I accidentally washed my passport. Now, the page with my picture and information has small black dots all over it. The information is still visible (some of the dots are over my face and one backs out my left eye) and I was able to get back in the country with it this way. The passport guy did give me an odd look. However, I have a trip coming up in about 4 months to Japan and am worried that they will not accept my passport. Am I better off getting a new passport prior to the trip? Thanks for any help.

I would definitely get a new one to be sure.

I did the same thing after my last trip. I replaced it, figuring the hassle would be less to replace it now than it would be overseas.

Thanks for the responses. I was pretty much thinking of just getting a new one rather than risk it.

Zeppo2, what form did you use? Was it the Regular application or the renewal application? Thanks again.

Oh, this post brings back memories!!

The passports in the former Soviet Union had sometimes more information then people would want them to have before emigration. There were new passports without this personal information, but the old passports were not allowed to be replaced automatically.

So this is what we'd do: toss a passport in the laundry machine with some clothes with running colors. Worked for us