Calling immigration to check about PR status

I applied For Permanent Visa last year and it's already 8 months that I'm waiting for an answer.

The thing is that in Summer I want to go outside of Japan for a trip but I might get my answer during that time. Usually they give a time limit for picking up.

My questions are :

1 .Did anyone ever phone Tokyo immigration to enquire about the status of the application?

2. If yes can I explain my situation in English?

I applied at Tachikawa branch office but they said the processing will be done by the main office.

During these 8 months I wasn't asked to submit more documents. I don't know why it's taking so long, i was told it will take 6 months. It's really annoying not being able to plan trips etc.

Could someone advice me where to call or what to do?

Thanks

Yes to both questions. Call them and ask.

You'll find numerous questions and answers on this forum about people contacting immigration for a status update.

In our case, they told us to expect it to take 8 months, as they were busy, but in reality it took 6 months. So I guess it simply is up to how busy they are.

The investigation can take longer than 6 months. I have there are cases of applicants who waited over a year.
Did you call them to ask for an update about the situation?

Lotus3631
Tokyo immigration is busy due to load. My friend is also waiting for engineer visa. When he asked for an update. They told it takes maximum 3 months and minimum 2 months and they are busy due to lot of application traffic. Please wait.

I called and asked amd they said still processing. I have no choice but to wait.