[Stitchawl]

I have a feeling that a lot of this is Thailand's revenge on Japan's policy of forcing Thai women to have a bank account balance of $250,000 USD before they will issue a tourist visa to unmarried Thai women.

Spoiler:

(Their reasoning is that all young Thai women want to come to Japan to become prostitutes because in Japan they can charge $300-$500 per customer while in Thailand they can only get $20--$30. If they have a quarter mil in the bank, then obviously they aren't coming to Japan to turn tricks. Of course, as the Yakuza control all the prostitution in Japan, they simply put the money into a girls account, get her visa, then move the money to the next girl's bank.)

15 years ago, several of us pooled our money to help out a colleague who wanted to bring his Thai fiancee to Japan. We loaned her the money, she got the bank statement proving she had it, had her visa issued, then returned the money to us. Once here, they married and she was able to obtain a Spouse visa without needing the big bucks.

Stitchawl