To get a Japanese drivers license and catch a killer at the same day.
29th June 2006
Getting a Japanese drivers license requires persistence. Be ready to go to the DMV at least two or three times before you get it. It is a Kafkaesque experience because there are two sets of rules. The ones listed and the secret ones. No doubt you will not know all the secret rules. No way by your first visit. Reading this text will help you get your Japanese drivers license. And hopefully entertain you as well.
You do not need to make an appointment. But you do have to find out when it is open. In Yokohama it is open everyday between 8.30 and 9.30. And 12.30 to 1.30. Make sure first to go to the right DMV. If you live in Yokohama you can not go to the Tokyo DMV. You must go to the one in Yokohama.
The process that I describe here is for changing your foreign drivers license to a Japanese one. First your country must be valid for change. Austria is not. But most other countries are.
The first thing you see in this department is a sign that says “Nobody speaks English here, bring your own interpreter.” It is a good idea to bring someone with at least a decent level of conversational Japanese. Because the questions are many. First you sign your name on list attached to clipboard. Write it in katakana. Then sit down and wait for them to call your name.
By now you have plenty of time to check everything you brought. You will need:
One photograph of you for the application. Passport style. Small. I took my photo in a photo booth in Japan. The size for ID cards is the right one. 30 x 40 mm. But you have to go to the photo corner at the DMV to have your photo cut. They punch out a smaller 24 x 30 mm from your 30 x 40 photo. And just so that you know, this is not the photo that will end up on your license, but we will get to that.
Drivers license. Not to forget also a written translation of it. Check with your embassy if they provide that service. Mine did.
Passport and with photocopies are also needed. If you have expired passports, bring them too if you can. They will ask for them.
Alien registration card. (Gajin card) If you went through the procedure to get this document you are well prepared to battle the Japanese DMV.
In order to change your license to a Japanese one you must be able to prove that you have lived in your home country at least six months after you got your license. This is one of the secret rules. To support this you need a document of some kind. But they will not tell if it will be valid or not until they see it.
After I handed in my documents I strolled around the place waiting. The Japanese Red Cross have put up a somewhat permanent outpost just outside the building. They want you to donate blood. Good idea, people here have plenty of time. Waiting. Maybe people will think about getting in a car crash and need blood. “If I, You know, now, give, maybe I will be cosmically rewarded later, kinda.” I gave none of my blood. My wife does sometimes. Hers, that is.
Posted on the wall was a picture of a murderer. A classic “Wanted” ad. You would think. Only the physical description was so hilarious I laughed so hard I got tears in my eyes. Check this out. It is true. If you don’t believe me, check with someone who can read Japanese. First it says “lefthanded”. Ok, that’s good. Maybe I see the guy writing something. Then it is added. “But not when catching a ball, then he uses his right hand”. See, whenever I meet a murderer I wouldn’t play catch with them. Hmm, lets see now, this guy. Didn’t he write with his left hand before? But now he is actually catching a ball with his RIGHT hand. Oh, no, must be a murderer.
It gets worse. Next line reads “this man can not use his chopsticks very well”. So be careful people. After you have played catch with that nice stranger and you sit down for a meal, watch him. Because if he fails to pick up his noodles with his chopsticks, he might very well be, yes, a murderer.
Well, it turned out that the expiration date on my Swedish drivers license was different from other Swedish licenses that they had seen. It looked strange, they thought. So they asked me to get a document that explained why expiration date looked funny! Ok, I had to leave without my Japanese license. One of the secret rules got turned against me.
To be continued.
Related articles:
Getting a japanese drivers license II My second battle with the bureaucrats at the Japanese DMV.
