Today, I took 2 hours out of my not so busy schedule and called all the utility companies to cancel and/or open the gas/electricity/water/internet contracts for my moving next week.
To help with the process, I found this cool webservice by TEPCO, Tokyo’s main electricity provider. You enter your old and new address and it will find the utility companies that serve the area codes in question. You chose the ones you use and it will give you a checklist of all the phone numbers you have to call. Moreover, if an electronic application form is available, it will give you the link and fill out all the information you already give it, radically speeding up the process.