Very Important - VISA

Sometimes we take this subject for granted. I have friends that literally had to sleep in an airport cell (yep, like in jail cell) because they did not know that they were supposed to have a Visa to enter that particular country.

So... Japan is a country that requires Visa for some nationalities which is my case. By the way, US citizens don't need a Visa for Japan. We paid US$27/person. Some quick tips:
-The Japan consulate requested 3 business days to issue the Visa. Their recommendation was to request the Visa a month prior to the trip.
-They issue the Visa for certain fixed period of times (15 days, 30 days, etc.). They asked me to provide our lodging commitments for the whole length of the trip to grant the Visa. Of course, I didn't have it so I had to make some on-line reservations just for the sake of the Visa and then cancelled them afterwards (make sure that you find hotels that have flexible cancellation policies in case you need to do this).

Hope this will help some people avoid "unnecessary" headaches.





(By the way, I also carry Mastercard and Amex! )