Immigration

The Tokyo Regional Immigration Office is a hulking concrete building designed to intimidate people. The entrance underneath a long, shadowy portico sets the tone for what's inside.

Colored stripes on the floor help to herd immigrants to the proper room for their application type. We followed the pink strip to Number 6: Business Visas. The room is cheerless. Concrete walls are painted white and decorated with sample applications and warning notices. Rows of brown leatherette chairs face a TV bolted to the ceiling. Windows behind the counter look out onto the roof of the next building. The air is filled with the sound of the "take a number" machine and quiet conversations among the applicants.

The room is full of fear, too. Some of the immigrants are concerned about their visas--will they be accepted or will they be tossed out of Japan on the next plane. It happens. Most people waiting in the Room 6: Business Visas are bored, resigned, or impatient but the tension of it all gets to you, even when you have no cause to worry about your visa application.

Fortunately our wait was relatively short and our tension dissolved when we were handed new, three year visas. Not only are we allowed to stay here until October 2003, but we won't have to visit the immigration office again!