As I have to work on the national holiday, Labor Thanksgiving Day of all days, I took a day off in lieu today to take a rare trip to Tokyo to get to the Australian Embassy there. My mission, which I chose to accept, was to apply for a new passport. My cover, to be an Australian.
Fearing the worst – the crowded trains, the packed platforms at Shinagawa Station where I had to change trains, the long walk from the station, the noise, the expense, and dealing with a government department – I hopped on a train and headed into Tokyo. Even though I had to stand on the train getting there, I was surprised at how relatively non-abusive the perceivable misadventure was.
I was at the embassy in just over an hour, door to door. And Tokyo turned on some nice weather for me. In fact, I immediately wished I had brought my camera. Tokyo Tower up close and personal, the wonderful old buildings of the Keio Univeristy Mita Campus, Kasuga Shrine, some very interesting buildings in modern architecture, and the shimmering yellow autumn leaves on the many Ginkgo or Maidenhair trees had me kicking myself for not taking the Nikon.
Having reached my destination in a time I had thought not possible, I was now 50 minutes early for my two o’clock appointment. And, did this confuse the security staff at the entrance to embassy. Luckily, was able to convince them that I wasn’t a terrorist. After the check of identification, the bag search, the metal detector, and what turned out be be a nice chat (I learnt that the whole embassy shuts down until two o’clock.), I was allowed to enter so I could sit in comfort, albeit after using their facilities.
At half past one, a very nice young woman came into the small waiting room from the secure area of the embassy and greeted me warmly. She confirmed why I was there, took my application form and photographs, and said that she would like to check them. She then asked if I would care to join her at the window. A lot of yen (27,200 of them), but only three minutes later, I was on my way back to the train station to come home. A friendly farewell greeting from the security staff at the gate on the way out and what I had thought would be a nightmarish task turned out to be a very pleasant one.
I was half way home by two o’clock, the scheduled appointment time.
Thank you to the staff at the Australian Embassy Tokyo.
Ramblings and Ruminations 