Pioneering in Japan

It’s been chilly and rainy for a while now, but everyone guarantees that soon enough it will turn hot and humid! We hope to be in our apartment soon. We’re currently still in Fuchu, waiting for the landlord to get the apartment “ready” for us. Kazuya, our realty agent (you have to have one here) is a young guy, and he has always felt that it was going to be hard to find a landlord who would rent to foreigners “without a place of employment” (I explained that “I AM my place of employment” and “Until you find me a building I don’t HAVE a place of employment” , but he was still nervous). I think we’re his first foreigners (well, I DID get him off Craigslist). Regardless, we “passed the Lessor’s test” (as Kazuya put it) and while we don’t sign the contract until next week, “we’re in” (I’m hoping it’s one of those “honor” things). So we wait. According to Kazuya, this is the usual timeframe for getting an apartment in Tokyo. And now, all of Japan is observing “Golden Week”, a week of vacat...

So, for those of you who are following the plot - our Certificates of Eligibility arrived on March 12th. We zipped downtown to the Japanese Consulate and turned them in along with our passports - " Come back in a week ". Great! That means we can plan on flying to Tokyo on... (let's see, ichi... ni... san...) the 20th! So best-travel-agent-in-the-world Bridget Harris pulls an extra special rabbit out of her hat, and it's wearing a grass skirt - " How would you guys feel about an overnight layover in... Hawaii! " (it sounded just like Drew Carey saying "... a BRAND NEW CAR!"). So I said: My answer God truly does so much more than we ask or even expect! We didn't get a chance to really go anywhere for our 29th anniversary the week before, but God gave us an anniversary to remember. Armed with our certificates and our long term visas, we bid a tearful farewell to our kids in Denver... and arrived late that afternoon in Honolulu! (I know what you...

URGENT UPDATE:   Just got another email from our lawyer - Dear Mr. Case: We are pleased to inform you that we have at last received your Certificates of Eligibility today. We will immediately forward the original Certificates to you in Colorado by EMS air courier. We are advised it will be delivered hopefully on next Tuesday, or Wednesday at the latest. I'm glad now you don't miss the cherry blossoms which will be in full bloom in Tokyo around April 1st, according to the recent forecast by the Meteorological Agency. Yours very truly, Y Honda So we've been approved and our Certificates of Eligibility are in!!!   Once they get here, all we have to do is to take them and our passports to the Japanese Consulate. Not much longer now! I am constantly amazed (but not surprised) at how God has opened a door every single step along way. Without a shadow of a doubt, I know that this is a direct result of so many people lifting us up in prayer. Thank you. Grace - undeserved FAVOR fr...

Just got this from our lawyer! - - - Dear Mr. Case: Thank you for your letter. It's getting a little warm in these days here in Tokyo, and we can feel spring is gradually coming. Since we have submitted a response to the questionnaire last week, we believe the Certificate of Eligibility will be issued within next 1 - 2 weeks. Therefore, we are quite sure you can enjoy cherry blossoms in Japan. We look forward to seeing you again very soon. Yours very truly, Y. Honda

We finally heard from our lawyer last week. Immigration is now requiring us to complete a questionnaire, and submit several photos of Lisa and I together over the years!  That car was not new, btw... Our lawyer protested to the Immigration official that this particular questionnaire is not even applicable to our case (it’s normally only required of wives of Japanese nationals ), but Immigration remained adamant. Nevertheless, we're excited because of the underlying implications - everything on the questionnaire pertains to Lisa's visa (family ties, relations and history). Our lawyer should be turning all that into Immigration tomorrow, so hopefully things will move along faster now. Keep us in prayer. We need to get back!!!

We made it! We survived not only our trip back to the land of the free and the home of the brave, but also the world's longest Saturday . We left the house there in Fuchu, Tokyo at noon on Saturday. We walked, caught a bus, took a train, caught another bus, then boarded a plane at 7pm, on Saturday. So we flew for 10-12 hours to Los Angeles, arriving at noon (get this) on Saturday. Wait... This was an episode of Scooby Doo!  Pastor Mike Ashcraft and his wife picked us up and took us to In-N-Out Burger (yes, out of all of the possibilities, that's what we picked. Funny what you miss...). They showed us around Santa Monica, we went by their house a couple of times, had some excellent coffee, we saw their school, they took us to Santa Monica pier (leave to to a missionary to know how to really show missionaries a great time!), ALL this, and it's still Saturday ... So they drop us off at LAX and we make it to our gate with time to spare. Tick tock, time to board, but there...

The meeting with the lawyer went really well. He said that the paperwork looks very  good, and seems to think we're a shoe-in for the visa. He said we're probably looking at receiving " long-term residency " (I'm not sure how long long-term is, but I guess we'll see!)   He also explained that it would grant us permission to live here, and freedom to do... basically,  whatever ! Unlike a teaching visa, where you can only teach, or a working visa dependent upon a particular company, or even a missionary visa restricted to purely religious activities - our visa/residency will permit us to live here and do pretty much anything anyone else can do (Wow!). So our lawyer said to "plan on coming back to Japan around February 20th". It could be a little later (or even a little sooner), depending on how quickly Immigration processes our C of E. Once they DHL it to us, we would then take it to the nearest Japanese Consulate in the US, and t...