Green Card

I didn't realize this process until a couple days ago when it was complete.
There was all of a sudden a big commotion 2-3 weeks before I came over here that I had to get a visa. WTF? I've been here 3-4 times before, why now? Took me a while to figure it out, but my work here is considered an official company transfer for 2 months. Most people would say BFD, but I guess this is significant for companies, governments, and tax authorities. I filled out the requisite forms and since we were in a big hurry we got some national law firm to help. To the tune of at least more than $500.
I remember when I got here on the first day I had to go down to the local government office and apply for an "alien registration card." Some times you have to do something like this when you go to a Latin American country or the Caribbean, but it seems like a joke because they staple your picture to a piece of paper and tell you not to lose it. In retrospect, to get my visa, there was a hell of a lot of paperwork, including a "letter from a local sponsor." It was a really nice letter from the local HR person who said that (among other things) I would keep out of trouble and they would pay if I had to be deported. Sweet!
So I went down to the local government office a couple days ago to pick up the card. Only then it hits me, this is a frickin' "green card" to work in Japan. No, this thing is more elaborate than my Indiana drivers' license. Hope you can see the hologram in the pic. Wow. What to think.... yes, I'm here for longer than a week and not just here for some meeting or something... and I guess I have some real documentation (prior to a couple of days ago I had been carrying around a blue piece of paper with my name and a stamp on it) so I don't get nabbed as an illegal alien. I don't know what they do with illegal aliens in this country. They surely wouldn't lock them in a concentration camp and take their American born children and turn them over to DFC? Whoops! Got a little carried away! Sorry!
They take immigration here seriously, as any country should. I think I caused a little stir at the immigration office when I put my occupation down as "physician." Like I am a deadly threat to the medical community here! Then, they found out I work for the pharmaceutical industry - basically useless, no problem.
I'm not really happy about the picture on my ARC, but I didn't anticipate needing more pictures and I just happened to have these in my travel wallet. This is a picture we had taken at the Paris Metro a couple years ago. I am looking a little grim because I almost strangled my son for wasting our last 2 euro coins getting pictures the wrong size. I am not sure we even needed pictures for the frickin' Metro pass - I think the clerk was maybe bored and didn't like us because we could not speak French.