When I first found out I was going to Japan, I thought all I really needed was my passport and clothes and things from home...no big deal. Well I soon found out there were many steps to get to Japan. I must note though, Missionary Josh Stahmann and his wife Lynnette were very helpful in talking me through and sending me all the information I needed to get ready for Japan.
I did have a passport already so that made step one easy. Step two though was getting my visa. This was a bit more difficult. There are quite a few documents that you are required to send in to get your visa. Thankfully most of them were just sent to me and all I had to do was get some passport-size photos and create a resume. So when I got everything in the mail and put the packet together, I sent it all in to the Japanese consulate in Houston. Not too bad. Then I found out that they needed some more documents to verify the information. This would have been fine too, except one of the documents I needed was from one of the missionaries who was on furlow in Hawaii, not the easiest place to track someone down. But eventually I got everything I needed sent in and the consulate was very quick to send me my visa.
The next thing I had to get was an international drivers license. This was very easy to get. All I did was go down to an AAA office, give them my drivers license along with some passport-size photos, and they gave me the new license. Easy.
Next I had to get plane reservations. I first went to places like expedia or travelocity. These were no help at all. They had one way tickets costing the same as a roundtrip, anywhere from $1,300 to $1,800. Luckily the Stahmanns new of a Japanese travel agency that normally had very low prices. I called them and found a nonstop flight for a bit over $700 which is a great price.
The hardest part for me was figuring out how to put everything I wanted to bring into three suitcases all weighing no more than 50lbs (70lbs if I wanted to pay $25 per suitcase). Well I had one large suitcase and ended up buying two more huge suitcases. Then I had to decide what I needed to bring, what I wanted to bring, and what I was leaving behind. I then packed and squeezed, folded and smushed as much as I could into my suitcases, as well as weighing them every so often to make sure I hadn't gone over my weight limit (which ended up to be 70lbs each because there was no chance I'd be under 50lbs). I did get all my essentials packed and most of what I wanted to bring too.
When the day finally came for me to go to Japan, I was very ready and prepared. The flight was very smooth although also very long. I made it through immigration and customs fine. The whole Stahmann family was there to greet me when I got to the main lobby. I was finally in Japan.
The way the signs are interpreted is also very interesting. All the speed signs are in kilometers and these are more like suggestions. Then there are signs that say no stopping on the side of the road, but if you leave your car for only 5 minutes or so, that's ok. It also doesn't help that I can't read the signs that tell you what city the road goes too, but hopefully I'll get better at that. There are no street signs, so when going places you have to remember landmarks such as turn right after the McDonalds. But I am getting better at figuring my way around Tsuchiura.
