Joining Janne Da Arc's Official Fan Club
As some of you may know, myself and some of the other people on this community have been in contact with Janne Da Arc's Fanclub Office inquiring about if you can apply to be a member of their fanclub overseas. I finally got my forms on Friday, and the answer is yes, you can! So, to make this easier on everyone (and thanks to scans by miss_rain), I've been working for the last few hours/days to translate everything on the forms and use my meager photoshop skills to essentially make an English-language version of the form, as a guide for anyone to use when applying. I've incorporated the language on the form as best as possible, as well as adding in the other information I recieved in a letter from their office in terms of overseas applicants, so the form translation should be all you need to get yourself on your way to getting all that nifty fanclub stuff.
However, first you need to
This is done by writing directly to the fanclub office and requesting one. When I requested one, I did enclose a letter in Japanese, but this is not required--all you need to give them is a self-addressed stamped envelope to send you back your form in. Postage to Japan from the United States for a standard letter is 94 cents; those of you in other countries, please be sure to check with your post offices to make sure that you have enough postage on your envelope. You can do this either by affixing your own stamps to the envelope you have addressed to yourself or by purchasing an International Reply Coupon from your post office to cover the cost of sending the reply letter, but you do not need to do both. Send your envelope to the fanclub address, which is:
Janne Da Arc Official Fan Club -Save Us!-
c/o Dogenzaka Post Office
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 154-0043, Japan
And, in approximately three or four weeks, depending on where you are, you should get a reply in the envelope you sent with the form, which looks like
This side of the form is where you fill out your application information. I labeled the sections for the furigana (Japanese pronunciation) of names and addresses, but unless you know yours and want to fill it in, it's not required. Also, Japanese postal codes are much different from international ones; so instead of using the boxes for the postal code they provide, I suggest that you just fill out your address as you would in the address boxes with the postal code. But, if your postal code is the same format as provided by the boxes, please do use them.
This side has the information dealing with payment and other important Fanclub Things, and actually you can tear the top section off if you would like to keep the picture of Janne. You don't write anything in the bottom sections, though--just leave those blank.
When you've filled out the form, then you have to get in possession of some real Japanese Yen to pay the membership fees, which, including the one-time New Membership Fee, is 6000 yen, or approximately US$60, depending on the exchange rate. The best way to handle this is to go to your bank and ask them if they do currency exchanges; depending on where you are, the bank may keep yen on hand to do the exchange immediately, or it might take a week or two for them to order some in for you. (Thus, you might want to think about doing this while you're waiting for the form to arrive.) There may be some fees (my bank charged me $19) involved with currency exchanges, but with many banks, if you have an account with them, they will not charge you the fees or will charge a reduced fee, as in my case. If your bank will not do currency exchanges to yen, or if you do not wish to incur the extra expense, many airports will, and there are also online services to do so, though I cannot personally vouch for them.
Also, if you have a friend staying in Japan willing to help you, you can leave getting yen to them, or even send them your application after you've filled out your information and have them fill out the postal remittance form attached to the application and remit the money for the fees through the Japanese post office.
As of 9/11/2006, the Fanclub office indicated that they can no longer recieve registered mail (probably because of it being sent to something akin to a PO Box, and registered mail requiring signatures to be remitted, it doesn't quite work out. Depending on where you are in the world, you can ask your postal service for a tracking number to make sure it gets there okay, but joining from overseas is a bit of a calculated risk. From the United States, the only way to track foreign mail is by sending it Priority Mail, which according to my post office will run you about $20 in postage (yikes!), but if you're willing to make that investment, Priority Mail does not, as a rule, require a signature upon delivery, so you should be fine if you do choose to send it that way.
And, that's all there is to it! Please be sure to read the information I've translated on the back of the form; they say that it can take up to two months for the membership card to reach you, so be patient. (Personally, it took mine about a month, sending my application form through regular old air mail.) If you have any questions about the form, or the process, please ask me, and I'll see if I can answer your questions. (Though I hope my translations are clear enough that you shouldn't have to ask questions about them at least!)
