Visa Procedure

“You can’t get a new visa, because the current visa has not expired. You need to wait until the current visa expires and then get a new one.”
“I know it expires, that’s why I want a new one. I want to travel before I go home and I don’t want to be arrested.”
“Please come back after the 4th.”
“But I’m flying down south on the 3rd. That’s why I came last week, and why I came again today.”
“Please come back after the 4th.”
“Okay, well, if I come back on the 14th…”
“No, that is illegal, you do not have a current visa.”
“I’m sorry?!!”
“You need to come between the 4th and the 10th.”
“I will be in Okinawa between the 4th and the 10th.”
“Please come back after the 4th.”

So then I made some calls and cancelled my travel. Living in this country for any amount of time gives a whole new meaning to the term “grinning and bearing it.” I’m still trying to smile, but it’s a tour operator’s mask, and the cracks are creeping in at the edges.

A month ago, Glebe convinced me to change my flight home. I’d have another few weeks to cruise around Japan, and when she got back from being the globe-trotting tour junkie, we could head back to Perth together. And then apparently we broke up on the weekend. I say “apparently” because I didn’t realise myself until I got back on Monday night after 13 hours on a train and lurched into a dead apartment, dropped my bags, and plugged in my phone.

So I am now in Japan without a visa, without a way to Okinawa, without an apartment, a dearth of savings and with two weeks to wait until I get to see whether I’m stuck for 13 hours on a plane next to someone who ostensibly has a burning desire to bring it all down, kicking and screaming as she goes.

Yeah, grinning and bearing it.

Posted in Japan on Tuesday August 1, 2006.