Originally Posted by
donjo
I purchased a rather expensive concert piano for my home. The final construction of the instrument is completed by one master craftsman sort of like an AMG engine in a Mercedes. They only make 3 or 4 of this model for the world each year. The salesman suggested that if I ever went to Japan they could arrange a private factory tour for me as a token of appreciation. They also create a bronze plaque with the name of people who buy this model and place on a wall in the factory. It took several months to arrange all this since the factory was still recovering from their COVID lockdowns. My son has no interest in pianos, so I promised him a day at Tokyo Disney if he would accompany me to the tour. I work as an ER doctor and my schedule has yet to return to anything sane, so besides having some bonding time for my son and I, it was going to be a nice respite from the 60-80 hrs work weeks. I'm sad to hear that it will be more difficult to re-enter Japan going forward, because it was something of great interest to us.
If the topic of the piano tour did not come up in your interaction, then I really have no idea what happened here, except an error by the tour company in your visa application or by the agency that issued the visa. I would suggest pushing the tour company to get to the bottom of this and involving your local consulate as needed to make sure your next entry goes smoothly.
Just to add some commentary regarding another poster’s claim that the factory tour was a form of tourism, many immigration departments, including the USA, would consider visiting a factory to be a form of business intent even if we know that it’s really not. It’s just a risk when dealing with very difficult immigration departments who have wide latitude in interpreting a visitor’s intent, so asking the right questions beforehand is essential. I just wanted to make sure this topic did not come up in the OP’s interaction with this particular immigration inspector.