Japan Trip Pre Departure : Pengurusan Visa Jepang

Jadi, saya berencana ke Jepang bulan depan. Negeri impian jaman SD! Wahihihihi. Siapa coba yang nggak pengen punya Pintu Kemana Saja-nya Doraemon, atau nggak hapal soundtracknya The Ordinary People? *heck, we even played that song on high school*.
 

Singkat kata singkat cerita, setelah bertahun-tahun bekerja dan akhirnya punya tabungan yang cukup, saya nekat beli tiket Air Asia ke Haneda. Harganya masih terhitung murah, economy promo pp + meal dan bagasi pulang sekitar 5,2 juta. Harga normal AA sekitar 8 juta PP.

Apakah ini kenekatan impulsif? Nggak juga sih. Saya punya saudara (istrinya sepupu) yang sedang kuliah disana yang mau menjadi pengundang, so, I was pretty much confident.

Sampai saat saya googling tentang proses pembuatan visa jepang. Jeng jeng. Disini drama dimulai. 

Mesti punya duit berapa?

Niat saya meminta saudara hanya untuk menjadi pengundang dan seluruh biaya akan saya tanggung sendiri. Tapi ngeliat informasi yang bertebaran di internet macam2 bikin saya jiper, ada yang bilang harus simpan sekitar 50 juta selama 3 bulan, ada yang bilang 30 juta, dan ada yang bilang ga bisa pake jaminan deposito *mulai keringat dingin* ini mesti ngutang sama siapahh??

Akhirnya saya tanya ke saudara saya kira-kira mesti punya tabungan berapa. Dan ternyata jawabannya sangat melegakan.

“Yang penting cukup buat biaya hidup selama di Jepang. Anggap aja 1 hari habisnya 10.000 yen, sekitar 1 juta lah sehari. Tinggal dikaliin lama kamu tinggal dan ditambahin dikit”.

Saya rencana tinggal selama 7 hari  di Jepang, jadi ya di rekening mesti ada 10 juta ++.

Hubungan dengan pengundang

Ini yang agak tricky dan kemarin berhasil membuat saya tiga kali bolak-balik kedutaan. ‘Untung’ kedutaan jepang dan kantor saya ada di jalan yang sama, jadi bisa bolak-balik jalan kaki walau pake gempor.

As I said before, yang ngundang itu istrinya sepupu. Pertama kali datang, saya cuma bawa foto yang ada saya dan dia. Yak, ditolak. Petugas visa-nya bilang, kalau undangan dari keluarga, dokumennya harus lebih lengkap : KK saya sendiri, KK sepupu saya, dan alien card pengundang. Pokoknya yang ada keterangan bahwa saya dan sepupu punya nama kakek dan nenek yang sama (dilihat dari nama orang tua dari ibu saya dan ibu sepupu saya). Dokumen pun dikembalikan.

Minggu depannya saya datang dengan 2 KK yang dimaksud, dan alien card pengundang (suami+istri). Di depan loket pun saya menjelaskan hubungan saudara ini. 

Ibu Petugas Visa (IBV) : “Jadi, hubungannya gimana?”

Oknum Deg-degan (OD) : “Jadi ibu saya (insert mom’s name, sambil nunjuk KK saya) itu adiknya ibu ini (insert bude’s name, sambil nunjuk KK sepupu). Yang mengundang itu istrinya anaknya (insert sepupu’s name, sambil nunjuk KKnya)."

IBV : “Terus, buku nikahnya saudara anda dengan pengundang, mana?”

OD : anjir. Ini gue nggak siap. “Ehmm, saya adanya fotokopi alien card mereka berdua, di lembar terakhir”.

IBV (nanya ke teman sebelahnya) : “Ini cukup nggak? Kayaknya nggak ya.” lalu kembali bicara ke saya “Kurang buku nikahnya, ya, mesti ada itu”.

Penolakan kedua. Mulai gemes.

AKHIRNYA hari senin berikut saya datang lagi, dan dilayani oleh ibu yang sama. Dia cuma lihat akta nikah, bolak-balik dokumen sedikit, dan cap stempel tanda terima dan bilang, ”kamis siang kesini lagi ya buat ambil.”

And it was the longest 3 days in my life *lebay*.

Hari kamis siang ternyata banyak sekali orang yang menunggu. Setelah ambil nomor antrian dan menunggu kira-kira 15 menit, akhirnya nama saya dipanggil. Passport saya dibuka dan saya lihat ada lembaran yang bertuliskan “Japan Visa”. Aaaakk.. maturnuwun Gusti.. setelah bayar-bayar, saya pun kembali ke kantor sambil senyum-senyum. Aheeyyy.. Doraemon aku datangggg...

So, in conclusion, apa saja yang harus disiapkan?

