My sexy new Japanese Drivers License


Ever since I first came here almost a year ago, I've been hearing all sorts of horror stories about the lengendary Aomori department of motor vehicles. While Japan has by far the best customer service in the world, their DMV's still strictly adhere to the rules of horrible service that all DMV's around the globe follow. Japan even takes it up a notch in ways that would make Patty and Selma proud. I've been in Japan long enough to be used to jumping through lots of hoops to do the simplest task, and the mounds of paper work associated with each hoop. Most of this is just the result of the Japanese obession with paper work and protocol, but I believe the DMV has a different motive. They don't want people (especially gaijin) to drive. I won't bore you with the details of all the papers I had to sign, and all the ID's and documents I had to provide or all the rip-off fees I had to pay in order to transfer my Canadian driver's license over to a Japanese one. I don't think I could even remember the whole process anyway. Suffice to say that without Melanie and my supervisor Chieko helping me out with this, there is no way in Hell I could have ever gotten this done. Melanie is an old pro at this and has dealt with the nit wits at the Aomori DMV enough times that she knows all their tricks. Some poor America sapp from Misawa was there at the same time as me and was turned away because of some minor infraction. Better luck next time soldier! I had to sit down with some cranky old woman and be interogated about my driving history. Well, not so much about my driving history really but my original driving test... the one I took 11 years ago! I was asked such easy to remember information as:


On what date did I get my first driver's license?

How many hours did I spend driving while on my learner's permit?
How many questions were on my written test?

How many minutes was my practical driving test?


I of course exagerated all my answers as I feared that if they sounded inadequate, then no license for me! I think I maybe had 15 questions on my written test, but I told her 50, etc.


Melanie later explained to me that every time she comes, the questions are completely different. The DMV jerks just want to trip you up so that they don't have to issue you a license. I don't know if this is the result of extreme laziness, racism or just a strong concern for the safety of motorists. Personally, I think it's mostly the first reason, with maybe a pinch of the second.


After two hours of sitting, waiting and watching Melanie fill out forms in Japanese I finally got my little piece of plastic (pictured above). Note the green highlighted section, which says something to the effect of "Beware, first time driver". I just love Japanese bureaucracy.