I need to sign a Power of Attorney in Brazil related to the sale of property owned by my wife. The problem is that we are living in Japan. The people in charge of the paperwork provided a "power of attorney" (in Portuguese) so a family member can sign for me. I am not a Japanese citizen, and also not a Brazilian citizen.
On advise from the local consulate I signed the Portuguese document in front of a Japanese public notary (kōshō yakuba), who confirmed that I signed, and attached an apostille.
After a few months it now seems that the document is not acceptable and that the best thing is to travel to Brazil to sign. Nobody can really explain why the document is not acceptable ... the answers range from "Japanese apostille is not accepted" to requirements for the document to be created in Japan(ese) and to be translated later.
So I guess the question is: how to create a Power of Attorney for another county, as a non-citizen of both the country of where the document is needed and of the country where it is signed. Both my consulate and the Brazilian consulate say a Japanese public notary can handle this.
I rather not get involved in the legal discussions, but I also would like to avoid travel (cost/time). It is hard to find any guidelines or information as to what is actually valid or required. Any suggestions or advise would be welcome.