Tokyo Foreigner Employment Support Center

The HR department of the company I work for called me in suddenly out of the blue a few days ago. I thought perhaps my papers weren't in order, as I am the first ever foreigner to work at this Japanese manufacturer. However, the HR manager had a website up on his browser, and asked me if I knew anything about it. The title of the website was, "Tokyo Foreigner Employment Support Center." Now, I didn't know if this was to support me, the employee with the foreign citizenship, or the employer of the employee with the foreign citizenship. Confusing.

Anyways, the website had a long list of ridiculous documents that required submission to this support center. The HR manager had foreign in-laws, and felt bad for mentioning it to me (he shouldn't have mentioned it to me in the first place). I clearly had the look of, "Great, I feel like a second-rate employee." After seeing the obvious expression of disappointment on my face, we both decided that contacting experts in the field of foreigner employment would be a more logical move. I called my buddy who works at a global recruitment firm because we come from similar backgrounds. He said that it was ridiculous that my employer was asking for me to register with the support center. I was already registered with immigrations and the local ward government. I couldn't be any more legal than becoming a Japanese citizen. After hanging up the phone, I ran upstairs to HR and reported my findings. The merciful HR manager said that I shouldn't be put through this painful process. The entire ordeal was painful enough, and I had already wasted a half hour clearing things up. Hooray! The first gaijin.