August 8th, 2007Starbucks’ Venti Has Nothing on This
It seems like only yesterday since the plane landed and I made my way up to Gifu, but a week has already passed.
Today Reiko and I woke up early to make our way to the Canadian consulate in Nagoya, Japan. Before we can get legally married, I need to have an affidavit from the Canadian Government showing that I am legally entitled to marry my Reiko. The number of hoops we foreigners need to jump through in order to marry in Japan is quite high, but it’s more than worth it in the end.
Reiko and I plan on writing more about what’s required for a Canadian to marry a Japanese national in Japan a little later.
Suffice to say, today was pretty good. After a short visit to the consulate we made our way to the Japanese immigration office and picked up some of the forms that we’ll require for the next steps. Afterwards we made our way to a nice little cafe for some yakisoba and coffee.
This was the first time I’d eaten lunch in Japan around a bunch of businessmen, and I was surprised that many were so quiet. The table next to us had four men, but they were all reading the paper while eating. I really liked the atmosphere of the place until some more businessmen came in and started smoking right beside us. It’s been a while since I’ve been subject to second-hand smoke, and neither Reiko or I enjoyed it ….
Oh well. Eventually the smoking laws that are found in Canada and many European countries will likely be adopted here, and then we can all breathe a little better.
The picture above was taken after we visited a wedding dress shop. On the way out we saw this huge mug and just had to take a picture. If Starbucks had offered a latte in this size, I would have likely made fewer visits to my favourite location at 63rd and Granville in Vancouver 
I’m sure everyone says this, but I’m really glad to finally be so close to my Reiko. Though we have visited each other often in the last 18 months, and despite the daily chatting with MSN and the phone, nothing can beat being in the same room and enjoying the same things.
For anyone else that’s in a long-distance relationship, all I can say is “don’t lose hope”. If you try hard enough, the long-distance can eventually be overcome, and the relationship will be stronger for it 
Now if I could only find a store that sells coffee mugs that big ….
Great to here you’ve got the marriage wheels rolling already. The nearest British Consulate is in Osaka so I had to make the trip down there, which was a real pain.
I started smoking in Japan when I came here ten years ago. At that time, it seemed like everyone smoked, everywhere! You won’t believe how much it has changed since then. I remember smoking on planes, trains, in subway stations, McDonald’s, and even in job interviews!
I can happily say that I quit smoking along with much of England on July 1st. I’m still wearing the patches (imported from Canada!) and I’m determined to kick the habit for good this time.
Having said that, I would stll argue in favor of smokers’ rights!
Ten years ago I could have handled all the second-hand smoke, as I had parents who smoked quite a bit. However, after living in a smoke-free environment for the last 6+ years, my nose just can’t take it.
I’m all for protecting the rights of smokers. I’d just wish we could choose to breathe seperate air
How much of these hoops are on the Canadian end, and how much are on the Japanese end? How much would this difere for someone from the USA to marry someone in Japan?
L.
This is a pretty loaded question, Neko. I plan on writing a series of posts about this with Reiko so that we can help others who are trying to do the very same thing.
There is quite a bit of paperwork involved with foreigners marrying Japanese nationals in Japan, and a very specific sequence that needs to be followed. So far Reiko and I have spent 130,000+ Yen obtaining documents and permissions from the various government bodies. From many of the sites I’ve followed online regarding marriage in Japan, it’s usually a little easier for Americans to marry Japanese, but this depends on a number of factors.
Once all the forms and legalities with regards to obtaining a spousal visa are complete, Reiko and I will start posting the process with applicable links.
It’s amazing how often we were given conflicting information from the embassies/consulates and their websites … it makes me wonder if something is going to happen down the road to make a government body think our marriage is void ….