Japanese for the city office counter
The phrases that come up repeatedly at administrative counters, and what to say when you miss something.
Preview
Municipal counters run on a small set of repeated phrases. Learning a few of them makes the whole process easier. State your business as a complete sentence — "I would like to submit a moving-in notification", "I have lost my insurance card". Most offices issue queue tickets, so knowing how to ask where to take a number saves a confused lap of the lobby. The single most useful phrase is a request for easy Japanese: *yasashii nihongo de onegaishimasu*. Staff are widely used to this request and will repeat themselves slowly in shorter sentences. "Once more, please" and "could you write it here?" are nearly as useful. A handful of form words are worth recognising on sight: full name, address, date of birth, relationship to head of household, seal, and *kinyūrei* — the filled-in sample form. A sample is usually sitting on the counter, and it answers most questions faster than asking. If you need an interpreter, some municipalities staff multilingual desks or provide telephone interpretation. It is perfectly acceptable to ask, and no discourtesy if the answer is no.