00:02 John Daub: Hello everybody, greetings from Tokyo, Shinagawa Ward. That right there is where you would go to renew your visa or residency here in Japan. That's the Tokyo Regional Immigration Services Bureau. There's a lot of words in there. How you doing everybody?

00:35 John Daub: So every now and then residents of Japan have to go and renew their visas, work statuses, whatever. It doesn't even matter if you've eijūken (permanent residency). You gotta come and renew your stuff every now and then.

01:00 John Daub: And for me, I don't like to talk too much about visa statuses because it's something that everybody has here. But the point is, if you're a YouTuber and you're here in Japan making money, technically, you should have a work visa here. So all those people that are coming here and making money videoing in Japan, you need a work visa. Just like entertainers need a work visa here to do the job. Just saying, that's probably what they're going to be asking that guy in prison.

01:40 John Daub: And that's the funny thing about this place because it looks very much like a prison. Let me just show you where I am here. And I'm going to talk about the process and things that have changed quite a bit. Every time I come here, which is not every year, thank goodness, I have to learn about the changes in the process. That's the regional immigration bureau. Tell me that doesn't look like a prison, okay?

02:15 John Daub: It's on an island, which is separated from Shinagawa Station. I'm going to show you how to get here. I come by bicycle because I live pretty centrally. It's about a 20-minute bike ride. But if you're going to be coming from Shinagawa Station by bus to this point and the bus lets you off right in front of the Tokyo Regional Immigration Bureau and let me pull out here see that bridge on the right that straight one that's the one the bus comes across and there's Shinagawa Station just across from the river there.

02:55 John Daub: I'm gonna go 3D mode right here. The cost for visa extension I think it's like three or four thousand yen but the application to turn it in is free and it is not a visa renewal so to speak it's a visa extension.

03:15 John Daub: All right so you have to think of it like this it's kind of different than I don't know maybe it's the same this is where the bus leaves from Shinagawa Station let's go through this building here so I believe this is the east exit um you can see those loads of those lines of buses are all going to the immigration well I think 90% of them are they line up in the morning it's quite a bit it's the Shinagawa east exit there I think.

03:50 John Daub: I'm pulling off from there maybe you got a glimpse of that and it takes you I don't know like a seven- or eight-minute bus ride. It's kind of intimidating for Japanese because most of the people getting on that bus are westerners are not Japanese so you get a bunch of foreigners from all over the world sometimes those foreigners aren't smiling and look quite intimidating I don't know why they're not smiling you're going to the immigration bureau why wouldn't you smile.

04:30 John Daub: All right let me talk a little bit about the process what has changed the biggest since the pandemic and I did have to come here last time in the middle of the pandemic um and that was uncomfortable because they had lots of long lines like people triple-masking it's not the cleanest place in the world but look let me put it to you like this the staff does the best that they possibly can they're understaffed in there but they get the job done eventually but it's not entirely clean and I think it just has the fact that cultures from around the world are going in there there's some people who don't know how to use a western toilet let's just say and that I'm just saying I've discovered things in this building that no one ever should.

05:30 John Daub: All right the process has gone online all right this is kind of the cool thing so if you can somehow I'm not even sure I think you need a Windows computer because I wasn't able to do it the fit this is a website I'm not sure if you can find it on the website but I put a link in the description it looks so 1990s because they didn't have websites in the 1980s it tells you the flow of operation it's got this weird font on it there's a link there that you can click a QR code which is pretty modern and then just follow the directions and I think if you have a Windows computer or something I don't know why I couldn't do it online but you can make a reservation online.

06:30 John Daub: I'm going to talk to you a little bit about what I saw by doing this the process is it's a little bit more complicated than you might think it should be easy and it's not so what I did next is it takes you to this website here where all you got to do is follow the flow right but the thing is um I can't even get past step one I put my email address in and the email never came even like 72 hours later I'm still waiting for the email so sometimes it doesn't work but I think by the time that you're watching this you are going to get it.

07:20 John Daub: What it did was this okay let me show you a picture of the immigration here so the bus here's the bus cut here's what the bus that'll bring you here and uh it drops you off right in front of the immigration come before 8:30 come early. They let people in at 8:30. They don't tell you that. It's not on the Google thing. But if you get here at 8:15, you're in the front of the line, you're out before nine, if you can even believe it if you're applying.

