City Notices & Services

• Tuberculosis Prevention
• Emergency Hospital Hours For Obon

From April 2024, municipal school lunch expenses will be included in the revenue and expenditure budget, thus payment of school lunches will switch from each school to Sakai City Board of Education.
This means that the bank account in which payment should be transferred to will change and notices and forms will be sent out through schools in September. The forms and samples are also available in English, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Portuguese, Vietnamese and Tagalog if required.

August will be the second appointed time for the resident and prefectural taxes. The deadline is 31 August. Please pay at the nearest banking facility, convenience store etc., using mobile payment methods or credit card.
For those that use the automatic transfer, payment will automatically be deducted on 31 August for resident and prefectural taxes so please check that you have sufficient funds.

If you do not make payments from pension, the deadline for national health insurance payments (June through to March 2023) is the last day of every month, aside from December which is the 25th. The deadline for elderly person health insurance payments is the last day every month between July and March 2024.
Please make sure to pay by 31 August and 2 October.

Date: Every Tuesday & Friday from 22 September to 17 November 　
Time: 14:00-16:00
Place: Plaza of Multicultural Exchange Sakai
Eligibility: This course is for people living, working or studying in Sakai City (at university etc.)
Content: Study useful everyday conversational Japanese
Cost: Free
To apply: Fill in the application form and fax, mail, email or hand it in to the Plaza by 5 September.

There are many cases of food poisoning across the country from June to October every year. Please take the following measures to prevent it happening to you.
When buying food:

• Check the expiration date and level of freshness
• Only buy what you need
• Aim to purchase refrigerated and frozen foods last and store away as soon as possible

Storage:

• Don’t leave fridge door open for long periods of time
• Try not to fill up your fridge or freezer
• Keep meat and fish wrapped up well to prevent the liquid leakage

When cooking:

• Always wash your hands before cooking
• Wash your chopping board and knives in hot water to kill germs before you start cooking
• Make sure food is cooked thoroughly and to eat it as soon as possible
• Keep chopsticks used for handling the raw meat separate from the ones used for eating

The Plaza of Multicultural Exchange Sakai are offering free online consultations using Zoom for foreign residents living, working, or studying at school in Sakai City in 13 languages, including Russian and Ukrainian. Get advice from immigration and law experts.
Please make an appointment by phone or e-mail one week in advance of your consultation day.

• Administrative: 13 August, 13:30-16:30
• Labour: 21 August, 13:30-16:30
• Immigration: 23 August, 13:30-16:30
• Law: 27 August, 13:30-16:30
• Daily Life: 28-29 August, 13:30-16:30

Contact/Appointments:
Plaza of Multicultural Exchange Sakai
Sakai City General Welfare Hall 5F
2-1 Minamikawara-machi, Sakai-ku
Phone: 072-228-7499
Email: kokusai@city.sakai.lg.jp

Approximately 40% of PET bottles are not recycled properly and therefore incinerated at cleaning centers. It is necessary to remove the cap/label and roughly rinse them to make them recyclable. The caps and label are categorized as “plastic containers and packages” which can be thrown out on its collection day. If they cannot be cleaned, please throw them away as burnable garbage.
Approximately 24% of daily garbage is actually recyclable. Amongst that, around 50% is paper boxes, paper bags, paper wrapping etc., which can be recycled through collection via your local community.

By making a card, you can get the following benefits:

• Use it as your health insurance card
• Use it to obtain certificates at convenience stores
• Allows you to do various administrative procedures online

Don’t forget to apply for your MyNa points by the end of September 2023 if you had applied for your MyNumber card by the end of February 2023.
For foreign residents, the MyNumber Card expiration date is the same as the date of expiration on your visa. It does not renew automatically so please visit your local government to renew your MyNumber Card after renewing your visa.
Check their official site for more information.

Summer in Japan is very hot and humid. There are around 400,000 cases of heatstroke reported every year, with over 40,000 of those people needing to be hospitalised. Please seek help if you start to feel unwell in the extreme heat. Make sure to stay hydrated and avoid the sun during the hottest times of the day.
If someone loses consciousness or is unable to drink water themselves, call 119 for an ambulance.
Things to bring to the hospital:
Passport, cash, credit card, any prescription medicine they are taking and their health insurance card (if they are enrolled)

In order to recuperate from being outside in the heat, there will be chairs available in an air-conditioned space for you to rest.
Date: Until 29 September
Time: Opening hours for each facility
Place: High-rise Building of Sakai City Hall, Naka/Higashi/Minami/Kita/Nishi/Mihara Ward Office, Ohama Gymnasium, Baraike Park Gymnasium, Kamotani Gymnasium, Ebara-oike Gymnasium, Mihara Gymnasium, Kanaoka Park Gymnasium, Human Rights Center