Tokyo Heart

Renewing your driver's license

You've gotten your driver's license renewal notice in the mail (it's in Japanese - make sure you don't just toss those Japanese language postcards in the rubbish bin!) so you now know it is time to go renew your license.

If you don't read Japanese have a friend, secretary, lover, etc. help you figure out what it says & which license renewal center you can go to. 

If you live in one of the 23 Tokyo wards, and if this is your first renewal, you'll most likely wind up going down to the driver's license center in Samezu.  If you don't know where that is have someone tell you how to get there either by train, bus, taxi, or car.  If you drive yourself the parking is free - good thing it is, 'cause you're gonna be there a while.

Here's the basic step-through for those who haven't been there before.

Step 1:  Make sure you take that postcard you got in the mail, along with your current driver's license, your gaijin card, and ¥3,800 (at least - more if you want to buy a drink, food, train ticket, etc.).  It's also a good idea to have some reading material with you since you may face a bit of a wait at times.

Step 2:  Show your postcard to the person at the desk that is just on the right side of the entrance.  They'll make a copy of your current license & print it out on a form that you carry around with you.

Step 3:  Eye exam time - they'll direct you to the machine.  It's a simple test - look at the little circle & tell the tester if the opening is up, left, right, down.  If you wear contact lenses you're supposed to tell them that.

Step 4:  Get your eye exam hanko (rubber stamp) on your form from the guy just past the eye test machine then proceed to the next window where they'll check your form, tell you to have a seat, and then call you back to the window to hand you back your form - not sure what they check here, but it's one of the necessary steps.

Step 5:  Go pay your fee.  They'll tear off part of your form - properly "hanko'ed" of course - and hand it back to you.  Do NOT lose this - you'll need it to get your license at the end.

Step 6:  Photo time - just what it says.  Just go in, hand over your form, sit down & get your picture taken - smile!

Step 7:  Now the fun begins.  For you first timers - that is, those who have the green license (licenses have green, blue or gold colored strips on them depending on how long you've had the license & whether or not you have any violations), you'll get to sit through a 2 hour class.  The first 1 hour & 15 minutes or so is a lecture by one of the Samezu staff - in Japanese.  Then a 10 minute break & finally about a 40 minute video of those who have violated the laws & their story from their prison cell.  You will go upstairs (2nd floor) for this class & you have to wait until the next class starts so your wait may be anything from a couple of minutes to - like mine was - 50 minutes before the next class.  Remember that reading material I told you to bring - aren't you glad you did!  It good to have something to read (iPhone! email!) while you wait & no, you can't get a cup of coffee in the summer time unless you like presweetened iced coffee (to get this, go back downstairs to the cafeteria, buy a prepaid ticket from the food / drink ticket vending machine, and give it to the lady behind the counter for your coffee). Or, take you own thermos of your preferred drink with you.

Step 8:  Okay - you've made it through the class, duly informed of the rules & regulations as well as the evils of drinking & driving in Japan (hey, if you do that you don't deserve to have a license anyhow!), and now you get to go up to the 3rd floor & turn in that remaining part of your form for your license.  It's up to you to check your license - make sure it's yours (do you really look like that picture?!) and make sure the info on the license is correct.  Of course, it is written in Japanese, but of course, so is everything else there at the Samezu center.

That's is - anything from 2 1/2 to 4 hours or so later & you're on your way with your new license in your pocket & 3 books of Japan's driving rules & regulations (in Japanese) in hand.  Have fun - safe driving - and don't you dare drink & drive (you do know the penalties for that here - right? - talk about severe!).

You've gotten your driver's license renewal notice in the mail (it's in Japanese - make sure you don't just toss those Japanese language postcards in the rubbish bin!) so you now know it is time to go renew your license.

If you don't read Japanese have a friend, secretary, lover, etc. help you figure out what it says & which license renewal center you can go to. 

If you live in one of the 23 Tokyo wards, and if this is your first renewal, you'll most likely wind up going down to the driver's license center in Samezu.  If you don't know where that is have someone tell you how to get there either by train, bus, taxi, or car.  If you drive yourself the parking is free - good thing it is, 'cause you're gonna be there a while.

Here's the basic step-through for those who haven't been there before.

