Working on getting some wheels here in Sendai. I fully intend on being a menace to the roads here. I just need a licence. I wasn't aware about getting an international driver's licence before leaving Canada. What it means is that many countries abroad have agreements with some sort of international convention where you can apply for an international driver's licence so you can drive in another country without going through the hassle of getting tested and etc. Well that plan was foiled because right before I left home, I had to get my driver's licence renewed because it would have expired while I was in Japan. I have since recieved my new driver's licence but I have a new snafoo to deal with.
According to Japanese bureaucracy (I prefer for call it a bureaucrazy instead) that I must have a driver's licence that was valid in the country I resided in for atleast 3 months while I lived there. The silly thing is that since I had my licence renewed right before I left, the "issued" date was somewhere in late April. They have no other way of confirming that I have been driving for.. well a long time.
I gave ICBC a call today in the morning to get a copy of my driver's record mailed to where I am in Japan. So I logged into the internet and made an internet-to-telephone call using something called skype. I pay about 2.5 cents per minute as opposed to the astronomical long distance rates they have in Japan. Once I got on the line with a ICBC rep I had to give him my address. I live in the Tohoku region of Japan so I was trying to spell out Tohoku to the poor guy on the other side of the phone. Things didn't start out so well when I said "I live in the Tohoku region... (this is me trying to spell it out over the phone)'T' as in 'Tea'..." yeah, it wasn't one of my brightest moments. Oh well, whoops :)
In a week, I hope to have my driving record and I'll be on my way to getting some real wheels in Japan. I'm going to need to travel on during the summer breaks here if I can get my studying done fast enough.
6 comments:
Justin driving in Japan? Aaagghhh! I thought you were just going to go green and stick to your bike?
Personally I would rather not drive in Japan...you're on the other side of the road and some of the streets I've seen are waaaaaay too narrow.
-hamburgerpatti-
Their cars are pretty narrow too but I'm not going to be getting a car actually~
I'm going to get a scooter first, which is going to be really really helpful since my lab is... on a mountain :P
The car is a nice to have, something I could rent once in a while to go on trips with friends or something like that. Actually, driving in Sendai isn't too horrible. The roads here are a little wider compared to some other parts of Japan.
"T" as in "Tea" eh Ho?? tsk tsk... that's why there's a phonetical (sp?) alphabet... A-Alpha, B-Bravo... T-Tango!... etc... =D
Matt
Radrex:
I'll utter some famous last words, but I'll be allright. Traffic here isn't so bad. I am on a "city" bicycle here going through traffic on the thing and yes, in some parts, I do ride on the road.
Wassup Matt:
It's been a while since my last flight lesson. Actually the last time I was in the air was with air-time Canada if you remember that. Totally fogotten about the phonetically alphabet.
You must be forgetful Ho... I took you flying well after that trip... =D
I'm not forgetful! I don't remember a time I forgot anything :)
I remember it now, flying was pretty sweet back in the day.
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