The Homestay Notice: 必着 Is Not 消印有効
The noticeboard outside the staffroom carries this A4 notice:
海外ホームステイプログラム（第3学期） ・対象：1・2年生 定員：20名 ・申込締切：6月12日（金）17:00 必着 ・提出物：申込書、作文400字（テーマ「私の学校」）、写真1枚（3か月以内に撮影したもの）、担任の先生のサイン ・面接：6月16日（火）放課後、会議室 ・参加費：15,000円（現金のみ）6月19日（金）までに事務室へ ・注意：一度納入した参加費は返金できません。 ・郵送の場合は配達記録でお願いします。
You are a 2年生. You plan to post your application from a post office 40 minutes from school at 4:00 pm on Friday 12 June, because soccer practice finishes at 3:30. The photo you like best was taken eight months ago.
1. Will the application be accepted? Explain 必着 and give two workable alternatives.
Read the worked answer
No. 必着 means the envelope must arrive by 17:00 on 12 June - not be postmarked by then. Posting at 4:00 pm from a counter 40 minutes from school means the item is processed that evening and delivered on the 13th at the earliest, and 配達記録 tracks it without speeding it up. Two fixes. One: hand it to the 事務室 before 17:00 on the 12th; the notice nowhere excludes hand delivery, and 申込書 are kept at the office. Two: post it several days early - around 10 June - using 配達記録 as instructed. If the notice had said 消印有効 ('valid if postmarked by'), the 4:00 pm post would have been fine. The 必着／消印有効 pair is the single most common reading trap at Level 2: the two look like deadline words but they place the deadline at opposite ends of the postal journey.
2. List exactly what goes in the envelope, and identify which of your items fails a condition.
Read the worked answer
Contents: 申込書, 作文400字 on 「私の学校」, 写真1枚, and the 担任の先生のサイン. Your photo fails: it was taken eight months ago and the condition is 3か月以内. The サイン is the item candidates most often lose, because it is not something you write yourself - it needs a teacher's time, so ask at least three days ahead, not on the 12th. Note that 作文400字 means roughly 400 characters on 原稿用紙: a 150-character essay or a 600-character one both read as not following the brief, and the piece should be in ですます体 with clear 段落. Cross-check each 提出物 as a tick list before sealing, since the conditions attach to individual items rather than to the envelope as a whole.
3. On 20 June, having paid, you break your leg and cannot travel. What does the notice entitle you to, and what should you have asked earlier?
Read the worked answer
Nothing: 一度納入した参加費は返金できません - once paid, the fee is not refundable, and the notice offers no substitute clause. The 15,000 yen is gone. What you should have asked before 19 June: whether payment could be deferred until you were certain, since the interview is 16 June and results are never stated, and whether a selected place can be transferred or held for the following term. Because the notice is silent on both, the safe reading is the strict one - plan on losing the money. This is the reasoning pattern the paper rewards: distinguish what the text states (no refund) from what it does not state (transfer, deferral, insurance) and never invent the second. Also note 現金のみ - no bank transfer, no card, in person at 事務室 by 19 June.