Passports - Passage Documents of the gods
All right already, today’s title is a bit dramatic. You don’t have to be a god to get a passport, but you sure as heck need one (a passport, that is). If you already have your “official government-issued passage document”, then hooray and hallelujah. Make sure it’s up to date, put it in a safe place and press on. If you don’t have your passpsort, settle in right now for a quick read.
Passports are one of the most important items you will need for your trip so it makes them seem a tad scary. Please repeat after me … “Passsports are NOT scary”. も いちど いって ください(3) (One more time please) … “Passports are NOT scary”. Good job!
Just because passports aren’t scary doesn’t mean you should put off getting one. If you have any chance, hope, dream or prayer of getting to Japan and then home again, you’ll definitely need one.
What is that you say? What is a passport? According to Wikipedia’s passport article, it’s a document issued by a national government which certifies the identity and nationality of the citizen holding it. That’s probably all the technical aspects you need to know but let’s talk a little about the passport process.
First things first — understand that Japan requires U.S. citizens to have a valid passport in order to enter the country. Let’s make one thing perfectly clear while we’re here. While a U.S. passort is required, it does NOT guarantee entry into Japan so make sure all your ducks are in order before you leave… wellllll before you leave. How do you get those ducks in order, quacking in a straight row? Try visiting The U.S. Department of State’s webpage on Japan. Here, they tell you the Japanese government requires you to have a valid passport and an onward/return ticket in order to enter their country for a visa-free visit of up to 90 days. A “visa” is a stamp-looking document placed in your passport that indicates the nature of your visit to another country. America has a trade-off with Japan that says Americans, so long as they do not work during the time of their visit, may stay in Japan up to 90 days without needing a visa. Instead, you will receive a “tourist” or “temporary visitor” stamp in your passort.
Here’s what the stamp from my first visit looked like: 
So far, we’ve only talked about visiting Japan for a short while and therefore, not needing a visa but a temporary visitor stamp. For those of you who might be going to Japan as part of a “Study Abroad” for high school or college, or who might be going to Japan on extended business, might I suggest another reading assignment: The Embassy of Japan’s Visa FAQs page.
In the meantime, for those of us who will be visiting Nihon (the Japanese word for “Japan”) for only a short while, we’ll move on to trying to figure out where we need to go in order to get a passport and what paperwork we need in order to get it done. We’ll cover that in the next article, so stay tuned おんえがいします (onegaishimasu = please).
