Finishing Up

It's pouring rain, and I'm driving in a friend's borrowed car to the USDA office 75 minutes away.  I'm feeling pretty good because I've got a hot cup of coffee with me and according to Japan, my paperwork is all in order.  All I need the office to do is stamp and sign it.  Should be easy...

We arrive 20 minutes early for the 10:00am appointment.  At the counter, I tell the secretary about my appointment and she takes my paperwork right away.  "Wonderful!" I think. "We'll be finished here shortly and I'll be able to do all my other errands.  Maybe even have time for a pedicure!"

Mom and Dad are exhausted with 
all the running around, too!

Two hours later, I finally get called back up to the window.  What was the point of having an appointment if they weren't even going to pretend to acknowledge it?

Not to drag out the story, but there were major mistakes in the forms - pages didn't have the USDA embossed stamp (which would give my dogs a "go to jail" card - well, not jail, but still a cage for six months) and Wite Out (correction fluid) was used to fix errors.

In the US, this wouldn't be a big deal - but Japan clearly states (about twenty times) that Wite Out isn't allowed.  I explain to the secretary that the correction is wrong.  She wants to know if I have the information from Japan that explains how to do it (because she obviously doesn't believe my two minute explanation on how it's supposed to be fixed), and miracle of miracles, I actually do.  So she pulls the USDA vet up front and they finally get everything fixed.  But I'm worried Japan won't accept it.

Off to the local FedEx to scan everything in and email to Japan for their approval.  Google directs us to the closest office, and when we pull up, we see that it's closed due to flooding from the previous month.  Back to Google for the next closest FedEx.  Thirty minutes later, and after two tries, we have everything saved electronically and emailed to Japan AQS.

Some advice for anyone going through the same thing - Japan really emphasizes in the early paperwork that they prefer the "healthy dog" checkup and paperwork stamped by the USDA to all occur within 48 hours of your flight.  In later communication they say within 10 days is acceptable.  Make sure you start early enough to give yourself some leeway.  At this point, if Japan said it wouldn't work, I knew I had one day to go to my vet, get new forms printed and signed, and run back to the USDA if I needed, since our flight wasn't until Wednesday.  So I had a little bit of breathing space which was the only reason I was able to sleep that night!

After we returned home that afternoon we were able to go out for a belated birthday dinner.  I had my last US filet mignon (for a few years, anyway)!  Then the waiting game again - will Japan accept the paperwork?