hands and cooking utensils before
handling other food.
When heating food, ensure that it is cooked through (i.e. that
the centre of the piece of meat etc. is thoroughly cooked).
Eating:
After food has been prepared, try to eat it straight away. If it
is likely to be a while before you eat the food, do not
Summer Food Safety
PAGE TWO CITY LIFE
Emergency NumbersRemember These!
In the event of a fire or medical emer-gency please call 119. If
you require the police or there has been an acci-dent, call
110.
Ambulances are free to use in Japan; however, they are only for
emergen-cies, and must not be used in cases of minor illness or
injury.
Emergency calls can be made for free in public phone boxes:
1. Pick up the receiver
2. Press the red button
()
3. Dial 119 or 110 depending on the nature of the emergency.
Beginner Japanese Lessons
Free beginner level Japanese lessons for adults will be taking
place in Sakai International Plaza from September 1st. There will
be 15 lessons, held on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.
Participants must live, work or study in Sakai City.
Applications will be accepted from July. For more information
please con-tact Sakai International Plaza
(TEL) 072-228-7499
email: [email protected]
190th View 21 Concert
The 190th View21 Concert will be held in the 21st Floor
Observation Lobby at Sakai City Hall on Friday, June 12th from
12:10. Junes concert is titled The Rainy Concert to celebrate
Tsuyuthe plum rains which typically fall in June. The performance
will be by pianist, Ms Okamura Hoshimi. Pieces include: Raindrop by
Chopin Reflets dans leau by
Debussy Hitsuji (The Ram) by Okamura Ho-
shimi
On July 9th, 2012, the system manag-ing the registration of
foreign residents changed. Residents who still possess an Alien
Registration Card from the old system need to swap their card for a
Residence Card by
1. Their 16th birthday or July 8th this year (which ever comes
first) for permanent residents,
2. Their 16th birthday, July 8th this year, or the end of their
stay (which ever comes first) for those on Des-ignated Activities
Visas,
3. Their 16th birthday or the end of their stay (which ever
comes first) for all others.
Mid/long term residents should bring:
Passport (if they have one), Alien Registration Card, 1Xpassport
photo (40mm X 30mm)
Present the items listed above at the Osaka Regional Immigration
Bureau (9:00 16:00 weekdays).
Enquiries: Osaka Regional Immigra-tion Bureau (TEL)
06-4703-2100
Enquiries can also be directed to your local ward office civic
affairs division or the City Hall Family and Resident Registration
Division (TEL) 072-228-7739 (FAX) 072-228-0371.
If you require language assistance, you can use the trio-phone
interpreta-tion service which is available at Sakai International
Plaza. (TEL) 072-228-7499 The service is available for Eng-lish
speakers 9:00-12:00, 13:00-16:00 Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and
Friday. For Chinese speakers: Friday 9:00-12:00, and Monday and
Wednesday 13:00 16:00.
End of Alien Registration Card System
leave it at room temperature put it in a shallow dish where it
will cool easily, and then place the dish in the freezer or fridge.
When you eat it after that, be sure to reheat it thoroughly.
Finally, when you have a barbeque, keep chopsticks used for
handling the raw meat separate from the ones used for eating.
Enquiries: Food San-itation Division (TEL) 072-222-9925
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In addition to fuels such as gasoline and kerosene hazardous
materials also include substances used in paints, agricultural
chemicals, cosmet-ic and pharmaceuticals and more. They are all
around us and while we may be familiar with them, one mis-step in
their usage or handling can lead to fires, endangering life and
property.
At home, always be sure to keep haz-ardous materials out of
reach of chil-dren and away from places that get
Sakai Grand Evening Fish Market be-gan as a market for Sakais
fishermen to sell off fish left over from the offerings they made
at Sumiyoshi Grand Shrine to ensure bountiful catches and safe
navi-gation. The market dates back 700 years to the Kamakura
period; truly a time-honoured Sakai tradition.
