Yesterday morning I went off to get my Japanese driver’s license renewed. Here is the process.
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1. Go to the DMV renewal center. It is actually in a separate building from the DMV. I screwed this one up right off the bat.
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2. At the front desk hand over your current license. They download your info from the IC chip and then print out a form to fill out.
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3. Fill in the form with your updated information. In my case it was already up to date, so not much to do here. P.S. No English forms available.
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4. Go wait in line number 2 to pay your fee. 4600 yen.
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5. Go wait in line number 3 to double check your forms are correct. I missed one check box, but then I noticed that everyone else did, too.
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6. Go wait in line number 4 to take a vision test. Piece of cake.
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7. Go wait in line number 5 to triple check your forms are correct. No problem this time.
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8. Go wait in line A, B, or C depending on what time they want your lecture to start. At the front of the line they take your picture. No smiling!
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9. Go to a classroom and listen to a two hour lecture. Two hours because this is the first time to renew my license. If I don’t have any accidents in the next three years lecture time drops to 30 minutes. The lecture was common sense stuff, but the movie was great!
So that was it. I finished about 12:45, and then I went off to the office to help out with a couple of orientations for the next group of students. I did my best to scare them straight – we’ll see if it worked starting next week.
Today I’m doing a regular set of classes in the morning, and then sneaking off to a brewery in Osaka from 12 pm. Don’t tell anybody. I’m also bringing somebody who is playing hooky from his/her job, so I can’t give away their identity here. A full report on the brewery next time!