08:00 John Daub: And if you're waiting to pick up a visa, or visa extension to get your passport, they accept your passport, and then you have to wait until they put the stamp in. So that takes a little bit of time. I believe that's the process. Here's the bus that came in.

08:30 John Daub: So I want to show you what's happened that's changed here. First of all, the building doesn't look like a prison. Second, all these lines are from the morning because people were lined up and filling it. But when you enter, they check your bag really quickly, which is probably good for safety. And those with the reservation on the right side, and if you don't have one, you're in that long line on the left side with the barrier there.

09:10 John Daub: But when I came, it didn't really matter because not a lot of people know about that online reservation system here I'm panning around. There's really not a lot in this area. You can walk from Shinagawa Station, it just takes about 35 minutes. I've done that a couple of times, way in the past.

09:40 John Daub: If you are a resident of Tokyo, you also have the option to go to Tachikawa. And it is a little bit more laid back there. But don't make no mistake, you're probably gonna have to wait there as well. And there's just way more staff here. If you're in the area, I think it might be worth it just to get it done and just come to Shinagawa. But you're gonna have to make that call. Everybody who comes here and lives in Japan has to make that call.

10:20 John Daub: They'll tell you if you live in the 23 wards of Tokyo, which is most people, you got to come to Shinagawa Immigration. I mean, it kind of looks like a nice building, I guess. I mean, maybe. What do you think in the comments below? Would you want to stay here? This is where the detention center is too, if you're getting deported. So that's your, yeah, it's not the greatest place in the world. But it is what it is. It is the Tokyo Regional Immigration Services Bureau. And that's where you get the visas.

11:10 John Daub: So I'm bringing you a little bit more information here, as I always hope this is useful to you. Foreign nationals with the following residential statuses are permitted to work in Japan. And this is the thing here. If you're a YouTuber, and you're monetizing your videos, you need a work visa to really do that here.

11:50 John Daub: Now, is anyone going to check? Not really. But are you working? If you're making a video in Japan, you are. Technically, this is anywhere in the world. And I think eventually, Japan is going to see this, and they're going to start checking people who are filming on the streets. I mean, if YouTube is your job, and you're making money from it. I mean, you're making money from it. But you're not going to be working in Japan illegally, right?

12:30 John Daub: And I say this, as somebody who works in Japan legally, give me a call if you're coming here. Maybe I'll collaborate. I don't know. But you need to have a work visa. Seriously, you can get in trouble for it. I have seen people checked their ID outside, the police will do random checks every now and then.

13:00 John Daub: And by the way, I got a report from a viewer who was going back to Narita Airport yesterday. I forget who it was, because I get a bunch of messages. I want to say thank you for the report here. They said that because there was a YouTuber that was trying to freeload and get rides and eat free food, was riding the Shinkansen (bullet train) for free. They kicked him off and then he went into another Shinkansen and tried to ride for free. You wouldn't do that anywhere. Okay, it's a stupid. It's actually a law. It's actually criminal.

13:50 John Daub: They started to check the bathrooms and then check randomly people's tickets on trains, I guess, non-Japanese. And this is the report. And I'm not going to lie. This is just how Japan kind of clamps down or approaches the situation whenever somebody breaks the law or does something bad. They come down hard.

14:30 John Daub: And now I think for a while we're going to have these random checks and bathroom searches on trains, because, you know, fool me once. Shame on you. Fool me twice. Shame on me. Type of stuff. These people on YouTube and TikTok and all the other places that are breaking the law openly, they deserve to go to prison.

15:10 John Daub: Right and that includes like I don't want to say it but if you're making money off of your videos visiting Japan Japan is quite tolerant and this is why it hurts people who come to Japan to film and they're doing good stuff people who aren't it really hurts because if you don't have the documents to do it then you're really breaking the law and Japan could crack down on this.

15:50 John Daub: Residential statuses in order for you to work now residential status is permitted to work in any type of industry permanent residence spouse or child of a Japanese national spouse or child of a permanent resident and long-term resident long-term resident if you've been getting a work visa for a very long time you've been here for a long time you can apply for a long-term resident and that is a change of status and that's not a visa renewal or visa extension that takes some time.

