[nihonde]

As someone who carries a Zairyu card, I can attest to the weirdness of Japanese bureaucracies. The silver lining is that, in my experience, most (all?) ward offices are staffed with helpful people who generally are good about chasing down answers and maintaining a can-do attitude about bureaucratic matters. The waits aren't usually too long either. You can definitely get caught in some Kafkaesque loops though.