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Tokyo: Have you ever had any trouble with immigration in Japan?

by Mark Buckton

Jonathan McDonald
Teacher, 35 (English)
Never. I find that if I’m well-dressed and polite, things go well. I always try to chat a bit to the staff. This makes the process less of a formality and more human. That way if something does go wrong, the staff are less likely to follow protocol and more likely to do what they can to help!

Sandra Meyer
Bar staff, 22 (French)
Personally I have never had a problem with the immigration services in Japan — either in Shinagawa or at ports of departure — because I have never done anything wrong or illegal, and I am of course trying to keep it that way. It is of course easier to live if we have done nothing wrong.

Alfie Goodrich
Photographer, 44 (English)
I’ve encountered the usual dilemma of “the wife is Japanese, she goes through her line; I am English and need to go through a different line,” which has been solved very quickly by an immigration officer, usually, by opening up a new line, taking us through in double-quick time and bypassing the whole [conundrum].

Ifeanyi Akaolis
Corporate instructor, 44 (Nigerian)
Once, having gone through the ups and downs all foreigners face here, I headed to immigration at Narita to get out and go home. For various reasons I was delayed at immigration, met a Japanese woman and returned to Tokyo. Weeks later we were married and now we have a lovely daughter.

Ananda Jacobs
Musician, actress, 30 (American)
Immigration was a bit of a Catch-22 situation for me when I was applying for my artist visa. In order to qualify for the visa, I had to show that I was earning enough income as a freelance composer to support myself, yet in order to work in Japan I had to first have the proper visa.

Andrew McLucas
Sales, 41 (Australian)
I’ve lived here for over 15 years on three-year visas, but once I forgot to go and renew my visa, so essentially I overstayed. But, having a normal job and living in the same place, there was no real negative outcome and it was renewed. I was told, however, not to do it again!

Interested in gathering views in your neighborhood? E-mail community@japantimes.co.jp

  • Eamon

    Right. That’s why immigration officials in the United States (you know, that country with the most immigrants) speak other languages.

    • Ron NJ

      This is an article about Japan on the Japan times; what the US does or doesn’t do is completely irrelevant.

  • http://www.sheldonthinks.com/ andrew Sheldon

    I know a Filpino who hates the fact that being Filipino means that she is treated like a 3rd class person. She earns more than the average wage in every western countries, but is treated differently. There should be a system where high income people (in the third world) don’t have to continuously apply for visas every time they leave their (host) country. Maybe the US should set up such an office….the NSA seems over-qualified for the task.

  • stoneyzatiger

    I wouldn’t be so comfortable contributing the US immigration’s personnel’s use of foreign languages, just for the purpose of aiding foreign tourists or businessmen. In this situation surely English should be enough? For immigrants of course, speaking their native tongue would be more advantageous. Some may of course dismiss US immigration’s use of foreign languages as a cynical political ploy. A stop-gap measure initiated to reduce queues of people entering the country proportionately to the speed that the Homeland Securities Spartan security checks creates them.

    Ascribing to and encouraging the use of English amongst
    Japan’s Immigration service is conversely the same as encouraging the US immigration to use no other language but English. If indeed we are agreeing that
    English as the lingua Franca.

    In my experience, the police, immigration and even political officials often have a passable grasp of English, more so than perhaps many people will ever
    know. Getting them to speak it is however, another matter.

    So I would agree with the OP that employees must have at least some measure of foreign language ability, and would add that employees and employers alike should be heavily incentivised to actually make use of it.

  • Eamon

    Not at all. What I object to is the insinuation that it’s “silly” for Japan to not be speaking others’ languages when that’s not exactly the norm for immigration worldwide. Perhaps in this circumstance I was over-reacting but I get tired of the “ah silly Japan is so uniquely dysfunctional” attitude amongst many posters on the boards here.

    • Guest

      It’s not “others’ languages” – you don’t ‘claim’ a language based on ethnicity or nationality something. They’re for everyone. And the one that is most applicable and most used internationally is … you guessed it, English!

  • http://durf.org/ Peter Durfee

    The key to Shinagawa is getting there before it opens. If you’re first in the door you’ll be out within a half hour, every time. Going after lunch is a guaranteed recipe for whining on social media about the three or four hours you had to spend in 147th place in line.

    • http://thehopefulmonster.wordpress.com/ Sublight

      Yes, that’s definitely true. I suppose there could be some set of circumstances where one absolutely could not go on any morning and had to show up in the afternoon, but I couldn’t fathom actually choosing to do so.

  • Mike Wyckoff

    The moment the Kyoto Immigration office shows the least bit of respect to foreigners, I’ll do the same. Osaka on the other hand is a breeze, with polite staffers.

    • C321

      Oh dear, it does seem to be location dependent, it’s fine in Nagoya, but I heard Tokyo is not so good. I guess it’s chicken and egg as far as respect goes, but at the end of the day I think if you don’t lay on the respect thick, you are shooting yourself in the foot.

  • zer0_0zor0

    I’ve had only good experiences with immigration, even when I’ve made mistakes, so I will add my vote of confidence to the many others.

    A job well done should be appreciated.

  • homesickyank

    Be grateful you don’t have to deal with US immigration. The hubby is Japanese, has a green card (we live in the US now), never broke any regulations, yet has been hassled and rudely treated by the bureaucrats of my country. Very embarrassing and infuriating. But people are so afraid of overbearing American officials now, no one will complain.

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Jonathan McDonald Teacher, 35 (English) Never. I find that if I'm well-dressed and polite, things go well. I always try to chat a bit to the staff. This makes the process less of a formality and more human. That way if something does go wrong, the staff are less likely to follow protocol and more likely to do what they can to help! Sandra Meyer Bar staff, 22 (French) Personally I have never had a problem with the immigration services in Japan — either in Shinagawa or at ports of departure — because I have never done anything wrong or illegal, and I am of course trying to keep it that way. It is of course easier to live if we have done nothing wrong. Alfie Goodrich Photographer, 44 (English) I've encountered the usual dilemma of 'the wife is Japanese, she goes through her line; I am English and need to go through a different line,' which has been solved very quickly by an immigration officer, usually, by opening up a new line, taking us through in double-quick time and bypassing the whole [conundrum].

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