16:40 John Daub: All right that takes some time I've had to change the status of my visa once in my life I won't tell you what I changed it to again my status of residence or visa is not none of your business but uh it is harder to do that when you change the status of your visa.

17:10 John Daub: So for those of you that are planning to extend your visas it is usually a formality um if you have the paperwork which usually includes having uh um you need your jūminhyō (residency certificate) um you need your tax certificates like there's a checklist on here you really don't need me to tell you how to apply because you're probably watching just how to get to Shinagawa but you need to have the tax certificates um they want to make sure that you paid your taxes.

17:50 John Daub: They used to make you show if you had paid your health insurance they don't do that anymore because they found that that was unconstitutional or something so they don't ask for that but there was one year where they asked for it which that was funny.

18:20 John Daub: A lot of people don't though because they don't need it. They feel like they don't go to the hospital so they don't pay and they're foreign residents so they don't want to pay into the system. There's a lot of people who do that. The health insurance system here is not good. There's more older people not paying into it than people paying into it so it's running a deficit.

19:00 John Daub: Anyway, you have to bring all that paperwork here, the documents. I want to point out one thing. This is really important before I share this list again. Online there are a ton of old documents. Every year for a long time they didn't really renew it but they've renewed the documents and the documents that I had to do were changed and this made me feel quite uncomfortable because I like to come with all the documentations already completed.

19:50 John Daub: They used to ask for your work history and all this stuff. I was given these two documents and it didn't have any information on it. I'm like, who is this man? I mean and the guy didn't even help me so I'm like, did I get out of line and research this? I'm not sure. What do I put here? He just took the document. I'm like, okay so I might have to come back again and fill stuff out. I just don't know but if he accepts the documentations, usually that means that you filled it out correctly.

20:50 John Daub: I don't know but the thing is that an extension on what you have is a formality. If you change the purpose of your extension, then it's not. And this takes some time. So let me go into this a little bit more as the hydrogen fuel cell bus passes us. It's just so cool.

21:20 John Daub: Residential status is permitted to work. So I told you those foreigners having one of the above residential statuses is completely free to engage in any type of activity that's legal. They are free to do any type of job and also to change. I might be in this category. I'm not going to tell you. And yes, I cannot say yes or no.

22:00 John Daub: Residential status with which people are permitted to work within a certain type of job. Now we're getting into the nitty gritty. If you're a professor, artist, religious activity, journalist, investor, business manager, legal accountant, services, researcher, instructor, engineer, specialist in humanities, international services, entertainment, all this other stuff, you have to work within your industry.

22:50 John Daub: So if you're a YouTuber within your industry, you might be able to get away with it. Specialist in the humanities, international services would potentially work for YouTube, but so would entertainer. And that makes the gray area. So like what kind of YouTube are you doing?

23:30 John Daub: All right. So this is all like it. Trust me, it's relevant. All right. It's relevant as people finish their visa process and start to cross the street to the bus. You do have to cross the street to get to the bus. It's a lot of people. They process so many people. And there's the bus. The hydrogen bus over there. They process a lot of people here.

24:10 John Daub: Any questions about this? I've been in Japan 25 years from this year. I've had to come and renew my visa. Well, I was in Tokyo every time I did it here, but I've had to do it in other prefectures. When I lived in Okazaki in Aichi-ken, I had to go to Nagoya and that required a half a day because it was an hour and 45 minutes to get to Nagoya and then there's the waiting time and then I had to get back. So it was a good like half day.

25:00 John Daub: Usually I'd make the most of it. Go to Hard Rock Cafe to get some nachos and hamburgers because there was only McDonald's and Hard Rock Cafe back then in order to get a good burger, if you can call that good. Didn't have a lot of choices back then. So it is much easier in smaller towns and cities. Absolutely.

25:40 John Daub: I think Nagoya, the bigger cities, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka, I think there's going to be some wait. But Tokyo, of course, has the vast majority of internationals that are living here. So it does take. I was here for a good five or six hours a couple of times. So when you come makes a big difference.

26:20 John Daub: Let me put it to you like this. I had to prepare all the forms. I waited in line. I think it was like number 200. So I waited in line. I realized that 150 people, 75 percent are not here for applications. They're here for like some other reason. I'm not sure. Interviews or something. Refugee status. I'm not sure.

