Flashback

Let me back up for a minute to recap some of the events that took place when I first found out I was going to China. First of all, when I first contacted the recruiter I worked with, they told me I would probably get placed in Australia. When I filled out the application, I checked “anywhere” but wrote in the comments that I’d rather not go to Europe since I had been there last year. About two weeks later, they called and told me that their partner in China (a company called “Next Step Connections”) had picked up my application and taken an interest in my resume. I was willing to go anywhere, so I agreed to move forward with Next Steps. (This part of the story was also covered in my post called "Going to China" back in February.)

Once I paid my deposit and agreed to go to China (this is the new part of the story) I learned that there is a TON of scholarship money for American Students going to China. Education is starting to see China as the future and lots of non-profits offer money to students going for academic experiences. As I started applying for these scholarships, I asked my graduation advisor (Dr. Keiko) to proofread a few essays for me.

I had Dr. Keiko for Introduction to Management my sophomore year of college. This was the semester right after my Dad’s SCUBA accident and right before I left for Prague. Dr. Keiko was a SCUBA diver—her husband, a former instructor—and she had taught in Prague previously. We got to know each other while discussing both subjects and I filled out paperwork with the university to have her oversee my curriculum for my degree.

Later, we also found that we have a shared interest in world religions. I’ll never forget her telling me one time, “Someday I will show you around Japan and teach you all about Buddhism and Shintoism.” At the time, we laughed, knowing that the odds of us ever being in Japan at the same time were pretty slim. But when I told Keiko that I had been offered an internship in China, she extended the same offer again.

It turns out, flying from China to Japan is not a cheap venture. A couple perusals through Kayak and Skyscanner and I basically dismissed the idea. But then my visa came.

The Chinese Visa is not particularly hard to get. You can apply by mail with just an application and a letter from your host in China. The processing takes about 5 days (which beats the 60 days for a Czech visa by a lot) and it really is pretty simple. The only downside is the Chinese government offers dozens of visas for different purposes, with different limitations, and for different lengths of time.

I had applied for a class M visa, which would allow me to work in China and make multiple entries over the duration of my visa. My visa was good for a year so I can return to China anytime between now and May 27, 2015. The only downside was, I could only stay for 60 days at a time…and my stay in China was scheduled to be 75 days.

I called the embassy to appeal the issue, but no luck. They told me that it was up to the governments discretion and the only way to override it was to re-apply for a new visa (which would likely get rejected because I had already been issued a visa.) My other option was just to use the visa as intended: in increments of 60 days or less. If I exited China and re-entered through customs, it would reset my visa.

So a trip to Japan was in the cards. Keiko was spending the summer with family in Japan, and we found a weekend she was free for me to visit. As I plugged in the data from my passport to buy the ticket, I realized Japan will be country #15 for me. This whole “world traveler” gig is working out pretty well!