Re: [tlug] From an enthusiast TLUG follower

[Raymond Wan <rwan.kyoto@example.com>]

On Wed, Aug 26, 2020 at 9:14 AM Stuart Luppescu <lupp@example.com> wrote:
> On Wed, 2020-08-26 at 02:50 +0900, Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:
> >  > I was flipping through the on-line Japan Times recently and
> >  > there was some editorial about how awful Japan is for not
> >  > letting foreigners in.
> > Not just "foreigners".  Permanent residents with spouse and kids
> > already in Japan.  Many countries allow permanent residents to
> > reenter.  Japan's being pigheaded about it, given that it's
> > subsidizing vacations for superspreaders as long as they don't start
> > or end in Tokyo.  Fracking politicians.
...
> I was resigned to staying in the US indefinitely. Then my wife spoke to
> local fracking politician, who spoke to a higher-up politician, who
> appealed to the Ministry of Justice that I be let in on humanitarian
> grounds. Last Thursday I was finally let in, thanks to the efforts of
> that very kind-hearted politician. In contrast, the bureaucrats with
> the Immigration department were heartless, cruel, unforgiving SOBs.


Geez, sorry to hear that happen to you but it is good that it worked
out for you in the end, after a long drawn out process.

Indeed, it's unfortunate when bureaucrats simply pass the buck to the
next person above them.  Then you hope in such a pyramid scheme, that
the person at the very top is the "smartest person in the
world"...which is usually not the case.  Unfortunately, no one along
that chain has a sufficient background in science.  In particular, I'm
sure for the 14 days leading up to your July 20th arrival in Japan,
you were social distancing from your wife...especially during that
long flight to Japan......

One hopes that the front line immigration staff would escalate
situations to their managers when they see a case of note.  But I
guess they're discouraged from doing so...so they were just "doing
their job" by "following orders".

There are varying levels of "Huh?" going on thanks to covid-19.  Here
in Hong Kong (not saying this is worst than what you faced, of
course), some passengers have been stuck in the airport because they
were allowed to board their first flight into the city but their
onward transit flight disallowed them to board.  They remained stuck
in the airport...the longest was 3 months...
(https://simpleflying.com/hong-kong-passengers-stuck-3-months/).
Clearly, airlines/governments weren't talking to each other.

Let's hope we (they? :-) ) all learn from 2020...

Ray