Had to go into Tokyo to get something notarized at the US embassy, they provide that service for fifty dollars per. I haven't been there for many years, well before 9/11. The level of security is pretty mind boggling. Before even entering the building that is a preliminary to reaching the compound, you are asked what your business is. With a valid reason for being there and a copy of your appointment off the internet, you go to an area for a preliminary check of your bags, and questioning if you might be carrying certain not allowed items. I notoced that liquor was on the list, but the other drawings were pretty illegible, so I just say no without really knowing. OKd, you enter a building where any bags go through an x-ray, your cell phone is confiscated and held until you finish your business, and then your person goes through a metal detector and get a body scan. I forgot to mention that after exiting the subway that took me to the district where the embassy is located, there are Japanese cops standing on every corner and large police busses with bars over the windows, parked throughout the four block walk to the facility, the kind meant to haul away large groups of unruly people? I wondered if it was a tradeoff for the George Washington patrolling their waters? So, after the initial clearance you walk into the grounds past some suits eyeing you suspiciously, up to the main entrance where the marines are, get your bag checked again, go through another metal detector, and are directed to a door to enter the US citizen services part of the building. I pushed on the door and it didn't budge, so like a dork I say to a guard, "It's locked". He gives an expression like he has heard that for the zillionth time that day, and says, "You have to push harder". I give it some shoulder and it budges, without a doubt the heaviest door that I have ever walked through in my life, some bomb proof thing with hinges that look like they are made to hold out or keep in King Kong. All the doors are that way that you go through, but the final one must be the last measure of defense for the place, pretty unreal, if not impressive.
Once you are inside the place to do your business, it gets friendly and everyone is speaking English just like in the home country which I think the place is supposed to be part of. Took care of bizz and payed my $100 because I was getting two things notarized, and couldn't find the exit, so a pretty girl had to help me...twice
. Going to that out building again, I became confused on how to get my phone because the door I originally came out of says 'Exit' on it, and there seems no other way to get in. I get paranoid about entering through an exit and decide to tap on the very thick glass to get the guards attention inside. Suddenly there is a big black dude in a suit standing at my shoulder asking me what I'm doing? It seems to me that he could only have come out of the nearby bushes. Looking up I explain...and he says, can't you see that it says exit there? I say yes I can read pretty well, but I'm entering not exiting, so.... "Just go in there"!. Ah..yes, of course, and continued confusion seems to have no place here, so I fumble for my claim tag and get my phone and hit the street walking through the gauntlet of guards again, who seem to have about thirty percent less interest in me then.
Some countries have real peaceful embassies in rather cordial surroundings. The New Zealand one is that way. The US one is a fortress. I can't imaging what the security must be like in some of the more threatening places in the world, and what all of that must cost! It is really a bit overwhelming if you aren't used to it.