getting my japanese license

a few years ago, the japanese government changed the law regarding international driver permits. previously, the law was such that if you returned to your home country and had your international permit renewed (the permits AAA issues expire in one year), as long as the license from your home country was valid, you could continue to drive in japan legally.

now when your international permit expires, you need to get the license from your home country converted into a japanese license. how difficult this is depends on what country you are from. americans have to take a driving test; canadians and brits don't. everyone has to take a very easy written test and a vision test.

this requires going to the license center during reception hours (reception hour, really: 8:30-9:00 a.m. and 1:00-1:30 p.m., monday-friday), with the following documents in hand:

• application form
• license from home country -- and previous, expired licenses, if applicable
• japanese translation of the foreign license
• this requires mailing the japan automobile federation (JAF) a photocopy of your license and 3000 yen postage plus 290 yen return postage via registered mail (540 yen, if memory serves). postage costs can be avoided by going to the JAF office, open 9-5:30, monday-friday.
• foreign residency certificate (600 yen at the city hall)
• alien registration card
• passport -- and previous passports, if applicable -- they will not give you a license without these!
  
• appropriately sized application photos (600-700 yen at a photo booth)
• money: 2400 yen for each time you take the driving test, plus a 1650 yen "issuance fee"

paperwork in hand, i went to the license center during spring break. i opted for the 1:00-1:30 reception hours -- i would've had to leave my apartment at 6:30 a.m. to arrive by 8:00. i'm not too familiar with that area of chiba, so i took the train (transferring twice) and a bus to get there. one-way train and bus fare: approximately 900 yen.

after a lot of waiting around, i took the ridiculously easy ten-question written test and the vision test. they then told me it was too late to take the driving test that day, and asked if i could come back in two weeks, but after a little pleading they said they could fit me in the following day -- the last day of spring break.

i failed the driving test the first time. if you've driven in japan for a few months, the course isn't too difficult, but they are very strict. the car they have you drive is a sedan, which is a little bigger than i'm accustomed to. i thought it was the tight "crank" turns that would be the death of me, but the reason for my failure is more embarrassing: i failed to stop fully behind the stop line. see, the car had a really long nose, and um, i'm pretty sure the tires were behind the stop line.... anyhow, that's automatic failure. "stark-san, do you notice where you've stopped? the test ends here."

i made an appointment to come back about five weeks later to take the test again. i had a weekday off in the interim, but there weren't any open appointments or cancellations, so i had to use half a vacation day to go the third time. fortunately, i had a friend who needed to go renew his license, so we drove there together, saving me trainfare. i bought him lunch.

and... i passed! i passed! i passed! you're allowed to back up and pull forward a maximum of three times on the crank turns, but i didn't have to do that even once. the examiner's only complaint was that i should have looked left, right, left, right before turning instead of just left, right, left.

after the test there was a lot of waiting in various rooms, and finally i was presented with my beautiful new license, valid through august 2009.