Japan Pension: Lump Sum Withdrawer Payments

I worked in Japan for two years and I paid taxes and from the salary, pension was deducted as well. Since I am back to Malaysia, I wanted to claim back the money deducted for the pension earlier. So, I applied for it and got back 80% of the total amount, 20% was taken out by the Japanese government as tax. To get back the 20%, one needs to have a friend or acquaintance in Japan who is willing to go to the local tax office to settle the procedures. 

*Local tax office - the tax office in the city 市 / district 区 where you paid resident tax before. So, let's say I stayed in Kumamoto Shi before and I have a friend in Hokkaido, he or she will have to go all the way south from Hokkaido to Kumamoto Shi to settle all the paperworks for me. So, unless the amount is very big, normally people will just let go of the 20%. It is just not worth the trouble. 

Simple Steps To Draw A Bear

I still remember when I was in primary school, a Malay Language teacher taught us how to draw a bear using a very simple method. I am never good at arty stuffs, so from that time onwards, I drew bear just like the way she taught me years ago. It came with a song, somehow I couldn't recall the whole song, just remember there were many "bulat" in the lyrics. 

*bulat (Malay) = circle

Simple steps to draw a not so cute bear

“Go Green” with Near New Banknotes for Chinese New Year

To me, Chinese New Year is the time for family gathering, not the food, not the angpow and certainly not the holiday. Last year, I was in Japan during Chinese New Year because my stint in Japan would end on March, since it was just about two months time before I could go home for good,  I decided not to go home during CNY, it was a big mistake, I ended up crying when I watched all those CNY advertisements (especially the advertisements by Bernas and Petronas) and I felt so sad! Anyway, now I am at home, I can have a gathering with all my family members this year for Chinese New Year. Yeah! 

From July 2013, Bank Negara started the drive and encourage the public to use near new banknotes for angpow during Hari Raya Aidilfitri and Chinese New Year. Apparently, Bank Negara will print around 750 million pieces of RM1 and RM5 banknotes for the festivals, but 70% of it will be deposited back into the bank without any transaction or payment. Wow, the most interesting fact is printing that 500 million pieces of banknotes will consume more than 80 tonnes of ink and 2 million kWh of electricity which is enough to power 7,500 Malaysian homes for a month! (source: BNM)

總舖師 (The Moveable Feast)

總舖師 (The moveable feast) is a Taiwanese comedy about food. This movie has another name, direct translate as "Zone Pro Site". lol! Mmmm, it doesn't accurately reflects the true pronunciation of 總舖師 in Hokkien. Anyway, it is a very good comedy, I laughed from the beginning till the end.

Poster taken from douban

Quartet and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Just finished watching 'Quartet', a movie whose the leading actors and actresses were not young people. And the plot focused entirely in a retirement home. In this movie, the residents in the retirement home tried to raise money from an annual gala to keep the home going. Well, at the end, they succeeded, of course!

I watched another movie revolves around retirement home too , 'The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel'. It's about retirees who couldn't afford to retire in United Kingdom and were lured by an advertisement to retire in India. The cost is lower in India, so, these retirees just sign up and flew to India.