It was a work-at-home day for Drew today. In the morning, he visited the U.S. Embassy, and the two of us also went to the Shibuya ward office. Afterwards, we walked to Yoyogi Koen on our way back towards the house. Yoyogi Koen is a large park, one of Tokyo's largest, not too far from our house. In 1964, it was the site for the athletes village for the 1964 Summer Olympics. The Yoyogi National Gymnasium, which was the venue for some of the Olympic events, is still in use. We may have the chance to check out the swimming pool soon. There's a swim club that practices there, and I've been in touch with them in preparation for when Cooper wants to get back to swimming (or when I decide he needs to swim again for the mental health of both of us :) ). As far as dues go, you can definitely see why Exxon gives us a cost of living allowance. I sent the fee schedule to Cooper and Greer's old swim coach and told them he could share this when parents complained that ESA's dues were too high. (Here it is, if you're curious: 10 Visits = 40K yen, 15 Visits = 55K yen, 20 Visits = 70K yen.)
Drew's going to tell about his visit to the U.S. Embassy:
In order to purchase a car in Japan, you need an "official signature." You can satisfy this requirement permanently by making a little rubber stamp of your name and registering it at the ward office, or you can apply for an appointment at the embassy, wait in line, etc... for the privilege of paying $50 a whack to get your signature certified by the embassy - which only lasts 3 months, then it expires. No brainer, right? So last Saturday, after much discussion with the stamp maker, and four of his colleagues, he decided it would be best if I confirmed my proposed stamp design was acceptable with the ward office (closed at that time of day), and then return. At that point he would happily take my money and make me a stamp; the stamp manufacture process should only take two weeks ...
So I'm waiting in line for the embassy (the shorter US citizens line) well before my 0845 appointment. The Japanese security staff were the model of efficiency, whisking us thrrough the scanning process, at the end of which they relieved us of our cell phones (so no pics from the embassy) for the remainder of our stay on US soil. I headed into the notary services area and dropped my appointment letter in the collection bin in front of window 7.
A few minutes before 0845 there were signs of life, the Japanese clerk on window 9 opened his window (and number 10 adjacent to him), and I'm excited since I'm the first in line for these services and I have the earliest appointment so it looks like I'll be in and out. But I forgot I was back on US soil, and apparently US goverment clerks are the same everywhere. It's 0840, and the guy who I'm convinced will be my clerk (and he was), started to corral a group of colleagues and initiate a heated discussion about the inadequacy of the placement of the invitation letter bin in front of window 7. This was an extremely inefficient location in his opinion, and he was trying to start a ground swell movement to move it to another window much better suited to the task - window 6, 4 feet to the left. Well, this debate raged on for at least 15 minutes. The issue is that it is difficult to see if papers are in the bin in front of window 7 - very inefficent - "we need to improve our work processes and root out these inefficiencies." A Japanese colleague indicated that there was no matter - someone should be manning window 7 so they would be able to welcome the customer when they dropped it off. "What am I, a robot?" They can get a robot to do that job. If not for the armed Marine guards that I was sure were lurking around somewhere, I would have been screaming at this idiot about where the real inefficiency was coming from ... right between his ears! Maybe I should have waited the two weeks to get my stamp instead ...
Certified signatures in hand, Drew then gave me a call to let me know when he was leaving the embassy, and I set out to walk to Shibuya. That's the same area to which the kids and I walked just yesterday, though I was going to the ward office, a little bit outside the main shopping district. I definitely had an easier time finding my way this time, though my iPhone map did take me down some narrow alleys. (It may have been more helpful for my overall sense of direction if I had stuck to the main roads.) There are plenty of streets that look barely wide enough for a car, but not only do cars (and vans) drive down them, they are actually two-way streets, and one car will just stop in a place where it's wide enough for the other car to pass. There are also plenty of bikers and walkers, so we all just have to watch out for each other. I do keep reminding my kids that although where they're walking may not be all that much wider than a sidewalk, it is NOT a sidewalk, and they should remember to be on the lookout for cars. Hopefully the message will sink in without a car accident being necessary. It should really be interesting when they start riding their bikes.
Drew and I were visiting the Shibuya ward office to pick up our alien registration cards. We had registered for them when we first moved in, and the now the official cards were ready. At the local Japanese government office, we were greeted upon arrival and pointed in the right direction. The woman at the alien registration desk was happy to work with us at any window that was available. We miss the U.S., but we will say that they have pretty good service here in Japan.
No comments:
Post a Comment