Getting A Re-Entry Permit

Today I took the day off work and went to get my re-entry permit (sai nyukoku kyoka) You need this if you want to leave Japan and then re-enter during the period of your work or study visa. As I'm going home for Christmas, I need it so as not to be turned away at the airport when I get back. 

You need - 

1. Your gaijin card

2. Your actual passport (not a photocopy, they stick the permit in your passport). 

3. 3000 yen for a single re-entry permit or 6000 yen for a multiple re-entry permit. 

4. A book. It might be a long wait.

I got mine at the Immigration Bureau (nyukoku kanri kyoku) in the nearby Big City. I had to get two trains and then a taxi because I wasn't quite sure where it was. I was pretty sure that if a foreigner got into a taxi and asked for the Immigration Bureau, they'd know where to go. 

The taxi headed off immediately, and when we were a few streets away from the train station the driver asked if it was in a certain area. Having checked the address, I confirmed. When we got there, it was deserted. Clean rectangle on the side of the wall where the sign had been. 

Taxi driver hummed to himself for a while (meter running all the time) and then took off across town. Eventually we arrived at another building. I'm pretty sure I got screwed. 

Anyway, I arrived during lunch so I filled out my form (you can download and print the form here and bring it with you) and watched some tv. Learned about cleaning products. Saw the bento lunch that was served to world leaders at the G8 summit in Hokkaido this year. 84,000 yen. That's $840 dollars for a small box of fish, rice and veg. Nice. 

At 1pm exactly the curtains opened. I was elbowed out of the way by a middle-aged Japanese man (what he was doing at the Immigration Bureau I have no idea) but made it to second in the queue. I was told to go to another floor where I had to pay 6000 yen and was given some stamps. I returned, waited a bit for the lady I had been dealing with to be free, handed her my form, my gaijin card (Certificate of Alien Registration) and my passport. She stuck the stamps to the form. I sat down. Watched a little more tv. My name was called and I got my passport and gaijin card back. Walked out of the building. Time? 1.21pm. 

All hail Japanese efficiency. I had brought my ipod and a book to pass the time, but it wasn't necessary. Obviously, I think it would be a different story in Tokyo or Osaka, but in a less-populated city it was a breeze. 

I walked back into the city centre. I wandered round some shops and marvelled that it's almost Christmas (it seems to have passed my little town by). I had a coffee from St*rbucks. I got the train home. 

Easy.