I have applied for my Japanese visa! It’s scary how I can tick off all these little things on my mental checklist before Japan, and each one brings me a bit closer to going. Leave my job. Check. Apply for visa. Check. Next on the list is to apply for my Takase Scholarship! But anyway, I’m just a few lines in and already digressing, so let’s get back on topic; my visa application!
So to apply for a Japanese Student Visa, you will need the following;
· A Visa Application Form (available online or at the embassy)
· Certificate of Eligibility (authorised after passing the required modules at your home university, then issued directly by the Japanese government)
· Letter of Acceptance from the Japanese university to which you applied
· Photocopies of the Certificate of Eligibility and Letter of Acceptance
· Passport
· One Passport Photo
· £43 (cash only)
Besides those I also took a pre-paid, self-addressed special delivery envelope so that they could post it back to me. You can either go back to the embassy in person to pick it up, or do what I did if you live too far away from London to do that. You get to the embassy, and after an airport-style security check (including showing them your passport) at the front door, you go through into a waiting area, and take a ticket with a number on it. You wait for your number to come up on the screen, and then go to the specified counter where someone checks that everything’s in order and takes payment. Very easy! I applied on Tuesday, and it should all be processed by Friday, and sent out the same day, so I should receive it on Saturday morning!
So I took the 9:45 train from Leeds to London Kings Cross, which arrived just before 12 o’clock. In the station I then bought a day ticket for the zones 1 & 2 of the underground, before going a few stops on the Piccadilly line to Green Park. From Green Park station it’s just a two-minute walk down to the Japanese Embassy. From the front of the building hangs a big Japanese flag, which was quite useful considering I don’t know my way around London! I could see the flag from the station! I forgot to take a photo outside the embassy, so here’s one of Natasha Clancey there a few days ago ;) Oh, and yes, she really did wear a Hooters top to a serious government institution.
I happened to bump into Leeds students Amanda Brown and Paul Farquharson whilst I was in the embassy; I was wondering whether anyone I knew would happen to be there at the same time as me!
After all that I met up with Joe Holloway, who I’ve only seen a couple of times since we both left school (we both went to Bradford Grammar). Despite some confusion as to which station we were meeting in, we eventually met up outside Charing Cross, near Trafalgar Square. We walked up to Covent Garden for a spot of lunch, as Joe knew of a chain of restaurants called Fire & Stone. Apparently it’s a southern chain, which specialises in pizzas with unusual toppings from around the world. Have a look at the menu on their website here. I had the ‘Lombok’ – seriously tasty! And only £4.95 at lunchtime! I'd never have thought hoi sin sauce would go with a pizza- but it did! I guess it’s because there was no tomato sauce on the pizza base or something. Joe had the ‘Marrakech’, which he clearly enjoyed;
After all that I met up with Joe Holloway, who I’ve only seen a couple of times since we both left school (we both went to Bradford Grammar). Despite some confusion as to which station we were meeting in, we eventually met up outside Charing Cross, near Trafalgar Square. We walked up to Covent Garden for a spot of lunch, as Joe knew of a chain of restaurants called Fire & Stone. Apparently it’s a southern chain, which specialises in pizzas with unusual toppings from around the world. Have a look at the menu on their website here. I had the ‘Lombok’ – seriously tasty! And only £4.95 at lunchtime! I'd never have thought hoi sin sauce would go with a pizza- but it did! I guess it’s because there was no tomato sauce on the pizza base or something. Joe had the ‘Marrakech’, which he clearly enjoyed;
After lunch we got the tube up to Camden. The canal was, um, green.
Camden’s not as good as I remember if I’m honest :( I suppose it would still be good at night and not during the summer holidays, but it was just absolutely packed full of loud American tourists, bratty kids and tacky tat! It had a few pretty bits still, however! It was about 28 degrees and humid by this time, and we were preeeetty toasty, so we decided to go and sit by the canal.
We then went to Cyberdog, which was interesting…I headed downstairs and was freaked out (those of you who know the place will sympathise, anyone else should look at their website). Let’s just say, I got a chance to practice my Japanese reading with some of the products for sale downstairs.
After wondering round Camden for a bit, Joe had to go for an interview at Embankment, and I had to get back to Kings Cross, so after going to Covent Garden again for a while, we both walked our separate ways; Joe on to Embankment, and I walked back to Charing Cross to have another look at a statue of Oscar Wilde which had tickled me that morning.
After gradually getting hotter and hotter walking around London all day, it was nice to get back on the air conditioned train back to Leeds, which arrived (slightly late) back at 9:35.
So there’s the story of my trip to London to get a visa! Hopefully it was of some help if you are going to Japan and haven’t yet got your visa…it was a simple procedure, apart from having to get to the other end of the country that is!
In other news, I’ve done some more on the side bar of my blog; I’ve added links to the blogs of other people from the University of Leeds who will be in Japan at the same time as me, as well as the links of some good websites relating to my blog and Japan! Oh, and have a look at the map I’ve got! It’s been exiting (sad, I know) seeing how many people from all over the world have been visiting my blog! Any flashing stars on the map are users viewing my blog at the moment. Also, it’s now even easier to follow my blog (heh)! I’d really appreciate it if you’d follow me, which you can do by clicking the ‘Join this site’ tab on the right side bar. You can do it not only with a Blogger account, but with a standard Google one, as well as a few others.
That’s all for now, please stay tuned!
James
