Paper Chase

As a professional emigré (primary occupation since the age of 18) it is always with some trepidation that I approach an unfamiliar Immigration Office, and having read and heard various horror stories about the previously mentioned Immigration Bureau in Tokyo (significantly tucked away on an artificial island in the middle of the docks), the trepidation-o-meter was all over the dial.

I packed enough provisions for the anticipated 2 day waiting time and inserted myself into the great machine which is Tokyo's railway system early enough to beat the morning rush, intending to reach the legendary queue at the entrance well before the official opening time of 9am. Having previously worked on the nearby Tennozu Isle for a short time, it turned out I had once, in a burst of lunchtime exploratory activity, walked halfway from there to the Bureau, so rather than the traditional approach via Shinagawa Station and the 99 bus, I took the Rinkai Line and discovered that the walk was a lot further than I had imagined, especially on an unexpectedly hot morning while dodging trucks loaded with full-length shipping containers. Still, by 8:30 I was able to attach myself to the end of a not-too-long queue outside the entrance, and by 8:35 an officious lady with a clipboard had established that this was in fact the queue for illegal visa overstayers, and that the main entrance was round the corner, invisible from the angle I had approached. Here an orderly queue of predictable length but escherian dimensions had formed, winding itself in impossible knots around the tiny forecourt, and by the time I had worked out where its end was, the doors opened and it dissolved into a free-for-all. Caught up in the stampede, I had to familiarize myself with the internal layout on the fly - there are A, B, C and D sections - and as luck would have it my initial guess - B - was correct. By 8:50 I had a number (15) and by 9:20 it was called up, and at 9:30 I stumbled blinking into the bright sunlight, one passport stamp richer.

不法就労外国人対策キャンペーン月間 - Campaign Month Against Illegal Foreign Workers
(banner at Shinagawa Station)

Of course, it's not quite that easy, we're dealing with bureaucracy here: the stamp is to show that my application is in progress, and I am awaiting a postcard which will tell me when to go through the whole process again.

In the meantime I've applied for the inevitable Alien Registration Certificate, which is handled by the local ward (=borough, district) office and which also takes a couple of weeks to process, though at least - and unlike the last time 10 years ago - I don't have to provide a fingerprint for it.