Japanese Drivers License

I took a half day off today and a half day off last week to take care of getting a Japanese drivers license. When you are a permanent resident, you can only use an International Permit for your first year. After that, you have to get a Japanese drivers license.

If you are from Europe, Australia, Hong Kong, or another half-dozen countries, this is a simple paperwork process. Those lucky people do not have to take any tests. Americans do have to take a written and practical driving test, though. Based on what I could research on the Internet, this is because drivers licenses are issued by the states and not the federal government so Japan cannot create a single, unified rule for all American drivers licenses. Americans still have a paperwork process to go through, though. You have to get your driver’s license translated at the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) and then bring that, your foreigner registration card (外国人登録証明書 gaikokujin tōroku shōmeisho), a new photo, and passport to your local office. They will take the paperwork, give you a quick eye-test, give you the written test, and get you an appointment for the driving test.

The written test is ultra, ultra simple. It was a ten question, true or false test and you were allowed to miss two questions. The questions were so easy that you would have to be very tired not to get a perfect score.

The practical test is a lot tougher. Very few people who take the test pass on the first time because the inspectors are extremely picky. If you search on the expat sites about driver’s licenses, you will find a lot of people complaining about the practical test. You have to drive letter perfect and with exaggerated care in order to pass. There is a wiki site for the Ehime driver’s test that recommends that you actually vocalize your safety checks (Mirror OK! No one left, no one right, OK!, etc.) That might be a little overkill, I suppose, but it does get you past the test.

I took my test this morning but managed to fail it. The car needed a lot more brake than I was used to so I overshot a stop line early in the test and that was an automatic fail. Today was not really a fun morning… Oh well, I try again in two weeks.

A little humor for the morning

This is funny for anyone who's traveled in Japan or China. Though, to be fair, the quality of English signs in Japan is a lot better than it was 10 or 15 years ago. I assume that Japanese marketers advertisers got tired of being teased about it and spent more time on translations. Quality of English signs in China is pretty bad, though. From talking to the people from China at the office, everyone thinks that since there are fewer English speakers in China, it is harder to get a proofreader.

One year - exact

February 15th is my exact one year anniversary of arriving in Japan, according to the date stamped in my passport. This year has gone past pretty dang fast but I guess that isn't too surprising considering how many things have changed.

My next major challenge is filing my American taxes. I've decided not to do them myself after I started to read IRS Publication 54 which is 40+ pages long and insanely complicated. Just trying to figure out the "physical presence" rules was confusing. Maybe I can go back to doing them myself next year or the year after but not this year.

I found a tax accountant in Hawaii that specializes in providing tax services for people living in Japan. He was well recommended in expat community websites here in Japan. We'll see how it turns out.

Almost the one year mark

In less than two weeks, I will hit the one year anniversary of my arrival in Japan. It seems to have been a very fast year. My first day in the office was the 25th of Febuary but I got to Japan about two weeks in advance. I think I'll arrange some sort of party, celebration, or something. Japan is a pretty good place for a fancy night out...