27:00 John Daub: A couple of people were staring at me like with these blank stares like Dracula. I guess it's somewhat intimidating for me to stand in line. I typically will smile at people and wave. Nobody waves back. If you're staring at me, I'm going to smile and wave it. This is what you're going to get. If I see this. I said hello. You get nothing back here when you do that. What are you? Where are you from? What are you here for? You know, probably something that's not good. Maybe. I don't know.

27:50 John Daub: But nobody was none of the foreigners are really that friendly here. They're not your typical crew. I don't know someone. Again, it's like the bus here. Very intimidating for Japanese residents. And I've gotten reports from Japanese that live in Shinagawa Ward that have to come on the bus. They hate taking this bus because it's just filled with all sorts of weird people. Don't know. Put it out there. Just put it out there.

28:40 John Daub: Any other questions? So to sum up online applications come at 8:30 or before you'll get in. My application process took five minutes. I was done before nine. I can get on my bicycle and I can go home. I usually well before I used to go to Shinagawa Station. Usually. I eat at the Dean & DeLuca coffee shop, which they have in New York City. And they had Thai green curry doughnuts like a curry pond. It was Thai green curry. They're really good. I don't know if they have that anymore.

29:40 John Daub: And now since I moved downtown, I don't go to Dean & DeLuca either. Dean & DeLuca. I'm not even sure how you say it. Scotty writes in here. I'll be in Shibuya tonight. Well, good for you. I will not. I'm not going to go to Halloween. Are you crazy?

30:20 John Daub: Last night I was going to do a midnight snack run. But I forgot. My key. I locked myself out of the house and I had to wait for Kanae to come home. Or Kanae's dad came and let me in. This is a true story. This is a true story. I forgot my key. So the good thing was that while I was waiting for Kanae's key.

31:00 John Daub: There's a Shin concept. We had to stop in at a restaurant that had robots and Leo because I was walking Leo. We had to go get more diapers. Leo got to enjoy his Sunday treat. This is you get locked out of the house and get an ice cream treat. Don't blame dad and grandpa came with the key right there and I was able to get back in the house and give Leo a bath.

31:40 John Daub: But don't forget your key. I only forget the key because I gave the key to Leo and Leo hid the key and I forgot that I didn't have my key when I had to leave suddenly. But our food was delivered by robot, which is pretty cool. Welcome to Tokyo. I just realized that this is the Shinkansen track here that goes by. So there's stuff to look at. Wow trucks. Happy Halloween. John Lopez.

32:30 John Daub: All right. Anything any questions here? Did you have a good shopping day? Yeah, I don't even know if you're talking to me. Tim Hortons mostly chocolate maple stuff. Do they have a Tim Hortons at Shinagawa Station? They got a lot of neat restaurants in there. You know Saka. I usually take around three hours for everything something a little sometimes a little bit longer depending on how many people are already waiting.

33:20 John Daub: Right in Fernando. Yeah, you know, that's a good I'm glad that you wrote about that because I think Osaka is going to be just as busy as Tokyo. Maybe not quite but all comes down to this. Can you wake up early? Can you get here at 8:30 or before come here by 8:15? You'll be finished very early. Come here after 9 when it says it's open and you will be here until after lunch and get and listen.

34:10 John Daub: Take this from 12 to 1. They're bureaucrats. They take off lunch so nothing happens and you also have to wait for one hour as they eat their lunch. Why because they can because they're immigration officers reminds me of I should have played on his own. I should have gotten the Weird Al's Dracula song for this. Maybe I'll play it because there's a scene where I come in the night at the airport and Dracula has to go through immigration. I even forget how the song goes but it was viewed a million times like before YouTube on iTunes. So I was a big deal back then on iTunes not on YouTube.

35:10 John Daub: Bureaucrats always do their number twos on the taxpayers dime. Yes, they do. Is there a Starbucks in Tokyo? There are too many Starbucks in Tokyo. I remember these robots. They were that was for directions. Just. I came to Japan on vacation. But first I have to go through immigration. Yeah. Face our nose it. Yeah.

