Why can't they just...

Sometimes it is pretty trying dealing with the bureaucracy in Japan.. Although I shouldn't be bitching about the people who is paying me to be here in the first place, but I just can't help myself.. well, I am not known for being politically correct anyway.. :p

Why must city office X refund me A-amount of money and then city office Y asking for that same A-amount of money to be paid to them?? I need to go to the post office to get the refund from city office X and then go to a convenient store to pay to city office Y... :x :x Why can't they just coordinate among the city offices and do direct transfer, thus making things more convenient for everyone?? Everything is (supposedly) computerized over here, yet they can't even automate such simple transactions between city offices.. I wonder if these city offices' systems were even inter-connected in the first place.. :x :x :x No wonder the city offices require so many counters to handle all these trivial frivolous matters which most of them can be easily automated..

Went to the Immigration Office in Shinagawa a couple of times.. I really think that the way they do things there is neither efficient nor it is productive at all.. Sometimes, a simple solution is all that is required to smoothen the process and hasten things up.. The Immigration Office being one of the few places that foreigners HAD to go some point in time, and most of the people who DO go to the Immigration Office are FOREIGNERS, doesn't it make sense to have more ENGLISH signs and instructions around???? Rather than having people queue for 10-20 minutes only to be told that he/she lacks certain documents/etc, why can't they just put up BIG posters/signs asking people to verify before queuing.. There were so many lost/bewildered/confused faces around the counters and in the queues... Okay, I must admit that not all foreigners can read/understand English, but at least it will eliminate some of the inquiries and help ease the frustrations non-Japanese-speaking-but-English-speaking people have when dealing with all the red-tapes..

Thank goodness I don't have to deal with any of these anymore in a few months time...