Hello,

sorry if this is off topic, I'm asking here because I'm assuming there are lot of people here who have experience travelling to Japan.
I'm going to Japan with AIESEC, hopefully I'll get my visa this week (I'm waiting for the "Certification of Eligibility" to arrive by mail, then it's off to the embassy) I've spent months planning everyhing and making sure I have all the affairs and paperwork in order.

Yesterday I read about a Slovak racer, who finished fifth in the motocycle class of the Dakar Rally (which was held in South America). They wrote in the article that his return home was delayed, because he planned to return through Miami but his request for US transit visa was denied.
Then it hit me. From the beginning I knew I'd have to switch planes somewhere mid-way. Direct lines are much more expensive (up to 4 times more expensive) and there isn't even that many of them. I am required to enter Japan through the Kansai International Airport, which limits my options even more. Further more, the transit points are all weird places like:
Taipei, Taiwan
Shanghai, China
Doha, Quatar
Moscow, Russia

What if they don't let me pass, because I don't have transit visa? What would happen to me if that were the case? Would I be stuck at the given airport?
This is from wikipedia:
"airside transit visa, required by some countries for passing through their airports even without going through immigration clearance."
I suppose this is the kind of visa I would need, to get off a plane at the airport and board another plane. How do I know which countries require airside transit visa? Does anyone have experience with obtaining this visa?

First, any country that lets you enter without visa or with visa-on-arrival also let's you transit through. You most likely don't need a visa for Taiwan, so that's a good transit point and a nice airport.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visa_requir...k_citizens

You should check the websites of the countries' embassies in question for information, but my guess is that you definitely would need a transit visa for China and Russia.

Doha might work, but you need to check with the airline you would fly with. Hong Kong probably won't ask for a transit visa either (I once spent 24 hours there at the airport because of a typhoon, without passing through customs, and didn't show my passport until I boarded the next flight).

Very few countries require a transit visa if you don't leave the international area of the airport ie: just passing though the airport, since you don't go through passport control.

I need visas for pretty much everywhere, so my first stop is always Project Visa.

I'm not aware of any law or a treaty that grants Poles special treatment so I assume we'd be treated exactly the same during transit. I went with Moscow: didn't do any additional paperwork beforehand (ticket+passport was all I had), no problems, cute waitresses and new terminal is really nice (free wifi too).

From what I understand as long as you don't leave the airport you don't need anything if you're transferring. I think that driver had problems because US is just f#$% crazy right now when it comes to crossing their borders or maybe your guy had a colorful history and they just didn't want him there (criminal charges, possession etc.) press tends to omit these kind of details when they want to make a story out of nothing.

To be 100% certain check with your consulate, you'd probably want to talk to them anyway.

Thank you for your answers. I think I'll go with Taipei. I tried calling their embassy today, I got the answering machine. I'll try again tomorrow, if they don't pick up I'll pay them a visit. Curiously enough their embassy in Slovakia doesn't seem to have a website.