how I got kicked out of Japan
This is the story of how I was ejected from Japan over a visa problem. It's relevant to anyone sent to work in Japan. In 2005, I worked for a company that provided software and support to the life insurance industry. They had a booming business in Japan and for years had been sending staff to Japan to support their customers. By the time I got there, things had cooled considerably. In fact, I was the last to be sent on a long assignment. Perhaps it's just because things had been cooling that they made a mistake when bringing me into the country. But when I arrived, they told me to simply turn up at the airport and that I could enter on a temporary visitor's visa. They knew that this would work, they said, because dozens of staff had been doing this for a number of years. And it worked, I got into the country. But as it turned out the client I was working with really wanted me to stay on longer and we agreed that at the end of my six week stint I'd go back to Canada—to sort out the paperwork and pack up my apartment—and then return to Japan for a six month stay. Again, it all worked smoothly. Six weeks after I'd left Tokyo, I was back. Again, on a visitor's visa that I collected upon arrival at the airport. I knew by now that I'd need an Engineer's visa to stay in Japan, and my employer told me that they'd start the application upon my return. While I'd been in Canada, I'd gathered the various supporting documents I'd need for a visa application. University and college transcripts, letters from past employers, and a few other odds and ends. These I turned over to my employer when I arrived in Japan the second time. For the next ten weeks I concentrated on two tasks: my day job; and evening Japanese lessons. The company had assigned me a tiny room in a Tokyu Stay in Gotanda, and I had pretty much everything I needed for the duration. Occasionally, I'd check with my employer as to the visa application process and was always assured that all was well. I didn't know much about Japan at the time, so I didn't know that I was just hearing "yes" for the sake of keeping things smooth. I didn't know enough to ask for specifics: milestones reached; who was doing what. But I did know the importance of a visa while living in a foreign country so I checked in with my employer before booking a flight back to Canada for the year-end break. They gave me the green light. I went. During the trip, I got word from one of my coworkers that someone in administration at the firm had been trying to contact me. And by that I mean they contacted her, my coworker, and did not do so much as send me an email. Worryingly, the message was about my visa application. I tried contacting the administration people but without any contacts and the year-end break in progress, it was impossible to get ahold of anyone from Vancouver. I'd brought my new Japanese girlfriend along for the trip though I didn't know her terribly well at the time. It was a lucky thing, given what happened, because I'm pretty sure I would not have come back to Japan if she'd not been there. The two of us flew back to Tokyo. I was worried vaguely that something had gone wrong with my visa application and wondered if it would cause a problem with re-entry at Tokyo. And sure enough, I was detained. First I was put in one of the little rooms just off of the immigration counters, where I sat with a collection of other foreigners looking bewildered and frustrated. Asking around, I was surprised to learn that some of them had been detained on the flimsiest of issues—such as not having a visa to enter Japan when their only intention was to take a transferring flight. Something was up, and I didn't like it. I also didn't like being separated from my girlfriend, as she was my only hope in communicating with the monolingually Japanese-speaking authorities. I waited for quite some time. Then they came for me. I was led through an office where a surprising number of people stood around seemingly doing nothing at all. Some were in uniform, but most were just in office garb. There was no real activity, not even of the sitting-around in front of a computer variety. I got the impression that the place was seriously overstaffed; one of those 100% employment things like the twenty-man road crews and the post office with more tellers than counters. I was taken to an interview at the desk of an immigration official. It was a tiny room and I suppose knowing what I do now that the fellow must have been pretty senior to rate his own office. My escort, it turned out, was to be my translator, and he stood next to the desk assisting the interview. Right from the top, the interviewer asked me if I was working in Japan. I told him that I was. He then asked why I was entering the country on a visitor's visa. I told him that I was following instructions from my employer. He clarified what I'd said, then asked again if I knew that I was entering the country on a visitor's visa to work. I confirmed that situation, then explained that not only had this been standard practice at my employer but that my employer had a visa application in the works. The interviewer and the translator looked at each other incredulously when I outlined my employer's practice of sending dozens of people to Japan to work under visitor's visas, and that they'd assured me that all would be okay as there had never been a problem. But they were interested in the news of a visa application, and they followed up on that with the one contact at the firm whose number I happened to have on hand. While I waited my contact did some frantic phoning around within the firm and learned that in fact my visa application had never been started. I'd entrusted it to my employer months before, and I'd checked in with them both on the progress of my application and to verify that I could return to Canada. They'd told me everything that I'd wanted to hear but in reality nothing had been happening. The immigration officer decided to eject me from the country. He made it clear that he thought that the situation wasn't my fault, and that he considered this an unfortunate situation. He even took me into the airport (beyond the passport-control area) so that I could meet poor Mari (my now wife) and tell her what was happening. We exchanged some things in our bags (I'd brought some mementos for my coworkers that would have to stay in Japan, while she'd been carrying some clothing that I would now need as I bounced back to Canada) and said our goodbyes. I told her I loved her (it was the first time) and said I'd buy a webcam to stay in touch. Both were true. Cutting ninety minutes of tedious nonsense short, I was hustled onto a plane and flown back across the Pacific. What happened then is another story for another time, but it took me two months of renewed paperwork and delicate arrangements to secure a return to Japan. I have since heard from quite a number of people that it's common practice for IT workers to be brought into the country on visitor visas. It's been speculated that I happened to run into a sweep of some kind: a moment of very rigid application of the law (hence the people being detained during routine connections between flights). I can't really comment on that, but I hope that anyone sent to work in Japan will regard my cautionary tale. Here are the facts about applying for a visa to enter Japan:
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