We called to book an appointment using a coupon we found online, and discovered we could have everything done in one day for about 240,000yen (with past exchange rate, about $2000 USD).
This blog post by Grace Buchele Mineta describes the full procedure.
"Tough love" is just the right phrase: love for the rich and privileged, tough for everyone else. Chomsky ..................................................................................................................................................................................... Usually, terrible things that are done with the excuse that progress requires them are not really progress at all, but just terrible things.