36:00 John Daub: I don't know if there's a Dracula emoji but I will put that in for those that are travelers. So thanks everybody for signing up as a channel member. You get a little emoji. All right. From now on I'm going to cross the street and I'm going to take you and show you the sign of immigration. So let's go and do this. It's for science.

36:40 John Daub: So that bicycles on the other side. And my bicycle keys. I did not forget it. So the ground looks like. So the bus stop is right there. Right here. And then you can go straight in. It's literally right in the front. They block off. That's interesting. So when I first came this was open. In the morning. But they close out at nine. They close out at nine thirty. And then you can get in.

37:30 John Daub: Okay. So here's the building on the other side. And then you can see the exterior of it. It looks very very institutional right. It looks very institutional. And there's a security camera looking at me too. She's okay. And you can see the stairwells. There's all sorts of stuff going on in there. There's a mailbox. There's a convenience store in there.

38:20 John Daub: And when you do come to pick up your visa. You're going to have to go to the FamilyMart. And you have to get like a 4000 yen stamp. To complete the process on pickup. You also fill in your own postcard. Which they send to you when the application is ready. And then that's how you know to come and get your passport back. They could do it by email. But they do it by post. Which probably makes a lot of sense. But there's a FamilyMart inside. So you can get some food. Yeah. It's actually quite a big FamilyMart.

39:20 John Daub: But if you don't like FamilyMart. You can go across the street. There's a Lawson's over there. I kind of did wave at the camera. Yoda master person. Yeah. They could be because of the earthquakes. Japan has a lot of buildings that are earthquake proof. But you know. They're buildings. They look the same. You know. They're not the same.

40:10 John Daub: My friend Dan from Utah came. A couple days ago. And he mentioned the architecture. And the buildings here in Tokyo. And how unique that they are. I think that's the same as every city. But for me. I'm used to it. I live here. So it's not so special. Well it is special. But it's not like this like special. Because I've never been in Japan special.

41:00 John Daub: All right. There's my bike. You can see that's where Leo sits. And dad has got to go home. So. There you go. There's a Lawson's over there. You can get some snacks. Or take a break. Or get away from people. And I've been here too. It's a port store. That's the Lawson's. Because we're at the Shinagawa port. Pretty much.

41:50 John Daub: All right. If you have any questions. You can leave them in the comments below. I will try to look in. For the first couple of days. I know that a lot of you might have questions. But if you're thinking about getting a work visa. To come here to Japan. And you're watching this for information. I'm sorry. I don't have a lot of help for you.

42:40 John Daub: I get email messages. From. Every year. I get emails. I probably get about a thousand messages. From people. Asking me to help them get a work visa. To come here. Usually from countries in Asia. Sometimes from the US. I'm not going to help you to come here. That's your job. I don't have any jobs to give you.

43:30 John Daub: And you need to get a COE. A certificate of eligibility. From somebody inside Japan. You need to take that to your embassy. And apply outside of Japan. For a work visa. The embassy stamps this. And gives you the visa to come in. You're going to get a plane ticket. To come to Japan. And you enter with a work visa. And you get a card. That's a residence card. That allows you. To get a phone. To rent a house. To do everything else. That you need to do here. Because now you're a resident of Japan.

44:40 John Daub: All right. So you need a job in Japan. Right back in the chat. I'm not going to give you a job. What did I just tell you? I'm not giving. I'm not. I'm not like. You know. A PEZ dispenser. All right. I know stuff. A lot of stuff. But I'm not going to. You know. Give stuff. That I don't have to give. That's a job. You're going to have to find that. You know.

45:40 John Daub: If you want to. The easiest way to get into Japan. Is as an English teacher. All right. I'll give you this advice. If you come into Japan. If you speak English. English teacher is the easiest way. Because you're. There's a lot of jobs. And it's a. It's an easy visa to get. Specialist in the humanities. And international services.

46:30 John Daub: The reason. Why that's a good visa. Is because. International services. Is so broad. If you did change. Oh. The Shin content. Bullet train. Bullet train. All right. Now we got that out of the way. So if you. If you are coming. That's a good visa to get. Because. If you're going to change. The status of your visa. It's very hard. You're basically. Redoing the entire process. Again.

47:30 John Daub: If you are. Extending. It's. If you're extending. An existing visa. It's a lot. Easier. And even if you're changing. Employers. As long as you stay. Within your category. It's. Fairly. Easy.

