How to Complete Renewing Your Kid's US Passport in Japan

If you followed all of the tips from my last post on this topic, you should be properly prepared for this endeavor, but there are a few points that may need to be pointed out a little bit more specifically in regards to timing.

If you are from out of town and don't actually live anywhere near the city where your closest embassy is, booking an appointment time when you are absolutely sure that you could be in the right area is imperative.

Despite having done the math and thought through where the hotel we had booked was and how long it would take to get where we were supposed to be, we still managed to have so many difficulties related to mass transit that my husband had to drive through Tokyo traffic instead, which was something he was very uncomfortable with though he managed to work through it very well.

The last place you want to be with the clock ticking on your embassy appointment is stuck in gridlock like we were when I took the above photo. Luckily, we had allocated more than half an hour for traffic congestion and wound up at the right place with a little time to spare.

Still, if he had looked into the shuttle bus schedule and train options for the exact time of day he had planned for us to go to the embassy in advance, we would have seen how impossible some of those transfers were going to be and moved our appointment to the afternoon when that had been an option.

Trying to move the appointment within a few days of your embassy appointment is not advised. We could not even find a replacement appointment for the same week! These are all choices that need to be made weeks in advance.

It turns out that when my husband was running the numbers for our embassy logistics, he was doing it on a weekday afternoon, never considering that the train times and bus times might be different in the morning.

Early morning appointments should only be attempted if you already know exactly how to get there at the right time. 

This of course could be ignored if you're staying at a hotel near the embassy.

If you have double checked the logistics of your adventure, brought all of the appropriate forms, and have the passport photo and money ready, there really shouldn't be any issues.

The actual process was very quick and stress free. We entered the building fifteen minutes before our appointment time and left with everything completed within half an hour. Our longest waiting time was at the payment window and only because we had to wait behind someone else.

Follow the directions, give yourselves enough time, and you should be fine.