Home Despot deported

[igor]

[Charles]

The moral of the story is, you cannot live in Japan for a year and rent an apartment on a 90 day tourist visa.

[omae mona]

Sad to see a creative and amusing voice being stifled. I liked reading his stuff occasionally. But I gotta say - WHAT AN IDIOT. If he substituted even 25% of his anger with common sense, he wouldn't be getting thrown out of the country now. From reading his latest posts, it looks to me like he's got a rather unique idea of how laws work (and why they exist).

[Taro Toporific]

[maninjapan]

I assume the bloke has friends in the US why not ship stuff to their house?

[Charles]

I assume the bloke has friends in the US why not ship stuff to their house?

That's what storage facilities are for.

[jim katta]

I went to the link and all I saw was info about the sale, nothing about his situation. I explored the site, but if you've been there, you know how useless that is.

Can someone give us the short hand version of this guy's story? What happened?

[Taro Toporific]

[igor]

Well I just went there for the pictures - the
men of cosplay page was hilarious... if somewhat scary. Go on. Halfway down you'll get the interesting pics. My fave is the schmoo.

So he's buggering off and having drinkies, jammies and whatever. Pity I've got other stuff this weekend...

[Big Booger]

Wacky guy. Bon Voyage. Gone till November.

[American Oyaji]

I read his tale of woe.

While I do feel for him, he shoulda applied himself to finding a way to stay in country long before now.

BTW, English teaching schools DO hire within the country. He said they don't.

However, it's easiest to get in if it is a new branch opening up. I got into NOVA in Hachinohe because it was a remote school and they wanted people with stability so me and my mate Mick both got hired on.

[jim katta]

Thanks Taro!

Hmm, so this guy actually did the fabled Tourist Visa Dance of Death™ that so many gaijin whisper about. Well, despite his f-ck up, he did get 1.5 years of mileage out of it. The big question I'm wondering about is how long did the decide to ban him from entering the country?

Also, it's kind of odd that this happened, because unless he was partying non-stop, there's a couple of way to get a visa in japan if you are really desperate (quicky marriage to some fugly desperate gaijin-loving nerd chick, teach school in a remote area no other gaijin will touch, etc.). Neither of those things are great choices, but if you're "really" desperate to stay...

[jim katta]

Wow! I just read all his posts related to the deportation. I really think FG should make a sticky post/FAQ of this, because this guy has gone through a lot of what people wanting to come to Japan always ask about (regarding visa problems). He made all the right mistakes!

Reading the story I'm left with two impressions.

1. If he had really thought about how precarious his situation was earlier (as in, right after he first got into the country), it sounds like he could have found a fairly easy way to stay by going to school. Face it, Japanese immigration basically gave this guy a YEAR to get his visa sh-t together, and he pissed it away. I can feel no sympathy for the guy.

2. While, I have no sympathy for the guy given what I now know, I don't think it should be this hard for someone to simply stay in a country when you are a citizen of a friend nation (i.e. US to UK to JAPAN, etc.). I understand that if there weren't strong rules, countries would be over-run with immigrants, but I think if you come from a rich country, that should count for something when it comes time to decide on your visa status. Eh, well, I guess that's where the 3 month free pass visa comes in, but still...

It's amazing that simply moving to another land is fraught with so many complications.

On the bright side, for all you rogues, this guy's story would seem to indicate that if he could squeeze a year and a half out of the 3 month visa, it seems like 9 months might be a lock. If you can't find your way into a visa in 9 months, you should probably go home anyway.

[Taro Toporific]

...On the bright side, for all you rogues, this guy's story would seem to indicate that if he could squeeze a year and a half out of the 3 month visa, it seems like 9 months might be a lock. If you can't find your way into a visa in 9 months, you should probably go home anyway.

Has anybody here done the "Korean Visa Run" recently? Back in the dark ages, to switch from a tourist visa to work visa, you had to leave Japan to apply for a work visa. I hear rumors that leaving Japan is not necessary. Has anybody done the switch from a tourist visa to work visa while remaining in Japan in the past year?

[dimwit]

... teach school in a remote area no other gaijin will touch...

But somehow the Mugi Damage Report just isn't as catchy.

[turkhunter]

I was very close to going to korea to change my passport status but my korean friend backed out at the last sec. So I had to go to LA to change my visa from the 90 day to a student visa, then I got back to tokyo just to find out from sophia that they could have somehow done it without me leaving saying;" we do it all the time", when only 3 weeks earlier everyone and their brother told me I had to leave.

[GomiGirl]

He stayed in Japan for more than 1.5 years by renewing a 90-day tourist visa (while occasionally working illegally):violin: .

Actually I don't think he was working at all.

