For the second time in a week, I successfully battled the Japanese bureaucracy. On Monday, Yumi and I officially registered our marriage at the local ward office. On Thursday, I obtained my new visa and re-entry permit.
A couple notes of interest regarding the visa...
1. Japan is the only country I know of which requires a separate visa and re-entry permit; normally the visa *is* the re-entry permit.
2. The combined cost was about $100 which has to be paid at a local convenience store. This is actually very common here - many things including utility bills, sporting tickets, train tickets, and even mail order merchandise is paid for at convenience stores. Money is very different here: cheques are unheard of and credit cards are rare; almost everything is done with cash. Amazingly, you often can get the items before paying for them and then you are just trusted to go to a convenience store to pay!
For the visa, since it was a nice day I rode my bike the 11 km (6.5 miles) each way and then stopped off at Yamashita Park and the Osanbashi Pier. Both are within spitting distance of my school but I never made it until this week. Both offer nice views of Yokohama.
2. The combined cost was about $100 which has to be paid at a local convenience store. This is actually very common here - many things including utility bills, sporting tickets, train tickets, and even mail order merchandise is paid for at convenience stores. Money is very different here: cheques are unheard of and credit cards are rare; almost everything is done with cash. Amazingly, you often can get the items before paying for them and then you are just trusted to go to a convenience store to pay!
For the visa, since it was a nice day I rode my bike the 11 km (6.5 miles) each way and then stopped off at Yamashita Park and the Osanbashi Pier. Both are within spitting distance of my school but I never made it until this week. Both offer nice views of Yokohama.
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