Life in Japan - Pictures galore !! Arcades, Temples, Rainy days, etc

It has halloween. Trying to figure out what gear of mine I'm going to wear.

 

Thanks for that. I'm still learning the tricks. It sure takes a while.

 

But it's not cultural, is it?
I mean I'll use christmas as an example. All the streets use a santa claus decoration, different lights and so on.

I never went to a halloween on the US but as I see people redecorate the whole city.
There are witches and skulls all over the city.

Does the same happens on japan? Is it celebrated on october ?

 

Halloween here is bigger than it is in the UK! Tokyo is massively decorated - stay tuned for loads of photos to prove you wrong Stuff is in shop windows already! Christmas starts early here, just as in the UK, i.e. November.

 

It's not widely celebrated but apparently it's bigger here than at least Australia, and now I'm hearing the UK. There's a Halloween parade in Omotesando and Kawasaki. I hear the Kawasaki one is better (more cos-play-ish... less kids) so I'll head to that one w/ the camera. Roppongi Hills (which is largely gaijin-driven) has a children's parade for the entire weekend. The majority of the participants are Japanese though.

 

O.O!

Hey guys, as I see none of you were born in Japan.
How did you managed to live there?

Is it hard to get a citizen agreement to live forever in Japan?

 

Less "Christmas" and more "Lover's Day". Hallmark could learn a thing or two about commercializing holidays from the japanese.

 

I think the Japanese just took the American idea and hyper-intensified it. Like just about everything else.

There's a few threads on this even here, I think. Getting a working visa is not that hard but they generally require you to have the visa before entering*.

*Or you just lie, come in on a tourist visa, and find a job. That should give you an idea on how loopholes work in Japan.

 

There was a matsuri (festival) just down the road


Nakanobu Nebuta Matsuri by martindesu, on Flickr


Float Nakanobu Nebuta Matsuri by martindesu, on Flickr

This one was about 4m tall


Samurai vs Dragon by martindesu, on Flickr


Nakanobu Nebuta Matsuri by martindesu, on Flickr

and a local chef


Chef by martindesu, on Flickr

 

That applies to almost any country though. From the immigration office I know of many cases where people just came to Canada without any idea of what they wanna do. Then they found some random job and bang - you got yourself a work permit. Doesn't always work of course, and you're fucked if your boss fires you. It's really sort of the dangerous way to handle things and, depending on your responsibilities (i.e. family) it can also be quite careless and stupid.

 

Martin, you've got some excelent colour on those matsuri shots. I take it they are altered in post production?

 

Only half were corrected for white balance... half way through the parade I changed it on the camera as things were too yellow. That's it.

 

I almost went to that event. Forgot the name -- but, it was in Setagaya, right? Should have gone.

I can only speak for the two countries I live in. That stuff generally doesn't fly in the US as the working visas are limited, and always run out very soon after being allotted. In Japan, the norm is to also work while your visa is being processed. Gray at best (I'm sure it's illegal actually) but everyone does it. For being a country so against immigration, they are really weird about enforcing strict guidelines.

 

Yeah, on the Asakusa line. Was a good event!

I've made a photography website (link), which contain some of the images I've shown here, plus others. I'll continue to post in here, and I have a blog on the site I'll be updating regularly.

I hope you like it

 

True. Also when you get your working VISA for the US, you still have to go through an interview at the US embassy with a consular officer. At this point, the consular officer can decide to approve or dissaprove your visa. This means that although you were given a visa by your employer, there is still a risk not to be allowed to work in the USA.

This is why most people from Europe give up after a certain period of time trying to work in the USA (usually when they ask for a visa renewal) and instead go to Canada or Australia...

 

US also a limit of how many executive years you can reside on a working visa, at which point you will have to leave and start over (usually with a break in there -- twelve months minimum perhaps) or get a green card. The green card is of course a bit harder, and costs more for the sponsor.

 

You are right. I'm from France and I've been working on and off in the US for quite some time now and usually when you get a working visa, it is valid for a maximum of 3 years. Although it is supposed to last 3 years, the VISA only lasts the duration of your initial contract with your employer, because once the contract is over, if you are looking for another job, you have to go through the procedure and fill in all the paperwork once again.

The problem is actually to get a VISA renewal, because the more you go to your local embassy, the harder it gets to get a VISA because they ask you more and more questions about why you want to go back again to the USA... They also have a file with all your personal informations and they know everything about you, so if you try to say bullshits or lies, you are screwed.

Getting a VISA for the US if you are a student or a tourist is very easy but that's a whole different story when it comes down to employment. That's why I said that most people give up working in the USA, because all the paperworks are just a hassle and such a pain in the ass. But I guess this is meant to discourage people who want to go to the US and have nothing to do there...

 

To be honest, it's a foolish system designed specificly to make it difficult to immigrate. One of the many sets of laws we've needed to properly address this past half century...

I'm not sure why we americans have this silly notion that the people who came on the previous boat are somehow more enititled than the ones on the current boat, but there you go.

 

As a 30 year old single Mexican male, I can tell you, getting a Visa for the U.S., even a Tourist Visa, is a labyrinthine ordeal, a twisted dance of spite and sorrow.

That is why I couldn't take any flight that would pass through L.A. when I went to Japan. You have to pay for the interview at the American consulate (and it's a few hundred dollars, if I recall correctly) for the privilege of standing in line, being judged like cattle, and told you won't get a Visa - and this has to be done MONTHS in advance, as their decision takes a long time, apparently.

I was very, very surprised when, in Narita Airport, they just stamped my passport and let me through.

 

Of course, you have to pay every step of the process, even to make an appointment at the embassy you are charged 20$... Worst part of it is that if your visa is denied you are screwed, you can't get your money back!