Interesting, this reminds me that I need to recheck my visa status. Forgot how much more time I got left before having to renew.

Since mine is a 3 year visa I lose track of when I was suposed to do the damned thing again. D:

Does Japan have socialized health care?
Blondes are happy giving anything....

A couple of years ago Brazil used to finger print incoming Americans, and that only lasted a while. When I went back just this summer, nothing. But the first time i went in 2004, i really wanted to steal their sign in the airport: "Americans only". Would have had some fun with that.

i think brazil started finger printing in protest of the US (and the rest of the western world) that started finger printing after 9/11. It is still amazing to me that immigration use to be on the honor system in the US

You know, Ashcraft, I've always wondered where you're originally from. I assume somewhere in the US, but I'm not sure.

Aside from that, what brought you to Japan in the first place? Did you meet your wife first, then move, or did you go to Japan for whatever reason and then meet her?

And I guess my only other question (because I haven't asked enough yet) involves if your family has any issue with your living so far away.

@minus_273: Yup, they didn't like the fact that we were fingerprinting foreigners, so they only required, at the time, Americans to be finger printed. But I stayed there for two years and to renew my visa was pretty simple.

@minus_273:

I can't speak for other countries, but the UK doesn't fingerprint non EU nationals at entry(nor, of course, do any other EU countries for other EU nationals).

At the time of the Brazil thing, various nationalities- I think mostly the EU ones - didn't require their fingeprints to be taken upon entry to US, hence why the Brazillians felt irritated.

Check this out, see how pointless those finger scanning devices are..

[www.badscience.net]

I've been in immigration limbo for several years. Patience has a distinct taste, it's starting to taste like shit. Not talking Japan though.

So good luck and godspeed sir.

I heard that, during the permanent residence review, they'll contact references to determine how synced up to the Japanese lifestyle you are. Is that true Ashukurafuto?

I was actually really surprised at how smoothly it went when I checked in two weeks ago @ Narita. Basically, I walked right up to the counter, told the guy why I was there, rolled my index fingers real quick, smiled for the picture, and he stamped my passport.

All of this within 90 seconds!! I was impressed to say the least.

I did the registration, and it did save me a little bit of time when arriving at NRT at the end of November. The supervisors even opened up the automated gate just for me!

However, they don't have the machines at KIX or NGO, so I don't think preregistering would help you there. OTOH, I think you can win by having a Japanese wife+kid; I read that a foreigner married to and having a kid can still use the Japanese lines at least on a temporary basis.

Good luck with your app, Ashcraft!

Was the blond haired girl the actress who played the American girl in Godzilla Vs. Mechagodzilla (1990's version)? I thought I heard something about that.

Just did my fingerprinting and other stuff for my immigration requirements here in the US too. Depressing to go through it. They were very strict about no mobile phones in the facility and it took me an hour just to get it done. I did end up watching 3 episodes of some reality show judge crap which is incredibly inane and absurd..

From what I've read, been told, and understand, it's generally accepted that Japan is going to create huge problems for themselves if they keep staying so... ethnically homogenous. I honestly think it's really interesting how the nation is so peculiar on ethnicity, bordering on rascism, but I don't feel right judging a whole people based on such things. I'm an American living in America, but I live with a full-blooded Japanese (not an American) guy and a Japanese/Taiwanese guy (American/Japanese citizenship) and a Pakistani, (but he's not concurrent with the topic ;p). From what I understand, even Japanese/Koreans have extreme difficulty getting citizenship, even if they're born within Japanese borders? Is this true?

I was told it was because of the Japanese relatively disliking Korean action. As in, strict political reaction in the form of racial finger-pointing.

And doesn't Japan have the largest number of elderly, and growing? I'm not in a position to go googling all this to verify (only have a few moments to browse Kotaku and go ;]), but I'm sure you guys are intelligent enough to help me out here. Where does this population of elderly come into play? Is this connected to the lack of "new blood" coming in?

From what I see, Globalization goes both ways. Japan has the market for it, but not the heart.

...Footnote: If any of this is wrong in either fact or interpretation, please feel free to correct me. I'd rather have a good understanding than live in ignorance ;p

@PapaBear434: he's from Dallas, TX I believe.

@mandarin:
Reality show judge crap? Welcome to America! :P

@littlestlamshi:

Funk Yeah

Sure, you can buy a house legally, but can you buy a house financially? ie. is it still worse than California? <2000sqft, no backyard, and adjacent to active railroad is $1M here.

ca 700m³ is quite a alot you know?...
And he isn't just working as an Kotakui.^^

Ash, are you sure about the house-buying part? I thought land ownership was still restricted to citizens only. That was one of the main reasons David Aldwinckle ([www.debito.org]) became a Japanese citizen. I know permanent residence makes it easier to buy a mansion (condo, to those not in Japan), but I'm not sure about houses/land.

Well good luck to getting that status. :)

*press down*
*DOWN*

@Witzbold: your not in states witzbold?

@CausticSaint:

You don't have to be a citizen to own land. Not even a permanent resident, actually. The tricky part is getting the money for it. Very few banks in Japan will do a loan for a foreigner who doesn't have permanent residence.

@Amiash: nope. pretty much everyone here who knows of me on kotaku knows that.

@Witzbold: gah stupid thing posted before I was done. D:

Im in Tokyo the other huge city opposite of Ashcrafts Osaka.

For 6,000 yen, you can get a multiple re-entry permit instead of a one-time re-entry permit (which is 4,000 yen) that allows you to enter and exit Japan as many times as you want during the term of your visa. I don't know if it works with a permanent residency visa, but when I got my three year visa and my multiple re-entry permit, they both say, "Expires in 2010." For an extra 2,000 yen, you might as well just get the multiple re-entry permit even if you don't plan on exiting the country much.

> The blonde haired women in the video looked so happy giving her prints!

That's because neither she (nor anyone else) has not been told what they are doing with the fingerprint data.

[mdn.mainichi.jp]