Anita recently lost her alien registration card and is planning to leave on New Year's Day for an overseas trip, so she needs a replacement right away:
"I was wondering when you re-applied, how long did it take? As I am a university student and have a part-time job, it's difficult to go to the ward office, so I am now extremely worried I will not have enough time to confirm the details before I go and I will miss out on my trip."
We checked with our local city hall and they said it typically takes a month to get a replacement card. However, this depends on the city or ward office and the time it takes for them to mail the forms to the nearest immigration bureau, and for Immigration to mail the card back. They said it might be possible to expedite the process to two or three weeks, but no guarantees.