This entry will of course be going in the community memories, should anyone need to access it later. Also included on the translation of the form is the information needed for renewing membership with the same form (which some of us may need in a year, teehee), so...have fun showing your support for Janne in that dorky I-have-a-card-that-shows-my-love way (I know I will)!
However, first you need to
This is done by writing directly to the fanclub office and requesting one. When I requested one, I did enclose a letter in Japanese, but this is not required--all you need to give them is a self-addressed stamped envelope to send you back your form in. Postage to Japan from the United States for a standard letter is 94 cents; those of you in other countries, please be sure to check with your post offices to make sure that you have enough postage on your envelope. You can do this either by affixing your own stamps to the envelope you have addressed to yourself or by purchasing an International Reply Coupon from your post office to cover the cost of sending the reply letter, but you do not need to do both. Send your envelope to the fanclub address, which is:
Janne Da Arc Official Fan Club -Save Us!-
c/o Dogenzaka Post Office
Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 154-0043, Japan
And, in approximately three or four weeks, depending on where you are, you should get a reply in the envelope you sent with the form, which looks like
This side of the form is where you fill out your application information. I labeled the sections for the furigana (Japanese pronunciation) of names and addresses, but unless you know yours and want to fill it in, it's not required. Also, Japanese postal codes are much different from international ones; so instead of using the boxes for the postal code they provide, I suggest that you just fill out your address as you would in the address boxes with the postal code. But, if your postal code is the same format as provided by the boxes, please do use them.
This side has the information dealing with payment and other important Fanclub Things, and actually you can tear the top section off if you would like to keep the picture of Janne. You don't write anything in the bottom sections, though--just leave those blank.
When you've filled out the form, then you have to get in possession of some real Japanese Yen to pay the membership fees, which, including the one-time New Membership Fee, is 6000 yen, or approximately US$60, depending on the exchange rate. The best way to handle this is to go to your bank and ask them if they do currency exchanges; depending on where you are, the bank may keep yen on hand to do the exchange immediately, or it might take a week or two for them to order some in for you. (Thus, you might want to think about doing this while you're waiting for the form to arrive.) There may be some fees (my bank charged me $19) involved with currency exchanges, but with many banks, if you have an account with them, they will not charge you the fees or will charge a reduced fee, as in my case. If your bank will not do currency exchanges to yen, or if you do not wish to incur the extra expense, many airports will, and there are also online services to do so, though I cannot personally vouch for them.
Also, if you have a friend staying in Japan willing to help you, you can leave getting yen to them, or even send them your application after you've filled out your information and have them fill out the postal remittance form attached to the application and remit the money for the fees through the Japanese post office.
As of 9/11/2006, the Fanclub office indicated that they can no longer recieve registered mail (probably because of it being sent to something akin to a PO Box, and registered mail requiring signatures to be remitted, it doesn't quite work out. Depending on where you are in the world, you can ask your postal service for a tracking number to make sure it gets there okay, but joining from overseas is a bit of a calculated risk. From the United States, the only way to track foreign mail is by sending it Priority Mail, which according to my post office will run you about $20 in postage (yikes!), but if you're willing to make that investment, Priority Mail does not, as a rule, require a signature upon delivery, so you should be fine if you do choose to send it that way.
And, that's all there is to it! Please be sure to read the information I've translated on the back of the form; they say that it can take up to two months for the membership card to reach you, so be patient. (Personally, it took mine about a month, sending my application form through regular old air mail.) If you have any questions about the form, or the process, please ask me, and I'll see if I can answer your questions. (Though I hope my translations are clear enough that you shouldn't have to ask questions about them at least!)
This entry will of course be going in the community memories, should anyone need to access it later. Also included on the translation of the form is the information needed for renewing membership with the same form (which some of us may need in a year, teehee), so...have fun showing your support for Janne in that dorky I-have-a-card-that-shows-my-love way (I know I will)!