waiting for a free car!
updates from sendai ... i successfully converted my singapore drivers' license into a japanese license and can now drive legally in japan! yippeee!
the process of getting the license changed was slightly tedious ...
first, i had to get my singapore license officially translated into japanese... it cost 3000yen at the Japanese Automobile Federation (JAF) and only took a 30min wait. my only gripe was that they didn't translate it completely and left out a very important piece of information. the PASS DATE. how on earth can you miss that out???? seems that in japan, the pass date is the same as your license Issue Date. so well. my issue date was like.. 3 years after my pass date.
the day after i got the translation done. i headed down to miyagi prefecture's driving license centre. i got there at 9am, thanks to this lovely bus driver who personally drove me TO the centre because i had stupidly missed the bus stop by miles... only to find out that the registration process for conversion of foreign licenses started at 1PM! so ensued a time of reading materials and waiting till the time came.
at 1pm, i went into a room where we had to fill out this form detailing every single flight in and out of singapore from the time we passed our driving test.....
which of course was no problem for me because i LOST MY PASSPORT and only received my new passport 3mths before i was due to leave for japan for further studies! lucky me, or so i thought.
the guy started counting the days i was in singapore after my singapore license was issued and we ended up with only 86 days!
I NEEDED TO PROVE THAT I STAYED IN SINGAPORE FOR 90 DAYS AFTER MY LICENSE WAS ISSUED BEFORE I COULD BE ELIGIBLE FOR JAP PASSPORT CONVERSION.
CRAP.
but lucky me, somehow my brain decided to work that day and i very quickly told me... "how about if you count the day from which this passport was issued, to the day on which i left singapore for japan?" (this happened to be about 3mths, i think)
and he said, "OH YEAH, i think we can do that"
and that is the story of how i scraped through the conditions for converting my license.
that was all i could do that day. they told me that i could come back the next day to take the paper test and the practical (driving) test. and i did just that
the paper test:
it was a simple matter of 10 questions - written in both english and japanese! this is a special test for foreigners, so dont' u go thinking that the japanese have it easy okay? i think their test is quite complicated with 100 questions or more.
example of one the questions:
1. if the traffic light turns red,
a) cars should stop
b) cars should proceed
c) cars should proceed with caution
d) cars should go
i'm sure you get the idea. anyway, i aced the paper test (of course!)
the practical test:
this was a bit nerve wracking because i'd heard and read so much about how people take the test 5-6 times and still fail!!!
anyway, i went to see the course (within the centre grounds) and was quite surprised because
1) there were hardly any cars on the course (i only saw 1 - 2 cars!)
2) there were no arrow signs to mark a one-way/two-way streets.
3) pple where taking their tests using TAXIS! taxis with their side mirrors attached to the front of the car bonnet instead of near the window (like normal sedans)
anyway, i'd applied for a test on a manual transmission. so when my turn came, i got into the taxi, and very very nervously, started the car, and realised that... the taxi was so old, that the gears were rattling and the biting point for the clutch was like DAMN LOW. i panicked so much that i didn't know how to look at the mirrors at the front bonnet of the taxi. i was too frightened to accelerate too much (for fear of exceeding the 50kmph speed limit), and i didn't know the test route and so was highly dependent on the instructions of the tester (which were in japanese) and in my highly nervous state, i went RIGHT when he told me to go LEFT. sigh.
anyway i failed. *sad*
the very next day, i retook the test (yes you can retake as many times as you want, but you have to pay more each time you take the test.
the next day, i got the same tester! (he recognized me, but didn't say anything) and i was thinking... oooh myyy gaaaawd... but oh well whatever, just drive and do my thing!
and i passed!!!! yipppeee~ thanks to mom who spent quite a lot of time negotiating/bargaining/pleading with the Lord to give this little weenie her jap license.
now all i have to do is wait for someone to give me a car for free!! yippppeeee!
the process of getting the license changed was slightly tedious ...
first, i had to get my singapore license officially translated into japanese... it cost 3000yen at the Japanese Automobile Federation (JAF) and only took a 30min wait. my only gripe was that they didn't translate it completely and left out a very important piece of information. the PASS DATE. how on earth can you miss that out???? seems that in japan, the pass date is the same as your license Issue Date. so well. my issue date was like.. 3 years after my pass date.
the day after i got the translation done. i headed down to miyagi prefecture's driving license centre. i got there at 9am, thanks to this lovely bus driver who personally drove me TO the centre because i had stupidly missed the bus stop by miles... only to find out that the registration process for conversion of foreign licenses started at 1PM! so ensued a time of reading materials and waiting till the time came.
at 1pm, i went into a room where we had to fill out this form detailing every single flight in and out of singapore from the time we passed our driving test.....
which of course was no problem for me because i LOST MY PASSPORT and only received my new passport 3mths before i was due to leave for japan for further studies! lucky me, or so i thought.
the guy started counting the days i was in singapore after my singapore license was issued and we ended up with only 86 days!
I NEEDED TO PROVE THAT I STAYED IN SINGAPORE FOR 90 DAYS AFTER MY LICENSE WAS ISSUED BEFORE I COULD BE ELIGIBLE FOR JAP PASSPORT CONVERSION.
CRAP.
but lucky me, somehow my brain decided to work that day and i very quickly told me... "how about if you count the day from which this passport was issued, to the day on which i left singapore for japan?" (this happened to be about 3mths, i think)
and he said, "OH YEAH, i think we can do that"
and that is the story of how i scraped through the conditions for converting my license.
that was all i could do that day. they told me that i could come back the next day to take the paper test and the practical (driving) test. and i did just that
the paper test:
it was a simple matter of 10 questions - written in both english and japanese! this is a special test for foreigners, so dont' u go thinking that the japanese have it easy okay? i think their test is quite complicated with 100 questions or more.
example of one the questions:
1. if the traffic light turns red,
a) cars should stop
b) cars should proceed
c) cars should proceed with caution
d) cars should go
i'm sure you get the idea. anyway, i aced the paper test (of course!)
the practical test:
this was a bit nerve wracking because i'd heard and read so much about how people take the test 5-6 times and still fail!!!
anyway, i went to see the course (within the centre grounds) and was quite surprised because
1) there were hardly any cars on the course (i only saw 1 - 2 cars!)
2) there were no arrow signs to mark a one-way/two-way streets.
3) pple where taking their tests using TAXIS! taxis with their side mirrors attached to the front of the car bonnet instead of near the window (like normal sedans)
anyway, i'd applied for a test on a manual transmission. so when my turn came, i got into the taxi, and very very nervously, started the car, and realised that... the taxi was so old, that the gears were rattling and the biting point for the clutch was like DAMN LOW. i panicked so much that i didn't know how to look at the mirrors at the front bonnet of the taxi. i was too frightened to accelerate too much (for fear of exceeding the 50kmph speed limit), and i didn't know the test route and so was highly dependent on the instructions of the tester (which were in japanese) and in my highly nervous state, i went RIGHT when he told me to go LEFT. sigh.
anyway i failed. *sad*
the very next day, i retook the test (yes you can retake as many times as you want, but you have to pay more each time you take the test.
the next day, i got the same tester! (he recognized me, but didn't say anything) and i was thinking... oooh myyy gaaaawd... but oh well whatever, just drive and do my thing!
and i passed!!!! yipppeee~ thanks to mom who spent quite a lot of time negotiating/bargaining/pleading with the Lord to give this little weenie her jap license.
now all i have to do is wait for someone to give me a car for free!! yippppeeee!
posted by oatsandapples at
16:39
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