04.12.20 Reentry Permit
Today we were victorious over the Japanese bureaucracy and
got our reentry permits. It is a small postage stamp in our passports and
allows us to come back to Japan
after our next trip to the US. We thought it was a little curiious that we
needed this, as we have this big visa in our passport from the Japanese embassy
in New York and
also got a veritable residence card from the local ward office. Neither one of these pieces of paper,
however, allow you back into the country as I found out when I left Japan the last
time. I went to Narita airport to travel
to CA with ANA airlines. I was running a
little late, but was travelling fairly light and by myself, so I was not
worried, but things did not go smoothly.
First, when the attendant at the check-in counter asked me
for my ticket and I said I had an electronic ticket handing her my passport she
checked the computer and told me that no, indeed I had a paper ticket and could
I please give it to her. This was news
to me having not received a ticket, but after a few checks I realized that the
kind people of American Express Travel had of course sent the ticket (which
would take me from Tokyo to California
and then back to Tokyo) to my US address on
record, namely PARC. Quite logical
really. My options seemed bad at first,
as I could only get a new full fare ticket which would cost me over $3000, but
after some more inquiries, it turned out that I would get all but $10 back when
I showed them my original ticket. Of
course, by now another 30 minutes have passed and it is starting to become
questionable I will make the flight I am in the process of buying a $3000
ticket for. Moreover, while I am waiting
for the very polite and lovely lady of the ‘ticketing’ desk to handwrite me a
new ticket, filling out form after form, the original attendant checks my
passport and noticed, thank god, that I do not have a reentry permit. She realizes that therefore I will not be
able to return to Japan and so, immediately after I get my ticket she and I run
(we are not talking a fast walk here, no this was a full-fledged sprint , she amazingly
on high heels, I barely keeping up on running shoes, but with a heavy carry-on
backpack bouncing on my back) through the entire airport hall to a little
office where I buy an emergency single reentry stamp from an old man for 3000
JPY. Having obtained that, she runs me back
halfway through the hall, then straight in the crew entrance and into the
immigration office, where I get a form to fill out from an officer. She helps me fill out the form after which
the officer puts a stamp into my passport and bows to me. She then points me to the gate, where I
arrive with just a few minutes to spare.
When I got back a week later carrying my original ticket and
tried to get my money back from ANA it turned out that yes I can get my money
back, but that it will take three to four months. Below a picture of Pascale in the Japanese
maple trees in our driveway. Can you
find her?
10:26:57 PM 
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