Japanese Driver License Part 2 (a.k.a. That's what you get for telling the truth)

OK, so I went to Google Maps and recon'd the route from our apartment to the DMV. No big deal, just a couple of highways, no tolls, and a couple of turns. The main difficulty with such a drive is that our tiny family car has no Navigation Computer or "navicom". There is no guarantee that the road you want to turn on to will have a name or a number clearly marked. Most Japanese roads have no name at all, actually, which is befuddling for an American, to say the least. Lord knows how the postmen deliver the mail in this country, but they do with mysterious accuracy. Except for the guy who apparently throws various random pieces of mail into the rain gutter outside my in-laws' mailbox. Weird. In any case, Japanese road systems and navigation are best left for a separate post, I think. It would take too much time to explain here.

We got up early because as I believe I previously described, you have to be there within a 30 minute window or you are out of luck, and if it's crowded you may be out of luck anyway because they only take so many applicants per day. Also, there was a small paper sign there on the window indicating that on particular dates they would only take up to 12 applicants. Luckily the day we went was not busy, nor limited. We found free parking close by, signed in on the clip board and I was number 3 on the list. Seemingly going very smoothly at this point. Man, I was ready. I was even prepared to take the true false test and the eye exam which have some challenges you may not think of at first. On the true false test, you must mark your answers Japanese style: "O" for True and "X" for False. Then, the eye exam is a series of "C's" on each of which you must tell them which way the ends of the letter are pointing: up (ue), down (shita), left (hidari), or right (migi) in Japanese. After not getting lost on the way there, I should have been alerted to the fact that it was too easy thus far.


My name is called, and I go up to the desk. I lay out my translated California license, my passport, foreigner card, etc. I'm ready for anything except what the guy asks first. "So, are you in the military?" I think the haircut gave it away. As an officer and a gentleman, honor is my touchstone, so of course I say "Yes". Please revisit Part 1 below to read about my buddy who was failed after telling the truth in order to further appreciate the irony of my own situation. Doh! My first and last mistake of the day. I thought the 10 question true or false test was going to be my greatest challenge of the day, and I ended up failing the one question test that I didn't anticipate. Always expect the unexpected, but no one expects the Spanish Inquisition.

So, it turns out that when you're on SOFA status and you have a military license already you are not allowed to have a concurrent Japanese license. Something about not wanting you to rack up 5 accidents and 20 parking tickets on one license and then just whipping out the clean one the next time the cops stop you. How paranoid of them, with me being so honest and all. It seems that when you are a month out from the end of your tour, you can get paperwork indicating that this is the case and you can return to apply for your Japanese license. Great.

Thus, dejected at the time, effort and 3,000 Yen for translating my old license wasted, but still authorized to drive on the wrong side of the road, we left and went home empty handed except for the experience. One more well planned mission with no tangible results. There is always a silver lining however, as it turns out that the DMV is one of the best places in Japan to watch flocks of 20 year old girls in short skirts as they come to take their tests. ;-)