This year the market will be held on July 31st, a Friday. Stage
events begin, and stall and booth trading starts from 1:00 pm.
After 7:00 pm anyone can enjoy bartering with wily fish sellers and
participating in the auction for the freshest seafood around.
Event Information
Date: July 31st (Friday)
Time: 1:00 pm 9:30 pm
Venue: Ohama Park (4 5 Ohama Kitamachi, Sakai-ku) 800 metres
west of Sakai Station (Nankai Line)
Entry: free
Parking: unavailable (incl. Ohama Park)
Please direct enquiries to the Grand Sakai Night Fish Market
Executive Committee (2-2-3 Nakanocho Nishi, Sakai Ward) (TEL)
072-227-8841
hot. Use them only in well ventilated spaces, away from naked
flames, and take care to store and use them cor-rectly and
safely.
Enquiries: Sakai City Fire Bureau, Fire Prevention Department,
Hazard-ous Materials Safety Division
(TEL) 072-238-6006
From the Fire Bureau: Beware of Hazardous Materials
Sakai Grand Evening Fish Market
PAGE THREE
THE 45th SAKAI CITIZENS NOH
JUNE / JULY 2015 EDITION
Date July 25th (Sat)
Time Performance starts at 13:45 (venue opens at 13:00)
Venue Westy Hall (Sakai City Nishi Culture Hall)
Tickets Tickets are available from Toga, Higashi, and Mihara
Cultural Halls, the Sakai City Cultural Foundation, Lawson Ticket
(L-code: 52422) and e+.
Discount rates apply to those 18 and under, senior citizens
(65+), and people with disabilities and their carers.
Discount tickets and tickets for wheelchair users cannot be
pur-chased through Lawson Ticket or e+.
Not suitable for pre-school aged children.
Enquiries Sakai City Cultural Foundation (TEL) 072-228-0440
Weekdays 9:0017:30
Ticket Prices Presales Door Sales
General Discount General Discount
Designated seat-ing only
3,500 3,000 4,000 3,500
Come down to Westy Hall in Otori, home of Sakai Takigi Noh, to
see na-tionally famous Noh actors, including Nagayama Reizaburou,
in action.
The afternoons spectacles will in-clude the noh play,
Tsuchigumo, a lion dance, and a comical kyogen performance titled
Nawanai.
Tickets are on sale now!
In Sakai June is Hazardous Materials Safety Month and the week
from June 7th to June 13th is Safety Priori-ties Promotion Week.
During the week, Sakai City Fire Bureau will be working to increase
citizens aware-ness of hazardous materials fire pre-vention
practices, and conducting a publicity and education campaign aimed
at improving hazardous materi-als safety and strengthening
self-preservation frameworks in work spaces.
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PAGE FOUR CITY LIFE
The Sakai City Museum is located in Daisen Park. It holds
thematic exhibi-tions in addition to its general exhibi-tion on the
history and culture of Sa-kai.
Time Trip back to the Showa Period The Panoramic World of
Yoshida
Hatsusaburo
May 30th (Sat) July 12th (Sun)
The Sakai City Museum, now in its 35th year of operation, has in
storage a particularly excellent collection of pan-oramic maps
drawn by Yoshida Hatsusaburo, painter of modern Japa-nese
landscapes. The museum has exhibited the collection before,
mes-merizing the many visitors who saw it.
Last year (2014) marked the 130th anniversary of Yoshidas birth
and this year marks 60 years since his death. As such, his
panoramic maps will be displayed in various parts of the coun-try.
The Sakai City Museum, however, will be examining its collection
from a new angle.
Yoshidas panoramic world, which
What s on a t Saka i Ci ty Museum?
depicts the Showa period landscape in a distinctive way, will be
at once nostalgic to the Showa generation and fresh to the Heisei
generation.
Delve into the fascinating and nostal-gic world of maps through
Yoshidas panoramas. You will not be disap-pointed.
