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  • fuckedgaijin ‹ General ‹ F*cked News

Japanese Driving license

Odd news from Japan and all things Japanese around the world.
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104 posts • Page 4 of 4 • 1, 2, 3, 4

Postby Mike Oxlong » Wed Mar 18, 2009 8:33 pm

I've heard that for a reciprocal agreement to be in place, the Japanese require the accident rate to be equivalent or better than their own, and for their own citizens to be able to transfer over easily in the other country. It's much easier for Canada's 13 provinces and territories to share the data with Japan, and to make it easy for Japanese citizens to transfer over to licenses in those Canadian jurisdictions. Also, the way the accident stats are done in Japan makes it appear as though the death rate is relatively low, making it hard for some areas to be comparable to the Japanese rates. I think in Japan if a death occurs up to two days post accident it counts as a traffic fatality, where as in the States it is up to 30 days or more...
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Postby Samurai_Jerk » Wed Mar 18, 2009 10:29 pm

It must be an inaka thing because I just did the paper work and written test for gaimen kirikae at the Samezu Test Center in Tokyo on Tuesday. I had to fill out two short yes/no questionnaires: one about driving offenses in Japan and one regarding health problems that might interfere with driving. The other form with my address and nationality was filled out for me based on my Gaijin Card. My license has been renewed since I came to Japan so I brought my two previous ones to prove I had been a licenced driver in the US long enough before coming. I submitted all the required documents and ID then I took the eye test and embarassingly easy written test and reserved my driving test date. I was a little worried because one of my expired licenses was renewed by mail (possible in Washington State) so it didn't have a photo on it, but that didn't phase them. The whole process took about an hour and a half, everyone was friendly, and I was never asked any weird or prying questions.

However, when I was on JET in Saitama from '98 to '01 a lot of my friends from various countries had trouble getting their licenses. They were usually rejected based on their paper work and never even allowed to take the written test despite having everything they were supposed to. Fucking weird.

Anyway, here's what the US embassy says about why Americans still have to take the test:

The driver test consists of hearing, eyesight, written and practical/road test components. Citizens of 21 countries, not including the United States, are exempt from taking everything but the eye test. Some of these countries met the exemption requirement because the NPA examined their domestic traffic safety record and determined that it was at least as good as Japan's. Other nations exempt Japanese license holders from a driving test.

Canada received approval on February 1, 2003 after a lengthy (3-4 years) review. Canada had to submit responses to a lengthy questionnaire, regarding each of the country's 13 provinces and territories. In order for the U.S. to be exempt from the driver test requirement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs must instruct the Japanese Embassy in Washington to contact each of the 50 states and provide them with a questionnaire. Once the 50 individual questionnaires are collected, they will be translated into Japanese and studied by the National Police Agency. In addition to individual state safety records and procedures for acquiring a license, the National Police Agency will be looking closely to see if each of the 50 individual states exempt holders of valid Japanese licenses from taking state road and written tests.

We shared with the NPA statistics which showed that the United States had a risk value much lower than that of Japan's with respect to fatalities as a share of vehicle kilometers traveled. We were told that the Japanese police still needed to see the safety records of each individual state. The Police are also concerned to see if each of the 50 individual states exempt holders of valid Japanese licenses from taking state road and written tests (many do not).
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Postby kusai Jijii » Thu Mar 19, 2009 7:18 am

omae mona wrote: Kusai jijii, just out of curiosity - I know it's a stretch - but is it possible you didn't have adequate supporting paperwork?


Ah, no. Remember, I had already HELD a Japanese licence for over five years. I had everything they neeeded, but was simply out of the country when I was due to go for my nenewal lecture (for two months). I even had my passport with me to validate that. I (reluctantly) accepted their decision that my licence was no longer valid, and was prepared to do another gaimen kirikae, but I'm fucked if I know how it suddely became difficult the second time around. My guess is that i was being 'punished' for not having attended the renewal lecture or something.
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Postby Greji » Thu Mar 19, 2009 11:21 am

FG Lurker wrote:Canadian licenses are issued by province, there is no national license in Canada or national licensing standards.

