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The Japanese Travel Learning Curve.
Feb. 6th, 2007 10:52 amSo. When I booked my flights for the Tokyo language program I'm participating in this spring I made a boo-boo, and I freely admit it. I booked a set of dates that put me in Japan for 91 days, thinking (rightly) that I was booking a set of dates that was exactly three months long and (wrongly) that I was therefore within the limits of Japan's visa exemption agreement with the US. Except, of course, Japan's visa exemption agreement with the US is for 90 days. (Some countries get three month agreements and some countries get 90 day agreements. It's one of life's mysterious facts.) And the Japanese authorities will, apparently, deport my ass straightaway for having an itinerary that violates that stricture - even by a day.
Whoops.
My next step was to try identifying some options. I contacted the Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco and asked about visa options, and I contacted my travel agent to see what could be done about a quick change.
To make a long story short, I don't qualify for a student visa even though I'm going over as a student because I will be doing two weeks of sightseeing at the end of my trip. And sightseeing is, as it turns out, not a sanctioned activity in Japan when you're there on a student visa. I also cannot keep my two weeks of sightseeing with a flight change without paying an exorbitant amount of fees to do so. Translation = I'm only getting six days of sightseeing time.
And that kind of sucks because I had some bitchin' plans set up, but it's not the end of the world. After all, this won't be my only trip to Japan by a long shot. And anyway... now I know the truth about travel in Japan - although I should have expected something like this from a nation that spent 250 years butchering practically anyone who tried to get into the country from a foreign nation.
And knowing is half the battle.
Whoops.
My next step was to try identifying some options. I contacted the Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco and asked about visa options, and I contacted my travel agent to see what could be done about a quick change.
To make a long story short, I don't qualify for a student visa even though I'm going over as a student because I will be doing two weeks of sightseeing at the end of my trip. And sightseeing is, as it turns out, not a sanctioned activity in Japan when you're there on a student visa. I also cannot keep my two weeks of sightseeing with a flight change without paying an exorbitant amount of fees to do so. Translation = I'm only getting six days of sightseeing time.
And that kind of sucks because I had some bitchin' plans set up, but it's not the end of the world. After all, this won't be my only trip to Japan by a long shot. And anyway... now I know the truth about travel in Japan - although I should have expected something like this from a nation that spent 250 years butchering practically anyone who tried to get into the country from a foreign nation.
And knowing is half the battle.
