U.S. Embassy Tokyo — Local services in Tokyo

This Embassy should be embarrassed and ashamed of itself. Located in the heart of the capital city of one of our most trusted and close allies, it is ridiculously difficult to get in and get anything done:

-They do not allow appointments to be made by phone, plus they only allow calls for two hours a day... -You CANNOT go in for any reason unless you have an appointment. -They require YOU to translate all official Japanese documents that they require from you for specific things like getting a SSN for your kid (even though THEY are the freakin' Embassy located in Tokyo... they should easily be able to deal with the local government official documents) -They don't allow phones, cameras, usb drives, etc. and they check you rigorously even though you are a US citizen just to get in, but then turn around and wave at the delivery man with the unchecked package walking straight past the massive line for the security check, entering the building with whatever he wants... so much for safety first!! -They have 19 windows to serve, but only 2-to-5 open at any given time; even when the line going outside the embassy is going all the way down the street. -They block traffic (cars and foot) at all times of all days just because they don't want cars to drive by or people to walk by the massive concrete walls and metal gate and 5m thick entrance block... and there is a big anti-terrorism sign visible to all that really is there for no reason... -The guards are super rude, don't speak English, and are en embarrassment to Japanese people in general; how they are allowed to be the ones guarding this embassy is beyond me.

Seriously, this embassy should be ashamed of how it is run and how it works . It is an embarrassment to both nations.

Wish I could...

Ok, first off the reason why you will not see many pictures of the real main entrance to the United States Embassy is because they have numerous Japanese security and police posted in front and across the street where you have to be cleared before you can even use the crosswalk to get in line at the checkpoint to enter. You will see 🚫 no pictures allowed to be taken. A majority of them know little to no English so knowing how to speak Japanese or having a good electronic translator is a my suggestion.

When you've shown your printed out appointment to the security across the street they will let you cross and you will need to show that printed out appointment sheet to even stand a chance of getting let threw to the next checkpoint. Think of going threw airport security when checking in with metal detectors and so forth at the second checkpoint. Make sure you have all your electronic devices Bluetooth turned off and my suggestion you shut off your mobile phone and any other devices before going to the second checkpoint.

After you clear the second checkpoint everything else is easy but be advised there is a third checkpoint when entering the building which control the doors being locked and unlocked so once again you will have to have your appointment sheet ready to show before they even unlock the doors for you to get to where...

Just getting into the embassy itself is unnecessarily difficult. There is a policeman who is guarding the street, and you can't even get near the entrance of the embassy unless he lets you pass.

He asked if I was coming for a visa, and I said no, I had an appointment for a notarization. He was deeply confused, and even though I showed him my printed out appointment form, he didn't know what to do. He called somebody on the phone and asked about it, and after an entire 5 minutes of waiting, I was finally able to proceed.

At the security checkpoint it's basically like an airport. All belongings out of your pockets, no food or drinks allowed, all your stuff gets scanned in the X-Ray machine on the conveyor belt and you walk through the metal detector. The security people have a pretty obnoxious attitude.

Regarding notarization services, once you finally manage to get inside the building, assuming all your papers are in order, it goes by very quickly. I was in and out in 10 minutes.

Funny how it took longer to actually enter the building through all the security than it actually took for the notarization procedure.

5 stars for inside the embassy, 3 stars considering how much of a pain it is just...