Untuk lengkapnya, bisa dilihat disini http://www.id.emb-japan.go.jp/visa.html kalau untuk kunjungan keluarga seperti kemarin yang saya lakukan, maka yang disiapkan adalah :

Paspor : standar ya, masa berlaku harus > 6 bulan

Formulir permohonan visa dan Pasfoto terbaru (ukuran 4,5 X 4,5 cm, diambil 6 bulan terakhir dan tanpa latar, bukan hasil editing, dan jelas/tidak buram)

Foto kopi KTP

Bukti pemesanan tiket : tiket PP CGK-KUL KUL-HND, HND-KUL, KUL-CGK

Jadwal Perjalanan : buat umum aja, misal : hari 1 Asakusa, Tokyo Tower, hari 2 Disneyland, hari 3 ... dan tulis tempat tinggal dimana. (kalau belum pasti, booking hotel lewat agoda atau booking.com saja, cari yang free cancelation fee. Nanti kalau visa sudah keluar, bisa dibatalkan dan ganti hotel lain)

Dokumen yang membuktikan hubungan keluarga antara pemohon dengan pengundang : Ini nih yang bikin bolbal -_-'. Btw kalau hubungan teman itu lebih gampang lho, tinggal pake foto/surat (ya abis ga ada dokumen pertemanan secara hitam diatas putih kan? :p )

Surat undangan : ini di-tanda tangan ya sama pengundangnya

Dokumen yang berkenaan dengan biaya perjalanan : surat keterangan dari bank kalau kita punya simpanan disana. In my case, semua fotokopi tabungan, statement rek.payroll dan deposito dikasih deh.

Saya juga menyiapkan cetakan slip gaji dan surat keterangan bekerja dari kantor. Tapi ketika tanya ke petugasnya perlu nyerahin itu atau nggak, dia ga bilang apa-apa, akhirnya kusimpan lagi.

So, that’s it. Semoga sampai hari keberangkatan nggak ada halangan *fingers crossed* :)

What To Do Now?

"pas umur 27, lo akan ngambil keputusan penting dalam hidup lo" - 3 Hari Untuk Selamanya

When I first watched the movie, I thought, what's with being 27? The fact that I know about the Forever 27 Club, made me more curious with the 27th year of a person's life.

And now here I am. 27 years and 9 days. How do I feel?

About Work

So there's this big project is on progress. It will take more than 2 years to complete. Since I've just assigned to a new work function, let's just say I've also moved from white-belt insignificant officer, to yellow-belt insignificant officer. Same wage, more workload. But the thing is, I get to learn many things. I'm so grateful with the new job I don't mind doing long hours overtime. The process is long, exhausting, and sometimes (if not often), depressing, but the excitement kinda pay off all of the downside.

At this time of life, you will meet people younger than you with position and salary above you. Embrace it wisely. You don't like your position? Ask for a promotion or a raise, don't just whine like a hubbub teenage girl. Or build a new company. Best medicine for dissapoinment is a higher rebound, right?  

About Leisure

Have been working for 5 years, you should be able to finance all kind of leisure you want to have. So yeah, for me life's been pretty good in this department.. vacations (3 more to come.. :p), quick getaways, concerts (maroon 5! plus kahitna and owl city to come), musical plays (matah ati! laskar pelangi!), again I'm so grateful.

New places are not scary anymore :) you can always make itineraries to places you've never been before with some little help from the internet and Google Map! And remember, a good trip is as good as the relation with you and your travelling partner. So, choose your destination, and partner, wisely :)  

About Friendship

You can have many circles of friends (like they do on G+), but the most important ones are still the ones whose phone number you have on your mobile. Let's be honest, who else have the people on I-know-their-bb pin/email/gtalk/ym-but-i-don't-know-their-mobile-phone-number list beside me? anyone? no? please? :p

About Relationship

This is my favourite subject. I have always dislike too much attention to my personal life. I have lived a good life so far where people mind their own business, and I mind mine. But now? OMFG! There are these constant poking from almost everyone that you have the urge to bark back -as a resiprocal courtesy:"> -, or at least spray some pepper-spray to them -just as defense mechanism- :p

Don't you hate it when people act like they know what's best for you when they don't know what you're going through.

Oh how I wish people can be well behaved when asking the "when" question, especially for wedding and pregnancy thing. I have known, listened, read about -too- many people hurt from being asked those questioned. constantly. So, elder people, married people, mummies and daddies, please show some emphaty to your fellow human, yes? Do help if you can, or just shut up. thank you.

About life, generally

At 27, you listen to yourself more, and others less. Self esteem increases. One of my resolution is to be less pretentious. Do goofy things, write corny writings, twit your feelings, try new things, pursue your childhood dreams - no matter how late people say it is-, laugh uncontrolably, and, last but not least, do some sports and eat right (ignore those mocking-toned "are you on a diet" questions for they won't pay your hospital bills when you're sick).

I hope all of us lead a high quality life! *cheers*

So what's the big decision you're going to make, N?

That's for me to know and for you to find out :-*

Hello World v4.0

So..

This is like my n-th blog. not an achievement that I’m proud of, actually. But I’m still in the phase of searching for the best blogging site. And now I stumbled on tumblr. :p

What’s ‘Night Mumbles’ anyway?

Well, I came up with the title because when I was a desperate grad student, I found my most productive time is between 10-2*. That’s PM to AM, mind you.That’s when I have my me time, getting busy with my own thoughts, doing flash-back of what happened earlier that day, and somewhat, feeling chirpier. But often I was too tired to jot the lines down into writing, and ended up sleeping with my laptop on.

That’s tres bad, because in this stressful phase of life, *more of the whining later :p*, i have to find a place to express my thoughts, let go some emotions, share some knowledge, and do goofy stuff, online.

So, here i humbly present my new blog. feel free to read and put some comments :)

*And what do I do after 2 AM? I sleep. Because nothing’s good can happen after to 2AM. :p

Lotsa XOXO,

-Niek-

another blog

sometimes, when you have the passion to write, you just don't have enough time to elaborate your writing..
just saying.