Vince had a healthy distaste for paper work - tax forms, application forms, competition entry forms never agreed with him. He always felt guilty after filling them in. It was not that he lied. It was just that the forms never asked the right questions. He always seemed to be in a category that wasn't covered by the appropriate form. Not surprisingly, he found most distasteful of all the mountains of paperwork that was required to stay in Japan. He had gone down to the local government Midori ward offices to register as a foreign resident in the days just before the finger-printing law was abolished. He had the print taken from the index finger of his left and wondered what would happen if the yakuza got a hold of him and chopped that finger off as Japanese gangsters had a habit of doing. The whole process was speeded up by some sympathetic clerics in the ward offices and it had still taken an afternoon to get the paperwork through. Before they could obtain a foreigner's registration card, both Vince and Connie had to get visas beyond the normal three month tourist allotment. This had always been a hassle for the Patchworks. In their first year, it had meant a trip to smog-ridden Seoul and a two hour wait in a queue outside the Japanese embassy. When they had finally got their visas after two days, Vince had discovered that Connie's was correct - a spouse visa for one year - and his own was an entertainer's visa for three months. It had taken Vince two further days to convince the officials in Seoul that he was an instructor not an entertainer. This was a significant clerical error although it might sometimes have been difficult to tell the difference between foreign teachers and entertainers in Japan.
When he went to renew his visa, Vince was relieved to discover that he didn't have to go to Seoul. He was given the morning off work and told to go down to the Immigration Office in Ikejiri Ohashi. Vince and Connie arrived there at 8 o'clock in the morning to discover that there were already 40 people waiting. When he finally reached the front of the queue, the woman behind the counter took one look at his form and told him that he was in the wrong office. As a resident of Kanagawa Prefecture, he would have to go to the office in Yokohama. It was already 9:30 and Vince saw his morning off ebbing away.
At break-neck speed, he raced down to Sakuragicho station on the Toyoko line and caught a taxi to the Immigration Office near Yamashita Park. Breathlessly, he raced upstairs and found that he was in a room with 80 other people. Each and every one of them looked very grim and Vince could only think that the happy ones had already been given their visas and sent on their way. Grimmest of all were the two men who sat behind two counters, looking as if they needed a cigarette. All the seats faced them, so it was impossible not to look at their downcast frowns.
An hour and a half later, when he was finally called up, the two men looked grimmer than ever. It was nearing lunchtime and they would undoubtedly be able to get that long awaited smoke soon. If that was the case, they seemed in no hurry with Vince's visa. The man who called him up fired a couple of questions at Vince, looked totally unsatisfied at the answers and asked him to sit down again. Vince obeyed hesitatingly. He was, however, very relieved when he was recalled a matter of minutes later and presented with another visa. Legal for another year.
Somewhere during the duration of his second visa, Vince discovered how to play the game. He filled out the papers beforehand, ambled into the office at 4:55 in the afternoon, five minutes before closing time. The man behind the counter didn't even look at the papers or scrutinise his passport for some criminal record. He merely lifted his hand and stamped it. Vince and Connie left Immigration at 4:57, wondering if they had created a new world record for the fastest double visa in Japan.