Preparations

Lately, I have been busy preparing all sorts of stuff. For example, I went to the immigration office in Kyoto to get my visa extended. One hour later and 4000 yen poorer, I had an extra stamp in my passport, allowing me to stay yet another 90 days. The stamp, however, bears the extra note “Final Extension”, so I have marked that date on my calender so as not to forget it. Overstaying a visa is not a light issue, I have read that if the authorities have to force you out, you are not allowed to land in Japan for the following 5 years, and if you go on your own, it’s still one year. Not that I’m having plans like this, of course…

Having extended my visa means that I have some more time to find a job. I have taken one step in the right direction and registered for the next JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test – the same test that I failed last time 😉 ) which will take place in December. If you want to take the test in Japan, you can register online and pay per creditcard, all very straightforward. I just hope they didn’t expect my address to be written in Kanji…

Anyway, this means I’ll have a lot to do – studying of course, mainly Kanji and vocabulary. Grammar is limited and I’m quite confident I will manage this, but I always found learning words so incredibly boring…