The Man Who Never Returned

The accomplishments of bureaucracy affect individuals in wondrous ways --and nowhere more so than in Japan. Consider the case of Herbert Freidman, an American businessman living in Japan. One day last month, he climbed aboard a plane at Tokyo airport and flew off to Okinawa, dutifully surrendering to a customs agent the alien-registration card he carries. His passport was stamped to show that Freidman was leaving the country. According to procedure, his passport would be stamped again when he returned to Tokyo, and he would be issued a new alien-registration card.

The only problem was that during the week that Freidman spent on Okinawa, that island reverted from U.S. occupation to Japanese possession. Thus it was a domestic flight on which he returned to Tokyo. Since he was merely traveling from one Japanese island to another, no customs man would stamp his passport, and since his passport was not marked, no one would issue him a new alien-registration card.

Freidman as a result is caught in a bureaucratic mesh; until it is eventually settled, he is unable to travel because his passport is not in order. He thought at first of solving the impasse by flying to a nearby country and coming back into Japan officially. But, of course, since there is no record that he is in Japan, there is no way that his passport can be stamped to allow him out.

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