We are 5 months away from our trip to Japan. We just received my son's passport yesterday. As I was reading it, I got concerned about the langauge about some countries requiring that the passport be issued for at least 6 months prior to entry. So I went to the State Dept. website, and looked up Japan passport requirementswww.travel.state.gov/travel/japan.html)
It is unhelpful, and says only that some Asian countries require the passport being issued prior to 6 months before entry, but does not indicate that Japan is or is not one of those countries. Please, does anyone know the score on this? Please tell me Japan is not one of those countries.

From my reading of the website for the Japanese embassy in the US (http://www.us.emb-japan.go.jp/english/html/index.htm), your passport must be valid during your entire trip, but there does not seem to be the 6-month requirement.

However, for really accurate information, you should call or fax the embassy at Tel: 202.238.6700 fax: 202.328.2187

Bonjour emd,

Last time my mother and I went to Japan (May 2004), her passport was issued less than one month prior, mine 5. No questions were asked.

Have a look at the site of the Japanese ministry of foreign affairs, it confirms Cicerone's post (bonjour, Cicerone : passports must be valid during entire trip and a bit after, but there's no mention of when it has to be issued: http://www.mofa.go.jp/link/visit.html

I'm pretty confident you don't need worrying. Have a great time in Japan

Thanks very much, Cicerone. I just called the Japanese Embassy and was told no 6 month requirement for US citizens. I am going to fax them also and get a reply in writing.
Whew.

Bonjour to you too, Florence. That is helpful and makes me relax even more. I smile every time you mention your mother and I think of that swat on the behind she got. It is time to relax now that passports are in hand, tickets and hotels lined up, and we are in the fun part of deciding what the goals are, and what we can and can't live without seeing and doing. BTW, Ohara is in the plans, and notes on your directions are in our outline.

Maybe it was a bit of confusion. Many countries, I don't know about Japan specifically, require that your passport have at least six months beyond your trip before it expires.

Well, duh on emd. I read the sentence, "If your passport has less than 6 months validity, be aware..." and took that to mean that it had to be valid for 6 months prior to leaving instead of the other way. But when I called the embassy they never acted like mine was a strange question or said anything about the fact that it is the other way. I guess they get alot of nutty questions. And maybe I need more sleep or more coffee, or both. And a need to hold onto the sanity in the next 5 months before this trip. At least you all were kind about it, and for that I am thankful. I could have gotten reamed on other boards for that misconception.

"But when I called the embassy they never acted like mine was a strange question or said anything about the fact that it is the other way. I guess they get alot of nutty questions."

Or, more likely, their grasp of the subtilities of the English language is not absolutely perfect: I remember a group of visiting young university sportswomen in their early 20s, proudly wearing jackets proclaiming them to be members of the "Union of Athletic Lovers" ("since 1989&quot. As you can imagine, quite a number of us Europeans wanted to get our hands on the jackets and/or join the union ;-). Despite explanations by a bilingual Englishman, neither the girls nor their mentors and translators (Japanese living in Europe, some of them embassy personnel in Brussels) could ever understand why we found that so funny ...

Florence: Did you see the site mrwunrfl posted: www.engrish.com
Your jacket example belongs there!

I know, but I couldn't take pictures at the time

I hope I can someday visit the Meiji U. Kendo Club and get one ...

On a train in Osaka, a girl named Yuki helped me with directions. Her black t-shirt had one word on it in sparkly letters of a cutesy curly font: maggot. It just occurred to me that for all I know that word has a connotation of beauty, but I doubt it.

Maybe the embassy does get a lot of nutty questions, but if the person you talked to was Japanese then they were not about to cause you or themselves to lose face, of course.

I posted some more pix at www.billk.org

We had all kinds of problems with cute little japnaese exchange students wearing shirts with the F++K brand tee shirts..I think one had "F++k happy office worker" or something like that... (and no ++ on the tee shirt) We had to gently explain that was NOT appropriate for a 17 year old girl to wear anywhere in hawaii!!

I forgot about the losing face part of this. I like that. I wish more Americans were into not losing face, instead of rubbing one's face in it...

I'll check out the pix.

Bonjour Lcuy,

The F*** T-shirts are quite ubiquitous in Japan. The last I saw said "F*** housework" and was worn by a 25 year old mother of two toddlers in Kyoto station ... I could sympathize with the feelings if not the wording, since I adhere to the motto "my favorite way for housework is to sweep the room with a glance" ;-)