What a wasted day.
| 9:00 am | Babysitter arrives |
| 9:45 | Depart for Kyoto DMV, for an 11:00am filing deadline |
| (drive 55 minutes) | |
| 10:40 | Arrive at Kyoto DMV |
| 10:50 | File paperwork to obtain my Japanese driver's license (window #8, main building, upstairs).
This was my third trip, so I knew I had all the paperwork needed:
Because I previously had a Japanese driver's license, they'll let me convert my US license to a new Japanese one without taking the written and driving tests, which I think is just wonderful. |
| (wait 57 minutes) | |
| 11:47 | Application has been accepted, now need to do a few more thing to complete... |
| 11:49 | Paid $60 or so of fees (window #2A, main building, downstairs). |
| 11:52 | Took a simple eye test (room #3, main building, downstairs). |
| 11:57 | Re-filed paperwork at original place (window #8, main building, upstairs). |
| (wait 7 minutes) | |
| 12:05 | Am told to appear at window #6 (main building, downstairs) at 2:10pm. Bring $15 and a pen. License will be ready, the paper says, by 3:45pm. |
| (wait 1 hour 45 minutes; have lunch with Fumie, who was there to start her paperwork as well) | |
| 1:50 | I start to wait at window #6. I'm first in line. |
| (continue waiting another 24 minutes) | |
| 2:10 | Window #6 remains closed; I worry that I'm in the wrong spot. |
| 2:14 | Window #6 opens, lady makes a long announcement to assembled unwashed masses. |
| 2:16 | Lady repeats long announcement. |
| 2:18 | I get some (different)
paperwork from lady, and inspect. I find what looks like an error with my name, so go to window #4 (main building, downstairs) as per the announcement and find that it's not a mistake, but the best they could do with my long name. (Most Japanese names are three to five characters long, and “JEFFREY ERIC FRANCIS FRIEDL” is a bit longer than they're used to). |
| 2:19 | Go to window 2A again and pay another $15. Also pay another $10 as a “donation” when so requested, to the local “traffic safety association”. |
| 2:20 | Go to room #7 (main building, downstairs) to have picture taken for license. Amazingly, all the others who were ahead of me had already finished. (I went from first in line to last in line when I checked about the potential name mistake.) A congenial man with a very pleasant manner very quickly took my photo. |
| (wait 42 minutes) | |
| 3:02 | Someone makes an announcement and a few people start heading to a test-taking room. Congenial photo-taking man is there, so I head over to him to ask where I should be at 3:45 when my license is supposed to be ready, but before I reach him he sees me and smiles, and waves me into the room along with a dozen or so others. I worry I'm going to have to take some kind of test! |
| 3:04 | Congenial man explains how
to fill out one of the papers we had (basically, “write your name and
the date, stamp with your personal seal in these spots”), then calls
people up to pick up their license.
My number, 804, was called first:  I notice that they couldn't fit my full name on the front; it's hand written in full in the notes section on the back. Although I was licenced in Japan for many years before, since it expired, this is now again treated as my first license. Therefor, it's good for a maximum of three years before I have to renew. Specifically, it's good until one month past your third birthday after being issued. Since my birthday is in two months, it's good for two years two months from now. |
| 3:10 | Head home.... |
| (drive 50 minutes) | |
| 4:00 | Arrive home, wondering why it all had to be such a long, complicated ordeal. I'm so lucky, at least, that I didn't have to take the two tests (written and driving) that most people have to take when converting a foreign license. Fumie's never had a Japanese driver's license, so she'll have to take them. Ugh. |
Oh I am so not looking forward to doing this
Might just be being paranoid, but is putting up the image as is wise? Some obscuring / fuzzification of the image may be in order.
On the other hand the whole identity == drivers licence may be moot in Japan, so…
Hah, yes, of course. I changed the license number to something pseudo-random before posting.
(It’s not totally random because I used only digits that were in the original).
I think it’s nicer if it looks as if it hasn’t been obscured, even though it has.
>Also pay another $10 as a “donation”
—That Kyoto-fu Kotsu Anzen Kyokai (Kyoto prefectural traffic safety association?) fee that you don’t have to pay.
They do all most nothing, just feeding retired police persons. I have never paid the donation for nothing =(
http://www.kyoto-ankyo.or.jp/
btw Jeff, I was told I have start the paperwork for a license months ahead of time. Is this true? (I will have to take the driving test.)
I was going to comment on the unobscured number — very clever.
Claton, take what I say with a grain of “each prefecture may be different” salt, but no, I don’t think it’s true. If you have a foreign license, the only paperwork preparation you need is an official translation from JAF (Japan Auto Federation), which runs 3,000 yen and takes just a few minutes for them to type up. Then, bring that with your gaijin card, foreign license, passport (showing that you were in said foreign country for a three month period sometime after the foreign license was issued), a photo (which you can probably get on or near the DMV), money, and a book of your choice to pass the time with.
Whether you must take a test and what kind of test you must take depends on the country that issued your license. If it’s Germany, for example, you don’t need to take the test. If a US state, you do. (Countries which have submitted paperwork to Japan about traffic death statistics that meet a certain criteria are exempt from the test. The US has not bothered submitting such paperwork.)
That’s the paperwork preparation. It’s also good to prepare for the driving test by doing a practice session. Being able to drive skillfully and safely does not even come close to guaranteeing that you’ll pass. Being a monkey able to jump through hoops is not enough — you must be able to jump through their hoops, in just the right way. I know someone with 6+ years of driving experience in America who has so far failed three times.
A 14-digit licence number gives a hint that it’s been obscured. In contrast, the only visible obscurity in the address is one of the Kanji, which I could probably look up if I weren’t lazy. I’d worry about the address. This is probably enough for Yahoo executives to figure out where you live.
All these years and I didn’t realize that we are close to the same age…
Unless of course you have altered that also?
How generous is this ‘previously had a Japanese Driver’s license’?
I will be returning to Japan and would prefer not to have to take the tests.
My Japanese driver’s license expired in Heisei 9.
Is there some web site with the details about converting with an expired Japanese license?