Extended Tourist Visa in Japan for American? How many times? How do I persuade the immigration office?

Question

I plan on competing in Mixed Martial Arts in Japan but I need to be available all day to train and compete in amateur competition with the Shooto organization. So, work visa is out of the question and japanese language classes (pre college visa) would cut down on my training time. I have to compete in amateur regionals to prove myself and it might take 6months to a year to get promoted to pro. I have around $180k saved up from personal earnings from my small business in the US. Would that help my case?

Answer 1

You can come to Japan for 3 months at a time under a Tourist Visa. The best and possibly the easiest since you have some funds to spare is to leave Japan every three months on a "Visa Run" to Korea for a weekend and return back to Japan.

Answer 2

From what I understand from a friend, you can only to the Visa run twice, and that is with a lot of talking upon re-entry to immigration officers. It is sort of a dangerous thing to do. The best thing you can do is to have your Shooto Organization try to get you a visa called a "Cultural Activities Visa". Back in the 80's and 90's it was the hot visa to get because it was easy to get. But as usual, people abused it buy getting the CAV, then working instead of doing cultural activities. So in the late 90's, it became really hard to get. So, If you have the support of your Shooto people, I think you would have a chance. By the way, it is a one-year renewable visa the last I heard.

Best of luck to you.

Answer 3

If you are going for competition and training, you need sponsor or any organization that would help you. You can ask the Martial Arts Organization to send you an invitation for this competition and training as a support for your travel.