1st Floor Exhibition Area Temporary Exhibition Corner
Temporary Exhibition: Summers
from Days Gone By, Sakai Summers
July 18th (Sat) August 30th (Sun)
This exhibition looks at various items related to summers the
way they used to be.
1st Floor Exhibition Area Temporary Exhibition Corner
Remember, the museum also has permanent exhibitions detailing
the history of Sakais kofun (ancient burial mounds) and its years
as a bastion of self rule and hub for foreign trade. More or less
in front of the museum are the Shin-an and Obai-an tea houses.
Shin-an keeps the same hours as the museum and visitors can
try matcha green tea and traditional tea cer-emony sweets
there.
Opening Hours
Open Tuesday-Sunday 9:30-17:15 (enter by 16:30)
Closed
Mondays (except public holidays)
Year-end and New Year Holidays
Contact museum for details TEL:072-245-6201)
Admission Museum Entry only
Adults 200 yen
University/senior high students 100 yen
Elementary/junior high students 50 yen
Discounts apply for groups (20 persons or more). Junior high
school students and elementary pupils attending schools or living
in Sakai, as well as foreign exchange students with suitable
identification are admitted for free.
Planetarium Film: Mt. Fuji by Kagaya Studio Inc.
On Saturday, Sunday and public holi-day nights until June 28th
the Sofia Sakai Planetarium will be screening Mt. Fuji by Kagaya
Studio Inc. The screening lasts 40 minutes during which images of
Mt. Fuji and the night sky over four seasons spread out across the
dome to a soundtrack by Himegami.
Dates: May 9th June 28th (Saturdays, Sundays and public
holi-days)
Times: 18:00-18:40
Fee: Adults 510 yen Children 250 yen (4y/o junior high school
age)
Venue: Sofia Sakai Gallery (1426 Fukaishimizu-cho, Naka-ku)
Nearest station: Fukai station on the Semboku Rapid Railway
Link: http://sofia-sakai.jp/planetarium/
Enquiries: Sofia Sakai Planetarium
(TEL) 072-270-8110
Sofia Sakai Planetarium and Observatory
Flea Market 2015 (and Fure-ai Mini Festival) at Sofia Sakai
Fun for all the familyYou never know what you might find!
Date: June 28th (Sun) Time: 11:00-16:00 Entry: Free
Venue: Sofia Sakai Gallery (1426 Fukaishimizu-cho, Naka-ku)
Nearest station: Fukai station on the Semboku Rapid Railway
Mini Festival: Yo-yo Fishing, Super Ball scooping (100 yen per
play)
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Sakai City provides rent assistance for young single workers,
young married couple households, and families with small children
that have moved into rental accom-modation in Semboku New Town. The
second enrolment period for the 2015 fiscal year is from July 1st
to July 31st (excluding weekends and public holi-days).
Enrolment during this peri-od is for households who have
finished the residents registration within Semboku New Town by July
1st.
There are certain restrictions on the types of households and
housing eli-gible for assistance so be sure to take these into
account if planning a move.
Young married couple households and families with small children
can receive monthly assistance of up to 20,000 yen towards the
portion of their rent above the first 50,000 yen for a maximum of
five years.
Young, single workers can receive monthly assistance of up to
10,000 yen towards the portion of their rent above the first 30,000
yen for a maximum of three years.
For those individuals eligi-ble for the citys single per-sons
rent assistance who moved into UR (Urban Renaissance) rental
housing, benefits are also avail-able from the Urban Renaissance
Agency.
For more details on conditions and restrictions, please see
information pamphlets available at the City Hall Administrative
Information Centre and ward office Administrative Information
Corners, or see the Sakai City Homepage (in Japanese).
For enquiries, please con-tact the New Town Region
Revitalization Office:
(TEL) 072-228-7530
People who require language assis-tance can make use of the
Triophone interpretation service offered at Sakai International
Plaza (English: Mon, Wed, Thu, Fri: 9:00-12:00, 13:00-16;00
Chinese; Mon, Wed: 13:00-16:00, Fri: 9:00-12:00).