I met him a few times for coffee a while ago and he was independantly wealthy and had enough money in the bank not to worry about working for many many years. He was quite frugal in his lifestyle and devoted his time to the "study" of Japanese underground culture. He did try for many types of visa's such as cultural etc but the "study" he was doing was not deemed worthy of a visa which is usually only given to people for tea ceremony, Ikebana and other traditional arts. I think immigration were just put off by the blue hair and the non-conformist in him. He had a student visa but thought the Japanese school he was enrolled in was a waste of his time and studied Japanese on his own and felt this was a better use of his time.

But I guess the assumption was that he was working illegally eventhough he wasn't. I gave him a few options (start a company, free lance, journalists visa) and I even put him in contact with a laywer or two but we are not in contact anymore and I am not sure what he decided to do. A nice guy and I am sorry that he was not able to sort out something in order to stay.

[Taro Toporific]

Actually I don't think he was working at all..... I gave him a few options (start a company, free lance, journalists visa) and I even put him in contact with a laywer or two but we are not in contact anymore and I am not sure what he decided to do. A nice guy and I am sorry that he was not able to sort out something in order to stay.

Of course we all loved funny and talented writing of Steve aka "HomeDespot." but being deported is Nature's way of telling you it's time to leave Japan.

His Japanese visa problems were a lot like his Japanese girlfriend problems.

Justin of http://www.Links.net described his visa fun in very similar situation to Steve's but with a much better resolution.

foreign in Japan:
j o u r n a l i s t 's
v i s a
August 2001:
When I planned to move to Tokyo for a year, I figured I would need permission from the Japanese government to reside in that country. Sure I could come and go on the flexible 90 day tourist visas, like most of the footloose reporters and business people I know. But what if I was caught and questioned by the police after a street art performance? What if I am coming and going from Korea to renew my visa, and they detain me at the border or ask me to return to Korea? That would make renting an apartment in Tokyo an expensive waste....
...So I set about getting a visa to live in Japan for one year. It's immediately apparent the the process, at least from the Japanese perspective, is designed to prove that you are affiliated and upstanding. Affiliated - some company or established group is sending you as a representative...
Turns out "freelance" is a tough legitimate claim to have. It's a strange status - freelance writer - by nature there are few affiliations. ...more....

[Charles]

Justin of http://www.Links.net described his visa fun in very similar situation to Steve's but with a much better resolution.

Well that was a very odd story. If I read it correctly, Justin went to all the trouble to get a 1 year journalist's visa and then left the country after only 2 months. Seems like he could have gotten by on a tourist visa.

[Taro Toporific]

Well that was a very odd story. If I read it correctly, Justin went to all the trouble to get a 1 year journalist's visa and then left the country after only 2 months. Seems like he could have gotten by on a tourist visa.

The rest-of-the-story was that Justin got a scholarship to do a masters at University of Southern California School of Cinema-Television and that's a lot better than being a freelance anything in Tokyo.

Blogging
.....Justin Hall, who began eleven years of personal "blogging" in 1994 while a student at Swarthmore College, is generally recognized as one of the earliest bloggers....

(No, I'm not his friend of Justin or a stalker. He went to school with my cousin in Chicago and Justin's family lived in the neighborhood.)

[Greji]

(No, I'm not his friend of Justin or a stalker. He went to school with my cousin in Chicago and Justin's family lived in the neighborhood.)

Maxwell Street?
:cool:

[Taro Toporific]

Maxwell Street?

Nope, the near Northside.

[Greji]

Nope, the near Northside.

Be that a lesson to you. Do not mess with the boys from Sportsman's Park and the Fremont Hotel, or you get served the fish!

[Charles]

Deported AGAIN.

6/08- bad news.

I'm leaving Japan for awhile. The Visa Ministry will be conducting one of their periodic investigations of my crimes and subversive activities, and if they decide to let me back in, then I'll have a party and you're all invited. Until then, I will be living in America, continuing to study Nihongo, and updating my Kanji website periodically.

[American Oyaji]

What happened this time? I thought he was good?

[GomiGirl]

I just ran into Mr Damage Report on the street tonight... not half an hour ago. I was heading home from playing with my nephew and he was just walking down the same street... lives in the same neighbourhood with his wife.

He is looking really well and is now a daddy to a 16 month year old boy.

So obviously not deported any longer but here for good. He was looking for somewhere that has baby street fighting classes so the kid can get some "madd street skillz" in order to fuck up any kid who tries to mess with him at school as a bi-racial kid. (his words) But he is ensuring that the kid is getting good exposure to the "classics" - Motorhead etc but it is hard to find a day care that will share his tastes in music for toddlers.

But I am sure that any kid with a cool attitude as I am sure that any kid of Steves will be, will have no problem with other kids..