Residence card didn’t get punched with a hole

While looking online for tips on applying for a new student visa I stumbled upon some information regarding trouble entering the country again if the old residence card wasn't handed back in properly and or punched with a hole on the IC chip at the airport during departure.

I immediately remembered that 2 years ago when I left Japan after one year as an high school exchange student didn't get my residence card punched with a hole in it at the airport after showing it to the staff, I do however remember that my friend before me (fellow exchange student) got a hole punched into his card.

At the time I didn't think much about it and thought I was lucky to keep my residence card whole as a souvenir and I thought they might just have forgotten to do it on my card.

Now however I'm worried that there could have been an comunication error at the time and that they maybe thought I would return to Japan shortly after my departure (I checked my passport and didn't see any special re-entry permission stamp though).

I was wondering if anyone in here has experience and know what will happen and what I can do about this? Should I be worried? My residence card expired Mars 2016 so it's quite old. My guess though is that if they intentionally didn't punch a hole in my card should have given me some kind of re-entry permission that I should be able to see somewhere?

Would really appreciate any kind of help on this and I thank you for taking your time to read this!

Best regards,
William

My guess though is that if they intentionally didn't punch a hole in my card should have given me some kind of re-entry permission that I should be able to see somewhere?

No; with the new system you don't get a physical re-entry permit, it is automatic (if you leave for less than a year).

With the current system, as far as I understand, you need to still fill out a form where you state that you plan to return to Japan. That card is fixed to your passport. Unless this has changed in the last 4 weeks. So I would guess that if you don't and didn't have this re-entry card then you are as a matter of fact outside of Japan.

But I have to admit that I have not had this experience so my answer might not help a lot.

Maybe you can ask the embassy?