(TEL) 072-228-7499
Housing Assistance in Semboku New Town
PAGE FIVE JUNE / JULY 2015 EDITION
In June and July at the Sakai Machiya Town House Museum
Seigakuin and Yamaguchi Residence, they will be putting on a
wazarashi and yukata exhibition and putting up Tanabata (Star
Festival) decorations to highlight Sakais traditional industries
and brighten things up with some season-al furnishings. Information
panels will also describe Sumiyoshi Festival and Mikoshi-togyo (a
type of parade fea-turing portable shrines), both im-portant
festivals closely linked to the people and history of Sakai.
Towards the end of June, various fittings inside these old
buildings are swapped for summer fittings, for in-stance, fusuma
sliding doors are re-placed with light bamboo sudo doors. In the
heat of summer the buildings make the perfect spot to seek out a
bit of shade.
Exhibition Schedule: Wazarashi/Yukata/Tenugui Hand-towel
Exhibition: June 3rd (Wed) - 29th (Mon) Tanabata decorations: July
1st (Wed) -6th (Mon) Sumiyoshi Festival Mikoshi-togyo Panel
Exhibition: July 1st (Wed) - August 8th (Mon) Entry: 100 yen
(Seigakuin), 200 yen (Yamaguchi Residence), 250 yen (entry to both)
Entry is free for junior high school students and children, 65+ and
people with disabilities.
Closed: Tuesdays Access (No parking facilities are available at
either site): Seigakuin
1-3-13 Kitahatagocho-nishi, Sakai-ku (TEL/FAX) 072-228-1501 5
minutes on foot from Hankai Tram Takasu Jinja Station or Nan-kai
Main Line Shichido Station
Yamaguchi Residence 1-2-31 Nishikinocho-higashi, Sa-kai-ku
(TEL/FAX) 072-224-1155 3 minutes on foot from Ayanocho Station on
the Hankai Tram Line.
Enquiries: Cultural Properties Division (TEL) 072-228-7198 ext.
4651
Sakai Machiya Town House Museum Seigakuin and Yamaguchi
Residence For households facing financial diffi-
culties in sending their children to senior high school etc.,
assistance of up to 32,000 yen a year is available. Financial
assistance is granted follow-ing the results of a screening process
with assistance administered on a needs basis for a maximum of 480
students. Households meeting the following criteria may be
eligible.
Students living in Sakai City and at-tending one of the
following types of schools on July 1st, 2015:
First year students (those who en-tered from this school year
only) at senior high school, secondary school (senior levels only),
technical colleges, vocational schools (senior courses lasting two
or more years only), and students in years 1 3 at support school
(senior levels only, excludes specialist courses)
To be eligible total household income for 2014 should be within
the following:
2 person households: 2.18m yen or less 3 person households:
2.69m yen or less 4 person households: 3.06m yen or less 5 person
households: 3.52m yen or less
Households eligible to receive the Osaka Prefectural Governments
Support payments for attending school (families who receive public
assistance (seikatsuhogo) or municipal tax income-based tax relief)
are not eligible. Applications are accepted July 1st July 10th
(excluding week-ends) and must be made at the appli-cants local
ward office. Applicants should bring with them their name seal
(inkan) and documentation showing a bank account in their childs
name.
Applicants will be notified of the result of their application
by post in October. People who intend to apply but who have not
made an income declaration should do so. People who moved into
Sakai on or after January 2nd, 2015 should provide a tax
certificate (kazeishomeisho) for the 2015 fiscal year from their
previous municipal government in September.
Enquiries: School Affairs Division(TEL) 072-228-7485
For use of the Triophone interpreta-tion service or to have a
free volun-teer interpreter present during your application,
enquire at Sakai Interna-tional Plaza (TEL) 072-228-7499
Volunteer interpretation requires application at least 10 days
prior to use.
