Friday, August 31, 2012

Just so I post one more thing in August...

OK, so my brother came and we had a very good time traveling around and whatnot.  I didn't have much of a chance to post while he was around since we were busy and I also kind of wanted a break from posting.

But here's a quick summary and I promise to write more about the interesting parts later:

We went to four Nippon Professional Baseball games, saw three superhero movies, swam in two water parks, and we fed wild monkeys (don't worry, it was monkey-food!).

What could have been better?

Anyway, apparently there is a tsunami warning at the moment (not a major one) due to the big earthquake near the Philippines.  I'm not worried since we've had plenty of warning and I live on top of a steep hill.  I was actually more worried yesterday morning at around 4 o'clock when an earthquake woke me up suddenly (usually you can hear them coming but since it struck suddenly I knew that the epicenter had to be close).  That earthquake was a 4 on the Shindo Japanese scale according to the Japan Meteorological Agency and a 5.7 on the Richter scale.  Nothing in my room fell down or anything though, it wasn't that big.

That's all for now.  I'll write more soon!

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Getting a Japanese Driver's License - part 2 of (?)

Left at 8:45 and drove to Tome. Caught the 9:30 bus to Sendai. Dozed during the 1.5 hour ride. Arrived at Sendai station around 11. Got a quick snack then got the 15 min. subway to Izumi-chuo station. Randomly saw a teacher from my school, what are the chances? Around 11:30 got the number 5-2 bus to the Driving Center. Arrived with plenty of time to spare as the registration process goes from 1:00 to 1:30 so I sat in the foreigner waiting-area along with two guys.

I reviewed what Anne had told me about her test while eating another snack. To pass the time I looked at my JET diary (day planner) that also has random useful information like "How to read a nutrition label in Japan," "How to write an address on an envelope," and "Meanings of the most common Japanese road signs." Of course that last one turned out to be useful for the multiple-choice quiz. Between 1 o'clock and 1:30 I successfully handed in my proof of residence paper (which is a new requirement as of this month since they changed the foreigner registration system), I also passed my eye test and the multiple-choice quiz in that time period. The two other guys didn't pass (but as neither Japanese nor English were their native languages I guess it wasn't that surprising)- the test is offered only in Japanese, Korean, Chinese, and English I believe. One other foreigner showed up after that and he managed to pass (he had very good English). After taking the quiz I was given a map of the day's course and a booklet that contained tips about the practical (all in Japanese so it was mostly useless to me except for some sections that had pictures).

Here's a slightly skewed photo of the course map they gave me. The Driving center (starting point) is on the right. In the center of the course is a working traffic light. On the right-hand side in the middle of the page you can also see "the crank"- a series of 90 degree turns on a narrow road with small indents along the edges so you can tell very easily when you go off the road. Below the crank is the S-curve, which is pretty self-explanatory I guess (it also has the indented edges).

After waiting around with no indication of when the test would take place, around 3 PM I was suddenly called up along with the other guy who had passed the written quiz. That man was taking the standard-transmission test but since we were the only foreigners there and the cars were going to do the same course we both got into the manual car to observe one of the testers drive the course. I was planning to pay attention to when the instructor put on his blinkers before each turn but he had his hazard lights on so that was no help. He also went straight through the red-light in the center of the course even though it hadn't turned green yet, which seemed odd to me...

Once the tester finished showing us the course he told me to wait for the automatic-transmission car to come. It arrived almost immediately and then it was my turn to brave the course... sigh. I wish that more foreigners had been there that day since I would have requested to go a bit later so that I could observe them driving the course. If multiple people are there then you also have the chance to sit in the back seat while the person ahead of you in line goes (but of course, speaking during the test is prohibited). Before starting the test I asked if I could wear my sunglasses since it was a bit bright out but the tester told me that I couldn't since he needed to be able to see where I was looking... jerk. Also, before getting into the car you're expected to check the tires and all around and under the car (just in case any little kids or animals have scrambled under there in the last five seconds).

The first minute of the test was fine. I successfully got up to 50 km/hr (a whopping 31 mph) when instructed during the first straightaway and I made sure to stay closer-than-seemed-appropriate to the left curb. The car was large compared to the k-car I'm used to driving but it wasn't too bad. I made the first right turn and then a left at the traffic-light before turning into the crank. Almost immediately my back left tire went over the indent since my turn wasn't wide enough. Technically you're allowed to fall into the indent up to three times as long as you back up out of it and then continue but I wasn't quite sure what to do since my tire had gone into (and out of) the indent already. I figured that I had already failed since backing up would mean falling into the indent again. So, I just kept going and successfully managed to stay out of the indent after that (even though I knew it didn't matter at that point since I had already failed). Next I went left and through the intersection headed towards the S-curve. Unfortunately I didn't come to a complete... stop... at a stop-sign. That was just careless of me since even in Japan you're still supposed to wait three seconds... during the driving test. So the tester pointed out my mistake and then I managed to get through the S-curve. When making my final approach to the traffic-light intersection I was definitely feeling depressed since I knew that I had failed. I was supposed to turn right but I didn't get into the right-hand turn lane like I was supposed to since I completely didn't notice it. This may seem strange to you since in the US turning lanes are usually very clearly indicated with arrows and lines (white lines indicate the edge of the road and differentiate between turning lanes while yellow lines show you where the opposing lane begins). But in Japan all the lines are white so at a quick glance it's sometimes hard for me to tell whether a particular lane is on my side or in the opposing lane (especially if a turning lane is on a straightaway or if I'm out of it since I know that I just failed a test).

Anyway, the tester told me that I hadn't passed after giving me another recap of all of the parts I had messed up. He then gave me the pink paper of death (since I had failed) which said something like "go back to staff room." ...

Final recap of my wasted day:

two-way bus ticket from Tome: ¥2300
subway to Izumi-chuo: ¥390
bus from subway to Driving center: ¥170
bus back to Sendai station: ¥550

test "handling fee" (whatever that is): ¥2200
practical test fee: ¥1550

total: ¥7160 (approximately $90)

Getting this whole ordeal out of the way: priceless... I bet you saw that coming, haha.

I signed up to take the test again on Thursday since I'll be in Sendai anyway... picking up my brother from the airport! Next time I hope to tell you more about my planned trip with my brother (whom I will call Mike since I like that name). I can tell you that it will be truly epic since we will stay at five different hostels and travel at least 2,740km (~1,700 miles).