Emigration, naturalisation, and being tracked

Aside from driving down tiny alleys to look at a dozen apartments, and one trip under an overpass only 1.5m high (so low that guys on bicycles have to stoop to ride through it), I've been doing some of the naturalising steps that come with moving to any new country, and some that are very specific to Japan.

First things first, I went to the Shibuya City Office to register as a legal alien.  In addition to the fingerprinting and photo that go along with any foreign visitor entering Japan, if you're going to be here for more than 90 days you need to register.  You take two passport photos and head on down with your passport/visa to the local ward office where you will go through one of the most orderly processes I have ever seen.

In Shibuya, it was almost insanely scripted.  Walk into the building, stop at the information desk to find out where you are supposed to go.  I could plainly see where to go by virtue of there being a big English sign pointing registrants to the second floor, but I was still directed to stop and ask the lady to point out that sign to me.  Then I went upstairs, where I had to stop at another completely redundant information desk.  Right, follow the sign, got it.  The room looked like the DMV/RTA, so I was expecting the worst, especially when I had to take a number for service.  I pop around the corner to the registration desk and there is no one there waiting, so I get called immediately.  I think they just waited for me to walk up so they could change the number board and direct me to a seat.  Fill out a few bits of paperwork, answer a few questions and it's time for her to process the registration, which means I need to get up and walk three feet behind me to sit in the waiting area while she sits 10ft away entering all my information into the system.  Not 2 minutes pass before I am called back to the desk to read/sign my registration, and then I get to go back to the waiting area, 3ft away, so she can go make me two copies of my registration.  After she has printed those out, she calls me back, again, and explains how I need to return to the office sometime during a window 12 to 16 days from that day to pick up my official registration card.  I then need to carry this card with me at all times, and can be stopped and asked for it by a police officer for no reason other than to check that I am in the country legally.  I also need to notify the city within 14 days when I move, just so they know where to find me in a national emergency, I suppose.

I also created an inkan, with our admin/translators help.  The inkan is basically used in place of signatures in Japan.  Every one of them is hand carved and thus unique, and must be registered with your local ward (luckily right next to the alien registration station, so maybe this time I can dodge the information desks).  You can do them in Roman characters, or you can translate your name into kanji and pick a sweet ass stylised option for displaying it.  I ended up picking 努瑠土, which phonetically translates to Dold, and is the characters for 'exertion', 'lapis', and 'earth'.  When I go to pick up my alien card, I'll register the inkan and be one step closer to naturalisation.