I went to the immigration office this morning to get my visa. I got off the bus at 8:40, lots of time before it opened at 9... but people were running from the bus into the building to start lining up! I couldn't believe it! By the time I got to my line there were already 30 people waiting... at 8:50!
Everything moved fairly quickly though and I got a 3 year spousal visa pasted into my passport. Yippee! I never have to go thru that aweful procedure again! We won't be here in three years. Then I zipped over to the counter to get a re-entry permit (allows me to come back into Japan if I leave) so I can go on vacation and whatnot. I was shocked. The whole thing took about 5 minutes. I filled out this big, long form while I was waiting before and I don't think they even really read the thing. Oh well, I'm not complaining!
So I am relieved to have it done now. I was starting to worry that they would decline it. Even standing in line I started to worry, because the notice you get in the mail just says to go to the immigration office "regarding your application" - not that it was approved. Now all I have to do is make a trip to the city office to let them know that my visa has been renewed and I'm on a spousal visa now instead of a working visa. How come none of these places are conveniently located near the station?? Geesh. At least I won't have to wait long at the city office.
The funny thing of the day was the erratic way they were calling people to the counter. In Japan, the machines that give you a number are everywhere. We are conditioned to grab a number and then wait. Well, at immigration today, while waiting to get your passport back, they were calling the numbers randomly. So first it was #21, then #35, then #8 and so on. People were running up to the counter asking why their number had been skipped over (assuming that they were going in order). Talk about total confusion. Especially since you sit there repeating your number in Japanese over and over again in your head (38,38,38) so it will click when the machine calls you (these really are fully automated ticket machines LOL). So you start to pay attention when it gets close to your number (36 - ok it's almost me!), but with this random thing it was impossible to tell (5 - what??!!). Everyone was sitting there with their eyes glued to the number indicator so they wouldn't miss their turn.
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