Go To Court For No Address On Residence Card?

I'm on a 6month working holiday visa.

At the airport I was given a japanese residence card. the guy who gave it to me said something along the lines of 'just write your address on the back, you don't need to read these papers but i need to give them to you anyway'.

i didn't write my address on the back. didn't read the papers. (i know, very stupid)

fast forward 5 months, the time comes around to renew my visa. they ask for my residence card then ask me why there's no address on it. i said i forgot to write it on. they told me something along the lines of i had to go to my local immigration ward to get my address printed on it.

i was like okay, cool no problem.

so i roll up to the local immigration ward in my area and they told me that I was meant to do this in the first two weeks of arriving in Japan. and now they're saying i might need to go to court and the best i can probably get off with this is a $500 fine and that's if i don't go to court. later i found out that if i had forged my address on the back its possible to go to jail.

By the way, I also had no insurance. (Found out later this was really important too)

apparently going to the immigration ward is actually a law in japan. So I technically broke a law in Japan. yeah, I'm one of those worst gaijin ever.

i know this is my fault and i should've read the papers. im not sure why the airport guy didnt show any signs of urgency for me to get this done - still 100% my fault though.

I've been researching around and I can't find anyone who has gone through a similar situation as I have. (Am I really the only idiot out there?)

I do freelance and get my money from overseas only at the moment. But I am planning on getting a job in japan next month - er if I'm still here and not in jail.

so, a few questions:
If I go to court, what happens then? Do I get some kind of massive fine, jailtime, or be potentially banned from Japan? Could anyone enlighten me on the best or worst things that can happen?


backstory
I've never gone to another country by myself, i pretty much was babied my whole life so my parents did any of that complicated paperwork. But I did do all the paperwork for my passport and I applied by myself for the working holiday visa. I also left my home after highschool to come to japan so I've never dealt with taxes, or addresses and things like that. Before I left my country I think I had to fill out a tax number form so I did that. That may have been a major reason as to why I really screwed up but I mean, I can't really use that as an excuse in court.

You face a fine of up to 200,000 yen (this is in the same category as not carrying your residence card, or failing to notify a change of employer).

By the way, it is true that you face imprisonment (of up to one year) if you make a false declaration for various things, including the address. But this is not your case: you have not made any declaration at all.

Also, you are NOT supposed to write your address on the card yourself; the city/ward/town/village office does it when you go register your address there.

I guess what you have done is under "Please take note of the following" - "Revocation of Resident status," "you have failed to give notification of your place of residence without a justifiable..."

http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/newimmiact_1/en/

So I would say worst is that you cannot get your resident status extended, and the best is you get away with a fine ("penalties").
It is true, failure to report (not falsification) comes with the maximum penalty of 200,000 yen (Q100 under "Q & A" - FAQ section).

http://www.immi-moj.go.jp/newimmiact_1/en/q-and-a.html

I believe you mean "ward hall" or "city hall" when talking about going to get the address noted on the back of the card. ("Local immigration office" is where you go apply for extension/renewal of your resident status and report matters other than the address.)

The general rule is that any change, be it address or employment, needs to be reported within 14 days of the change. They must have assumed you knew the general rules about reporting.

One thing I can suggest - apologize profusely, you can say you were unfortunately not aware of the rules, which you should have, should have read the papers, so it is all your fault, but anyway apologize sincerely and profusely, promise never to let this kind of error happen, be humble and remorseful. If you can manage to write up a letter of apology and take it with you, that might show your sincere attitude too and might help.

the result is simple. if you fail to follow the laws, you may lose the chance to stay in Japan. your excuses will not be considered.

The law is, you must have a valid card and notify and update any changes within 14 days - Japan likes to know where alien/foreign residents are. The process is pretty simple and you should have been aware of this when you did your research into what was required to live in Japan.

Being ignorant or not knowing is not an excuse (in any jurisdiction that I know of - not just Japan).

Get registered properly, pay the fine and hope your visa gets renewed.

"Japan likes to know where alien/foreign residents are."
that is incorrect.
all Japanese register their address as same as foreigners. it is necessary for taxation, health insurance, pension, voting, buying properties and cars, and getting driving license, opening bank account, bank loans, and so on.
no address registration means homeless.

ok,

"Japan like to knows where everyone is."

It also happens that short-term residents are also required to do more than a PR or citizen in terms of ID and procedures as part of living in the country.

"The truth will set you free." Explain things as truthfully as you can, apologize as profusely as you can, and you'll probably be allowed to rectify the situation relatively painlessly. There are worse things in life than a $500 fine.

It also happens that short-term residents are also required to do more than a PR or citizen in terms of ID and procedures as part of living in the country.

Can you elaborate? I can think of instances where foreign resident and citizen procedures are slightly different, but PR holders essentially go through the same procedures as short term residents plus additional vetting.

Can you elaborate? I can think of instances where foreign resident and citizen procedures are slightly different, but PR holders essentially go through the same procedures as short term residents plus additional vetting.

Beyond the scope of this thread, but I was also considering the biased treatment non-Japanese get in Japan (including harassment) for not looking Japanese - there are some very useful reports about it scattered around different sites including some columns on the Japan Times. But PR should give similar rights/privileges to natural born citizens, but no. Certainly with short-term resident status (which I worked hard to get) there are many things that seem to simply be put in place to make living here difficult, but a million people do it, so there are ways to work within the system.

there are many things that seem to simply be put in place to make living here difficult

Such as?