Digitally Declared (After a Battle with My Desk Lamp)

Today’s Japan trip prep milestone: I (finally) completed my Japan customs and immigration forms using the Visit Japan Web system. It should have taken 15 minutes. It took me two days.

Here’s the thing, this slick, digital system is designed to streamline your arrival into Japan. You enter your flight and passport info, fill out the customs and immigration declarations in advance, and in return, you get a couple of QR codes that help you skip some paperwork and maybe some lines at the airport.

Sounds simple, right?

Sure. If your passport will scan. Mine would not. Not yesterday, not under the sallow glow of my desk lamp, not with me hunched over my phone at dusk like a stressed-out raccoon.

Today, with bright sunlight streaming through the windows, it scanned immediately. Apparently, my passport just wanted a little natural light and a better attitude.

Once that hurdle was cleared, the rest was straightforward: Enter the details, answer the customs questions (“no, I am not importing 40 liters of alcohol, weapons, or agricultural products”), and hit submit. I am good to go. Jen still needs to do hers.

Holden, already in Japan, completed this weeks ago. Garrett, who’s staying behind, is blissfully unaware of any of this and currently trying to determine how many frozen burritos is “too many” for 11 days.

Was this the most exciting part of trip prep? No. But it was weirdly satisfying. Another little checkbox ticked, another small step toward takeoff.

Eleven days to go.

Japan is starting to feel real.

And now my passport and I are back on speaking terms.