Have documents, will travel

Any time I have to go to any government office, I heave a sigh of discontentment.  It always seems to take so long and there are often many forms involved.  In my world, if we are dealing with the American government, I am the primary person responsible for getting it done.  When we have something at a Japanese governmental office, my husband is the one who spearheads the task.

Before our last trip to the US, we noticed that our son's American passport would expire in December.  So it was up to me to remedy the situation. 

I went online to make the appointment and print off the application.  The US Embassy website is pretty user friendly and I was able to quickly find everything that I needed.  I made an appointment for Monday, November 26 at 9 am.  While I filled out the form and collected all the required documentation, my husband requested the morning off from work.  He was required to attend the appointment, as both parents of the minor child need to be there.

When Monday rolled around, we got up and got out the door just after 7:30 am.  We walked over to the train.  Many people were heading to work, so we waited in line for the second train to arrive.  Since we are the first stop on the line, most people let a train or two pass in order to guarantee a seat.  We rode the train for about 30 minutes, and then transferred trains.  The second train was a bit crowded, but not too bad.  We only had to go two stops, so I breathed a sigh of relief.  I hate going downtown more and more because of the crowded trains.  They are not fun in any sense of the word.

Although a tad full, people had plenty of breathing room.  Then we pulled up to the first stop.  The lines were super long.  I drew in a breath as the train slowed to a stop and thought "no... freaking... way..."  The doors opened and the people started shoving their way in.  I quickly scooped up my son to prevent him from being trampled.  We were pushed and shoved similar to rough ocean waters.  By the time the doors closed, I could have let go of my son and he would not have dropped at all.  We were firmed wedged inside.  He and I maintained eye contact as we rode to the next stop, our final destination. 

As we pulled up to the next station, I realized we needed to cross the train to get off and onto the platform.  When the doors opened, I said "sumimasen" over and over and I tried to reach the door.  My politeness was not working and I ended up shoving my way through to emerge from the sardine packed train. 

My husband had already made it to the platform and stood waiting for us.  I tried to put my son down, but he clung to me and said "I want you to hold me for another minute momma!"  He was not impressed with this truly authentic Tokyo experience. 

Once he had calmed down, we walked the 8 minutes to the Embassy.  We walked up to the security gate and attempted to go inside.  They noticed my husband's backpack and asked if he had a laptop.  "Yes" he responded.  They told him that he could not bring a laptop into the Embassy and he would have to return to the train station to put it into a locker. 

We heaved a heavy sigh, but knew they didn't care if we protested.  We had left early just in case we needed extra time, so it wasn't a big deal. 

15 minutes later, we returned without the laptop.  We gave them our passports, and put our phones in the basket they provided.  We entered the building.  Just like at the airport, our belongings went through a scanner and we walked through a metal detector.  We then walked over to the passport and visa office building, where we had our belongings sifted through and we walked through a second metal detector. 

My son needed a photo for his passport.  I had read on the website that there was a photo booth inside the embassy, so I inquired about it's location.  I was informed that the photo booth was broken. 

I took a deep breath.  Why did this have to be so difficult?  I asked where I could find one.  I was worried about the photo being the correct size, because the passport office is notoriously picky about passport photos.  The woman smiled at me and said there was a photo booth at the train station.  "You've got to be kidding me!" I thought.  I asked if it was okay that we would now be late for our appointment, I was assured it would be fine.

So, we headed back to the train station again.  My son's enthusiastic attitude was wavering, so I promised him a treat after the photo was taken.  We found the booth and my husband figured out how to use it.  Our son was just a touch too short, even when the seat was raised to its highest level,.  So my husband had our son sit on his forearms to raise him up to the correct height.  He then leaned back to make sure he wasn't in the photo, while I clamped the curtain closed except for my arm reaching through to push the camera shutter button.  If I wasn't so tense, I would have laughed at the sight of us trying to get this photo. 

Luckily, we were able to choose from three photos.  We selected our favorite, and told the machine to print.  My son happily dug into his snack as we waited.  Snacks from mom's purse always helps make things better!  As soon as it came out of the machine, we grabbed it and trekked back to the Embassy. 

We went through the security process again.  By this time, we were officially late, which greatly bothers me and my husband than anyone in the passport office.  We handed in our appointment confirmation printout, which officially put us in the queue.  Our name was called in less than 3 minutes.  I handed over all the forms and the required photo.

A couple of stamps later, a quick payment at the cashier's window, and a swearing to the accuracy of all the information provided, and we were done.  The new book was officially in process of being created.  Now we just had to wait for the book to arrive.

Today, I was making yuzu honey in my kitchen when the doorbell rang.  The postman was delivering my son's passport just a week and 2 days after our crazy morning requesting it.  It was much faster than the 3-4 weeks they quote.

I walked away with a few lessons that I will remember when it comes time to renew my own passport:

1. Make an appointment for a time when I will not meet any form of rush hour train traffic.
2. Do not bring anything other than exactly what I need - specifically laptops.
3. Do not wait for the last minute for any required documentation - especially photos - even if they promise you a photo booth.

Of course things change all the time, so these lessons might be moot.  The only lesson to remember is to remember to take patience and a good attitude!