Originally Posted by
MSPeconomist
It would help to know the following:
1. Did the travel agent actually send the OP the ERFS document?
2. What did the email to the OP say about the attached "visa"? If the travel agent emailed something to the OP that the travel agent identified as a visa, IMO the situation was totally the travel agent's fault.
I googled it and it looks like that this is a sample of an ERFS document below. So what likely happened is that all three of the JP tour agent, the traveler, and the UA gate agent mistook this for a Visa...It slipped through three layers without being caught...
See also this brief description of the process by a blogger...
Japan Non-Guided Tour & ERFS Issuance For Tourist Visa Purposes