Cultural Activities Visa

Hello!

I've been an exchange student in japan for about 8 months, and have a one-year student visa, valid until the end of next march. But for various reasons, I'd like to be able to live in Japan for a longer time, as long as it is possible with my passport being valid only until summer '09.

First option I thought was a working visa, but it doesn't seem to be possible without any degree. Working holiday would be perfect, but I'm not lucky enough to have a correct nationality...

Now I'm thinking about possibility to get Cultural Activities Visa, as one of the reasons I want to stay really is to continue practicing kendo I started soon after arriving. I have read about requirements etc. I could find using google, but still lack of enough knowledge to decide if ca-visa is actually possible in my case.

I currently train kendo in the club of my college, usually 3-4 times a week. The club has formal practice 3 times a week and self-practice time twice (about 2 hours each). The club has some kind of supervisor eg. in tournaments (shiai), but not in usual practices. Could it be possible to get visa to practice kendo in this club? Or should I rather look for some kendo school etc? Or does the fact that I have not practiced kendo in my home country make it impossible to get ca-visa?

I believe to have enough money to live for a year, but it would help to get to do some part-time jobs, and I have understood that it is possible for ~20h/week with this kind of visa.

As a last possibility I have considered Temporary Visitor Visa, but the main problem is to have to leave every 3 months, or more importantly, not to be able to return, which I read could also be possible, at least after 2 or more entries. Also, is the short validity of my passport a problem, also in the cultural visa -case?

Thank you very much for answers, I have found it depressingly hard to get any help from officials...

What are you intending to do? Just take a few years off doing kendo and not much else? In case you plan to study something, e.g. Japanese language or university, I recommend to find a school now and get a student visa. Student visa holders can also get permission to do part time work.

By the way, the citizens of most countries can renew their passports at the embassy of their respective countries. No need to return home.

Definitely go to your embassy to have the passport renewed. I have renewed my passport from Japan before and it was no problem- since my country's embassy no longer handles passports I had to send it back to my home country with the application and got a new one back a few weeks later.

It would be pretty tough if they made everyone go home to get a new passport!

Thanks for answers. But unfortunately, I'm quite sure renewing my passport at this point is impossible, in Japan or in my home country, for reasons outside of my control...

My plan is to take a 6-12kk off doing kendo and part time jobs for a company in my home country, maybe some in Japan too. And of course learn more of the language all the time, mainly by interacting with locals.

I believe that student visa requires specific amount of classes to be taken, and so keeps me a little too busy. And there's also tuition I'd probably have to pay.