Oh the Japanese!

In my last post I mentioned about going to MIT's Technology and Innovation Bootcamp to Tokyo, Japan. Well my biggest challenge was not to get admitted to MIT, but my biggest challenge has been getting admitted to countries! I've had some terrible luck with my visa applications. Today I went to apply for my Japanese Visa. My long standing impression of Japanese being a very organized nation who are meticulous about everything shattered big time! The visa application submission time is from 9-11 am. Having to use the Shuttle bus (Another Angry Blog post coming soon) I reached the embassy around 9.20 am. It was a rainy day today and fortunately I had my umbrella with me (very unlike me, I'm not a very organized person). At the entrance we were about 10 people who were made to wait outside in the rain with very little space to save ourselves from the rain. Every 10 minutes one person was called inside. I thought the Japanese had some respect for other people but I guess they do not. After around 1 hour of waiting in the rain, I managed to go inside. Expecting to see someone or some reception where I could understand the process, I was greeted by another group of confused applicants. Someone from somewhere told me to give my receipt, which I was given during my security check, to a window in the center of the room, which was covered in a way, that I couldn't see on the other side. My receipt mysteriously disappeared and I was asked to sit down like everyone else. I was once again very confused, there was no announcement system, no queueing system, just one black window, from where someone in a very low voice called out names! So much for the organized Japanese myth! I had to wait another hour before my name was called. This mysterious person behind the window was the slowest guy I've ever (not) seen. Now I understand why South Korean companies have have overtaken  Japanese Snails like Sony and Panasonic. 

After waiting for almost 2 hours my name was called. Guess what, I was told I don't have complete papers, even though I have an admission letter from MIT! I wanted to just bang my head on that Stupid black window! Anyway after wasting half my day, I came back (via that stupid Shuttle). If you know Urdu you will understand the next proverb that I write.

            کھائا پیا کچھ نحیں گلاس توڑا ۱۰۴۰رپے کا

I had to pay 1000 for the executive shuttle bus service. The economy one runs every one hour! Just missed it by 2 minutes, as at the entrance I was asked to submit a copy of my passport for SECURITY reasons (Head banging again). I paid 20 rupees for a single photo copy and 20 rupees to park my  car. So spent half a day and Rs 1040 with no outcome! And now I have to do it all over again twice! Once to go re-submit my application and then to go and pick up my passport when the visa hopefully InShaAllah arrives.