48:10 John Daub: There's also the question of. Can you sponsor yourself. For a work visa. The question. The answer is. You don't need a sponsor. For a work visa. If you're extending. You need. Proof. That you can make. Enough money. And you are making. Enough money. To stay. Because it's an extension. It's not a new visa. So. If you have contracts. Bring them. For the visa extension. And that explains the story.

49:10 John Daub: If. The other one is the actual certificates. From the city hall. That tells how many taxes. How much tax you paid. You have to bring that. The current one. And that tells the story. So they know exactly. How much you'd make. And what you're doing. And you can. You can get away with a. Kind of a gray area extension. With last year's tax forms. But you can't do it for two years.

50:00 John Daub: And if you don't have a job. You should leave Japan. Legally. You shouldn't be here. When the job finishes. I'm talking to all you JETs out there. If you're in the JET program. Or NOVA teachers. You should be. Not be in the country anymore. Okay. Because you finished your job. They should be giving you a ride to the airport. And shipping you off. That's the proper thing to do.

50:50 John Daub: So start looking for your job. Before your job ends. It says. That's basically what I'm telling you. If you have a college degree. Apply for the JET program. Easy peasy. Saya. I did that. In 1998. The JET program was ultra. Competitive. And I failed. To get in. Imagine me. Failing. At JET program. They wouldn't accept me.

51:50 John Daub: Now if you entered. At. Now the next year. After 1998. They started to accept anybody. And they're like. Anybody's parents too. Could come. So the. Obviously. The. The quality of JET. Went down. But when I went to the Washington DC. Embassy. First of all. Getting an interview. Was really hard. I had to go to Washington DC. For an interview.

52:50 John Daub: Then they sat me down. In the center of the room. And three. Old. Japanese gentlemen. I'm guessing the gentlemen. They were wearing suits. One of them. Reeked of tobacco. Sat me in a chair. In the middle of the room. Very intimidating. Asked me. Random questions. Sometimes. I'm not sure. Why they asked me.

53:40 John Daub: Then one. That stumped me. Was like. Why do you want to go to Japan? I. Hadn't really thought about that. Believe it or not. I was like. Then I said. Well. I. I know. That Japan. Is a very influential. Place in the world. That's where a lot of. The. Stuff is manufactured. And made.

54:30 John Daub: And I. Also remember. I saw the movie. You Only Live Twice. Don't quote James Bond movies. On a reason. Why you want to come to Japan. I told them. I wanted to try. Japanese sake. At the correct temperature. 103. Fahrenheit. Or whatever. Sean Connery said. I knew the lines better.

55:20 John Daub: I was like. I'm not going to be. Coming close. So I. I. Had to come in through. Another. English teaching program. Where. For Aeon. Which is one of the. Gaba's. And I'm kind of glad that I did. Because. I learned about Japanese corporations. I learned how businesses work. And I didn't have to work at some stinky school in the countryside.

56:20 John Daub: Instead. I had to work at a stinky school in the suburbs. And it wasn't a school. It was a business. It was hard work. But I liked it. And I worked at the headquarters for. Seven years. Six years. After my first year. I was. I was a. Honsha staff. I got to travel around. Moving every couple of months.

57:10 John Daub: Which gives me the knowledge that I have. Of Japan. It's a little bit more knowledge than maybe. Some of you. Maybe. Just some of you might. Know a lot more. All right. Well. As John Lopez goes to try his unagi bento (eel lunch box). I think we've moved on from this.

57:50 John Daub: Thanks everybody for watching. You John. You should ask me a question. I'll see you in another live stream. Probably tomorrow. I want to talk about Halloween. And its impact. Tomorrow. I've been. Watching the Shibuya live cameras. And getting reports from people. And yes. Shibuya Halloween sort of took place. But it certainly was different than the way it was in the past. And I'll go over this. Tomorrow. I'll see you then.

58:50 John Daub: Pablo. I'm not going to adopt you. I'm having trouble supporting one kid. Come on. Adoption. You know how hard I would work you. You'd be editing. And filming. It would not be an easy job as an adoptee. Trust me. Leo gets off easy. He's only two and a half. And the quality of work that he does. He can't even color between the lines. So. Matane (see you later). Bye. Bye.