Application for Financial Assis-tance for High School
Students
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Fire Retardant Products
Fire retardant products incorporate special ma-terials which are
flame-resistant and work to stop the spread of fire even if they do
catch. Their use is not compul-sory but making sure your bedclothes
and curtains are fire retard-ant can help prevent the occurrence
and spread of fire in your home.
http://www.city.sakai.lg.jp/english/visitors/newsletter/ind
ex.html
CITY LIFE
Please call the Public Sanitation Division on 072-228-7429 if
you have any questions.
Please be aware that theres a city-wide ban on smoking and
littering on streets and roads in Sakai, and that theres an
awareness raising campaign being held in the areas around major
stations in city.
In particular, the areas in front of Sakai Higashi Station and
Sakai Station, around the Sakai City Office, and along Oshoji St.
have been designated as a smoke-free zoneif youre caught smoking or
littering, you could face a 1,000 fineeven if youre riding a bike
or scooter at the time!
Lets all work together as a city to make Sakai a safe and
comfortable community, free from litter and second-hand smoke!
Smoking and Littering Ban on Sakai Streets
PAGE SIX
City Life provides English speaking residents and visitors with
information about daily life and events in Sakai.
Published by the Interna-tional Division, Sakai City Government,
3-1 Mina-mikawara-machi, Sakai-ku, Sakai, Osaka 590-0078
Tel:072-222-7343
Fax:072-228-7900
This issue was compiled by Felix Campbell, Coordina-tor of
International Rela-tions. Published on the 1st of every second
month.
Pick up your next copy of City Life from the 6th floor of Sakai
City Hall or from:
Ward Offices
Libraries
Sakai City Museum
Public health centres
Public gyms
Cultural halls
Foreigners living in Sakai are eligible for free delivery.
Please email us with your name and address.
If you would like to give feedback or contribute something to
City Life (event information, hints for living in Japan, recipes
etc.) please contact Felix at:
[email protected]
Readers can now sign up to be sent the link to each new City
Life as it becomes available online. Use the QR Code above or the
link on the City Life homepage to go to the registration websitethe
registration process is all in Japanese but there is an English
guide on the page.
Payment of Municipal and Prefectural Tax
Of house fires that the Sakai Fire Bureau dealt with in 2014,
half occurred in hous-es with elderly occupants. To help en-sure
senior citizens safety at home, starting in June, the Fire Bureau
will be conducting fire prevention home visits to houses in which
all residents are 75 or over. If this includes you and fire bureau
personnel visit your house, please greet them appropriately. In
some instances personnel may visit in a fire engine.
Preventing house fires requires effort from everyone. To
strengthen your household fire readiness, here are some things to
bear in mind:
Household Fire Alarms
Many house fire deaths occur where people have left it too late
to evacuate. In particular, this includes people who were asleep
when the fire broke out. To combat this, it is now compulsory to
have fire alarms installed in bedrooms. If your house doesnt yet
comply with this requirement, please have alarms in-stalled as soon
as possible.
If you already have smoke detectors fitted, please be sure to
keep them well maintained.
Household Fire Extinguishers
The best way to stop fires is using a fire extinguisher, when
they first break out. While fire extinguishers are not compul-sory
in houses, their installation is strongly recommended.
Municipal and Prefectural income taxes are paid in quarterly
installments the year after the
income is earned. The first payment for this tax year is due by
Tuesday, June 30th, 2015. You can pay at financial institutions,
post offices, most convenience stores or at any city tax office.
Please check your bank balance first if you wish to pay by
automatic transfer (the funds will be trans-ferred on June
30th), and please contact your local tax office with any
questions.
Office Phone
Sakai Ward City Tax Office 072-228-7411
Naka Ward City Tax Office 072-270-8187
Higashi Ward City Tax Office 072-287-8106
Nishi Ward City Tax Office 072-275-1907
Minami Ward City Tax Office 072-290-1806
Kita Ward City Tax Office 072-258-6724
Mihara Ward City Tax Office 072-363-9318
Tax Collection Division 072-228-3957
From the Fire Bureau: Fire Prevention Home Visits