US Embassy
Ok, so it was raining today, and windy. Not a particularly nice day to be out and about looking for the embassy. But I managed to find it after walking about 2 city blocks too far and finding a map with good instructions.
Arriving at the embassy the first thing I noticed - security was really tight… they had every entrance closely watched, and crosswalks had guards to ask what your business at the embassy was (all the guards were Japanese, so the conversation was a mix of english / japanese).
Get across the street to the entrance and faced with 2 lines: A) Visa line = full about 30 people, B) US Citizen line for citizen services = empty… i scoot into that line and quickly pass all the others standing outside to put myself near the door. Just like an airport I had to remove stuff from my pockets, turn off my cellphone, show my ID, remove my laptop and place all these things in a plastic container before walking into the building!
First room in is the place where they scan your bag and plastic container while you walk through a metal detector. No big deal, easy. They keep your cell phone and electronics, and let you take the rest up to the embassy (which is inside the compound — essentially i am at the guard wall).
So I tracked on inside and see once again that my US Citizen line is empty - but the line for Visas is about 50-60 people deep (too bad for them). I scooted inside and had to use an electronic check-in machine to state the nature of my business there.
“One notary, please” I told the machine as I pressed the shiny buttons on the touchscreen. Two seconds later and I had a ticket with my number 710. The room for americans had what appeared to be the old high-school classroom desks lining the wall - and only 2 of them were occupied. I sat and awaited my turn.
Within 10 minutes I was called up and the Japanese-American guy at the counter took my paperwork and Passport then had me go pay the business office the fees needed. After payment a 30-something Aryan-American gal had me hold up my right hand and affirm that everything was true and accurate on my Single Affidavit for Marriage
With my signature in place (she remarked it was a bit different from my passport - but she had “visually identified” me so no issue) all was done and they stamped the paper with the formal seal.
So, success, one step down - next up we have to go to the municipal office in Ayako’s hometown to get another license to marry (more on that later)!
Also, I took some pictures of things other than the Embassy simply because security was very alert today (didnt want to spook them). Will post them later.
