Follow-Up - Field Trip to the Embassy
AARRGGHH! Curse the Japanese for being so maddeningly bureaucratic and slow! I arrived at the Embassy around 1:30pm, buzzed to be let in, found my way to the Consular Section, and rang the little bell that was marked 'Please Ring for Assistance'. There were two people (a sharply dressed young woman, and a rather shabbily dressed older man), in the office. The young woman was sitting at a computer terminal behind some tinted glass, so I don't think she saw me (I don't know if she heard the bell). The man, however, did hear the bell, because he looked up and stared right at me. Then he got up and walked over to where the woman was working and tried to hide behind the tinted glass! Every now and then he'd poke his head out and look around (obviously checking to see if I was still there).
Of course, I'm never really sure about the politics of ringing bells. How many times should you ring the bell? How long should you wait before ringing the bell again? Should you ring the bell when the people who should be responding are right there and obviously ignoring you? Anyway, I chose not to ring the bell, but to stand there looking like a very large, very impatient gaijin. 30 minutes later, they finally responded (there was no one else waiting, otherwise I probably would have rung the bell again).
As usual, the older man is in charge, but doesn't seem to have a clue. He spends most of the time looking confused as to what my request is about, while the young woman does all the actual work. Part of the process involves taking my fingerprints; there is a plexiglass shield that separates us, so they can't come around and do the fingerprinting, so they shove an inkpad and the paperwork through the document slot and tell me I have to fingerprint myself. Has anyone ever tried to fingerprint themselves? Doing the index finger, the middle finger, little finger, and thumb is actually pretty easy, but doing the ring finger is a pain in the A$$.
My question upon leaving is, this is the Japanese Embassy, Japan is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world. Electronic and computer technology is released there at least a year before it reaches North America and Europe. Why are they still using inkpads and paper to do fingerprints when the rest of the world is using digital scanning technology?
Of course, I'm never really sure about the politics of ringing bells. How many times should you ring the bell? How long should you wait before ringing the bell again? Should you ring the bell when the people who should be responding are right there and obviously ignoring you? Anyway, I chose not to ring the bell, but to stand there looking like a very large, very impatient gaijin. 30 minutes later, they finally responded (there was no one else waiting, otherwise I probably would have rung the bell again).
As usual, the older man is in charge, but doesn't seem to have a clue. He spends most of the time looking confused as to what my request is about, while the young woman does all the actual work. Part of the process involves taking my fingerprints; there is a plexiglass shield that separates us, so they can't come around and do the fingerprinting, so they shove an inkpad and the paperwork through the document slot and tell me I have to fingerprint myself. Has anyone ever tried to fingerprint themselves? Doing the index finger, the middle finger, little finger, and thumb is actually pretty easy, but doing the ring finger is a pain in the A$$.
My question upon leaving is, this is the Japanese Embassy, Japan is one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world. Electronic and computer technology is released there at least a year before it reaches North America and Europe. Why are they still using inkpads and paper to do fingerprints when the rest of the world is using digital scanning technology?