Moving: Once You Have the New Address...

This post continues my chronicle of moving to a new apartment in Japan. Yesterday I picked up the keys to my new place and moved in one first load of boxes only to realize the neighbors were staring at me. Now, with keys in hand, I'm about to complete an epic one-day journey around town that has been months in planning.

Week 4, Wednesday:
My schedule is packed today. My to-do list is as follows:

• A scheduled tachiai appointment to have my natural gas line turned on
• A visit to city hall to change the address on my jyuminhyou and get info on garbage pick-up times in my neighborhood
• Address changes on all bank accounts
• A request to have my postal mail forwarded to the new address
• Purchasing a gas stovetop from a local recycle shop
• Changing the address on my driver's license
• Picking up shakoshoumei forms from the police office to start the process of changing the address on my car's shakensho
• Ordering a new couch, carpet, and kitchen counter
• Actually buying the curtains I need
• Scheduling an appointment for NTT Internet setup
• Buying a light fixture for the new apartment

Many of these involve visiting places with very short business hours (like city hall and the police station, but especially banks, which in Japan tend to close their doors at 3:00 p.m.). I've taken a day off work and intend to actually do everything on this list in a single day.

Detailed experiences to follow. :)