Visas and Bureaucracy

I submitted my visa application today. The whole process (including getting to the Japanese Embassy and back) only took me 30 minutes. I completed the entire transaction during my lunch break and still had time to enjoy a bagel. One of the perks of interning in Washington, DC seems to be my office's convenient location down the street from Japan's embassy. Even given my atypical proximity, though, I am astounded by how little time I spent submitting the application. I was in and out of the building in a little over five minutes. I encountered no lines, no waiting, and no raised eyebrows at the fact that none of my official ID photos match. Where is the terrifying Japanese bureaucracy everyone keeps telling me about?

When I approached the Consular Services counter, I was greeted by a pleasant woman with the remarkable ability to be both personable and extraordinarily serious at the same time. She took my documents, immaculately folded my Certificate of Eligibility into my passport, and told me to come back on Friday to pick up my visa. I left the embassy with a claim stub and the vague feeling that if lost it, I'd never see my passport again. Needless to say, I don't plan to lose it.

My admittedly as-of-yet limited experience with Japan's particular variety of "bureaucracy" has me wondering why Americans view it as such a bad thing. Why do they associate the term with red tape rather than the high level of efficiency I've encountered both today and in also infamously bureaucratic Germany? Likely our abhorrence is a manifestation of American individualism; we recoil at the notion that everyone should complete a task in exactly the same manner. We see ourselves as unique individuals, and expect exceptions to be made to accommodate our needs, lest our illusion that we are "special" be shattered. The couple at the window next to me was shocked that the attendant wouldn't photocopy their Certificates of Eligibility, despite the fact that the readily available application instructions state that applicants must bring both the original document and a copy with them, as copying services aren't available at the embassy. I'm just glad they weren't in line in front of me. If conformity gets me out the door in five minutes, I'm all for it.

Granted, it's probably unwise to base my assessment on a five-minute interaction with a single (probably rather Americanized) Japanese official. I guess I'll have to wait and see whether my opinion changes when a significant language barrier stands between me and my local Japanese bureaucrat.