Is it? If I understand it correctly, in Japan, if you have a valid residence card, you can use that to enter the country. That is not true for the US (if you consider I-94 the US equivalent of residence card)
Yeah, my bad. After re-reading your original comment I think I was responding to the part that explains 'visa sticker grants entry, residence status is separate', but I have somehow missed the tail of 'you cannot enter w/o the sticker'. In Japan, the former is exactly the same shape but the latter is not. If you have a long-term residence status (and carry the card) you can enter the country on it alone.
There are some technicalities -- your passport has to carry the re-entry permit, but it's affixed to everyone who requests it at the port of exit, granted it's up to 1 yr.
