When foreigners arrive in Japan by airplane or ship, they must apply for entry at the Immigration Inspection Office, and they cannot enter Japan without being permitted entry. They may apply to enter the country by filling out a Foreigner Immigration Record (ED Card). If they arrive in Japan by plane, they will be handed an ED Card from a flight attendant prior to their arrival, and they must then fill this out and hand it in at the Immigration Inspection Office.

Sometimes trouble occurs when foreigners come through Immigration without having correctly filled in their purpose for entering Japan or their plans for their stay in Japan. As an example, we occasionally come across people who, despite writing that they have come to Japan to go sightseeing for 90 days, have only a few ten thousand yen notes on them, are unable to give a place name for where they intend to go sightseeing, and carry only work clothes in their bag. In cases such as these, where it is clear that they have not come to Japan for the purpose of sightseeing, they may be denied entry. The Immigration Inspection Office inspects foreignersÕ passports, visas and ED cards, and if there is no problem with these, then their passports are stamped with an entry permit. This stamp records the date of their arrival in Japan, that they are here for a short stay, that the period of their stay is 90 days, and that their port of arrival was Narita Airport. It is highly likely that when your Mexican friend arrived in Japan, a problem arose somewhere during the completion of these procedures. Please be sure to fill out the ED Card properly and write your purpose for coming to Japan etc accurately.