Together with my friends Lee and Lars, I went to get a “Re-entry Permit” from the new Tokyo regional Immigration office in Shinagawa.
I will be heading back to New York for about 10 days or so from the 17th of February. I’m looking forward to seeing friends (and Sayaka!), and taking care of a few things at Columbia.
Getting the permit, which allows me to re-enter Japan using the same visa, was, as best I can remember it from my stay in Yokohama in 97-98, a really miserable process involving hours of waiting and multiple forms. I have nasty cold and was not in any mood to deal with a bureaucracy…
All of us were pleasantly surprised to find that the immigration office in its new office in Shinagawa was an absolute epitome of efficiency. While there was still a lack of instructioins on what needed to be filled out, paid, and submitted, the organization of the office, its color-coded areas, and the amazingly quick processing of the re-entry permit request (less than 10 minutes including the waiting time) was nothing short of impressive. The only somewhat inconvenient part of the process was going down to a convenience store to buy a 6,000 yen stamp (less than $60) for the multiple entry permit fee. If anyone needs a copy of the form to apply for the re-entry permit, you can download a PDF file of the form which I used here. Thanks Axel for sending this to me.
The process was so quick I was able to return home after lunch and make some progress in sleeping off this cold…