Firstly,
Congrats to Richard and Clair who will get married, I think this weekend? Again, sorry that I can't be there, but with all thats going on with Heathrow at the moment, it can't be no bad thing! Seriously, I hope you have a fantastic day and that all goes well.....
So it's been like a month since I last added to this- I want to keep it up because I know that soon I will be on my travels again- there are places to go and sights to see before I finally call an end to my travelling days and head back home to England- India and (definitely) Hong Kong spring to mind. But in the interim, Japan continues to be the same- Studying Japanese, working at GABA, getting my rear kicked at Jiu Jitsu, and sorting out my new apartment.
However, there is one new thing that's going on at the moment, and that is the processing of my new Japanese visa, changing from a pre-college which will end in October, along with my academic career, to a business visa.
I have never known a country that is so anal about visas! China, a communist country, so suspicious of others, was a doddle compared to Japan. In fairness, I know that procedures must be carried out to the letter, but some of the hurdles I have faced have been a little too much.
I had a feeling that it wasn't going to be a breeze when my boss, Caspar, said to me, "lets get the ball rolling now because aparently it's a nightmare". No mincing of words there. So I was booked in for a Visa sponsorship interview down at Ebisu head office. Marlon, my interviewer was a nice guy who used to be in the US army before settling here, 25 years ago. His Japanese was impeccable. "Let me here some of yours", he said. A little flustered, I started my well rehearsed introduction speech, going on about what I was doing in Japan. "A little rough around the edges, but not bad for 7 months" he commented, and with this approved my sponsorship.
After that, I took all my details, my degree, teaching and past work certificates, along with the huge folder that GABA gave me about them down to Shinagawa, the home of the (infamous) Tokyo immigration. And I began to wait. For 5 hours.
At my turn, I handed over the data to the lady, who then asked me to go to the local convienince store to copy the same, as they do not keep originals. Pissed (there was no other word) I did this and then returned, pointedly giving her my additional data from university, as recently, immigration have been refusing degree certificates which are not embossed with a stamp(!) My certificate has no such stamp, but I assure you it is real- I mean really, who would go to Bangkok to buy a 2.1 in Criminology?
I seemed to have no real problems though (I hope) the lady checked the forms, sealed them in a big envelope for some paper pusher to see at a later date- one worry though was that a Chinese guy waited 7 months for his change of Visa status to go through (so I learned) the average is 2 months, and I have applied now, 2 months in advance- I hope I'm lucky!