Admittedly there are 50 different US licenses and only 13 different Canadian ones, but I think there must be some other reason the US hasn't entered into this agreement system that many countries have. States-rights issues? Possibly lack of data sharing between states as someone mentioned above, making it possible for one person to have separate licenses in multiple states?


The first problem Lurk, is that the individual states in the US do not want to give up revenue generated by the licensing process. There have been efforts to get a standardized national license (I think there's even one going on now), but it keeps getting shot down in congress.

The Japanese hold that they cannot translate and continually update DMV laws for 50 different states, so US citizens in Japan go through the different process.
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Postby Coligny » Thu Mar 19, 2009 4:40 pm

Fr@ck.. just got mine... finally...

Somebody know a cheap reseller for CLS's ?
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Postby Samurai_Jerk » Thu Mar 19, 2009 5:04 pm

Greji wrote:The first problem Lurk, is that the individual states in the US do not want to give up revenue generated by the licensing process. There have been efforts to get a standardized national license (I think there's even one going on now), but it keeps getting shot down in congress.


What's going on now is not so much a push for nationalized system of issuing driving licenses as a push to have a nationalized system for determining identity. Many states and Americans are against this on principle. I think it's kind of silly to be against it though because everyone already has to register for a social security number by law anyway so it's not like we don't already have a Federal registry for all citizens.
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Postby GomiGirl » Wed Jul 08, 2009 2:41 pm

OMG- jsut got back from trying to renew my licence. But they wanted us to sit through some lame video for 2 hours so we bolted. Have to go back though and sit through it but just couldn't spare the time today.

Do they care if you bring a book or a game or sleep?

Is it really 2 farking hours worth?
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Postby Greji » Wed Jul 08, 2009 3:20 pm

GomiGirl wrote:Is it really 2 farking hours worth?


Only for you felons....
And it is a long boring video and and equally boring dude lecturing. But, sitting there, watching and listening, is the only way you are going to get your license renewed.

BTW they did have signs all over saying no books, or magazines are allowed and violations of that policy could get you thrown out. But you could possible get by with that sneaky Gomi smile. If it is the same old cogger from when I last went, he may want you to go into the loo with him, so he can personally review your case and stamp your papers...:cool:
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Postby Behan » Wed Jul 08, 2009 3:50 pm

If you have a gold license the boring video and speech they make you sit through is shorter.
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Postby Greji » Wed Jul 08, 2009 4:01 pm

Behan wrote:If you have a gold license the boring video and speech they make you sit through is shorter.


That must be new, 'cause I didn't have to sit through anything when I had a "Goldie", but then I got nailed back to back for an illegal U-turn and talking on a keitai, and have had to go through the felon's course.....
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Postby Behan » Wed Jul 08, 2009 4:31 pm

Maybe it's just a Chiba thing since we are in one of the worst prefectures for traffic fatalaties. I renewed it last year and if memory serves it was something like an hour long. But when you get out of the video and lecture they have your license waiting for you.
I think part of the lecture was about the change in penalties for things like drunk driving.

I heard the lecturer out your way next time will be:


Image

(It took a while for me to find even this on a Google image search:( )
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Postby Greji » Wed Jul 08, 2009 4:41 pm

Behan wrote:Maybe it's just a Chiba thing since we are in one of the worst prefectures for traffic fatalaties. I renewed it last year and if memory serves it was something like an hour long. But when you get out of the video and lecture they have your license waiting for you.
I think part of the lecture was about the change in penalties for things like drunk driving.


And you didn't have any moving violations?
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Postby Behan » Wed Jul 08, 2009 4:43 pm

Do loose bowel movements count? I usually have my Depends on and am safe.
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Postby Greji » Wed Jul 08, 2009 4:59 pm

Behan wrote:Do loose bowel movements count? I usually have my Depends on and am safe.

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Depending on the video, it sounds like you had the same course that I, a convicted violator of the movements had to go through (except, I had to do the old boy exam, reserved for old farts without depends). The W hole process smells and with that I still only got the blue license.....
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