Step 1:  Make sure you take that postcard you got in the mail, along with your current driver's license, your gaijin card, and ¥3,800 (at least - more if you want to buy a drink, food, train ticket, etc.).  It's also a good idea to have some reading material with you since you may face a bit of a wait at times.

Step 2:  Show your postcard to the person at the desk that is just on the right side of the entrance.  They'll make a copy of your current license & print it out on a form that you carry around with you.

Step 3:  Eye exam time - they'll direct you to the machine.  It's a simple test - look at the little circle & tell the tester if the opening is up, left, right, down.  If you wear contact lenses you're supposed to tell them that.

Step 4:  Get your eye exam hanko (rubber stamp) on your form from the guy just past the eye test machine then proceed to the next window where they'll check your form, tell you to have a seat, and then call you back to the window to hand you back your form - not sure what they check here, but it's one of the necessary steps.

Step 5:  Go pay your fee.  They'll tear off part of your form - properly "hanko'ed" of course - and hand it back to you.  Do NOT lose this - you'll need it to get your license at the end.

Step 6:  Photo time - just what it says.  Just go in, hand over your form, sit down & get your picture taken - smile!

Step 7:  Now the fun begins.  For you first timers - that is, those who have the green license (licenses have green, blue or gold colored strips on them depending on how long you've had the license & whether or not you have any violations), you'll get to sit through a 2 hour class.  The first 1 hour & 15 minutes or so is a lecture by one of the Samezu staff - in Japanese.  Then a 10 minute break & finally about a 40 minute video of those who have violated the laws & their story from their prison cell.  You will go upstairs (2nd floor) for this class & you have to wait until the next class starts so your wait may be anything from a couple of minutes to - like mine was - 50 minutes before the next class.  Remember that reading material I told you to bring - aren't you glad you did!  It good to have something to read (iPhone! email!) while you wait & no, you can't get a cup of coffee in the summer time unless you like presweetened iced coffee (to get this, go back downstairs to the cafeteria, buy a prepaid ticket from the food / drink ticket vending machine, and give it to the lady behind the counter for your coffee). Or, take you own thermos of your preferred drink with you.

Step 8:  Okay - you've made it through the class, duly informed of the rules & regulations as well as the evils of drinking & driving in Japan (hey, if you do that you don't deserve to have a license anyhow!), and now you get to go up to the 3rd floor & turn in that remaining part of your form for your license.  It's up to you to check your license - make sure it's yours (do you really look like that picture?!) and make sure the info on the license is correct.  Of course, it is written in Japanese, but of course, so is everything else there at the Samezu center.

That's is - anything from 2 1/2 to 4 hours or so later & you're on your way with your new license in your pocket & 3 books of Japan's driving rules & regulations (in Japanese) in hand.  Have fun - safe driving - and don't you dare drink & drive (you do know the penalties for that here - right? - talk about severe!).

Day trip to Sawara

Day trip to Sawara

Sawara is an historic city located on the Ono River in Chiba Prefecture.  From the center of Tokyo it's about 99 kilometers and on a clear traffic day, which is what we lucked out with on the Sunday we drove out there in May, you can make it to Sawara in about an hour.  You can also get there by train on the JR Line from Tokyo Station (limited express, Tokyo-Sawara, 1 hour 30 mins.) or on the Keisei Line from Ueno.  If you're transiting through Narita airport and have a few hours to kill you can get out there in about 25 minutes.

Check out the website in English at: http://www.city.sawara.chiba.jp/english/index.html for more detailed instructions on getting there & for some interesting photos and historical data about the city.

We drove out & parked at a pay-parking lot that is just a few meters from the canal and across the street from Fukushin (see the map of Sawara on the site above & click on the numbers).  The attendant gave us a map (Japanese only) & told us about a coffee shop to try (near the Mitsubishi Kan) and about the water that cascades from under the bridge over the canal every 30 minutes (nothing spectacular, but picturesque).  You can also park at the Ino Tadataka Memorial Museum (more about him on the site above also).  

We didn't take the boat ride up the canal.  Having been to Venice, Italy before we thought that this would be a bit disappointing - motorized skiffs "manned" by ladies in traditional farm wives' outfits (except for those jogging shoes!) didn't do much for us. 

The actual historic area is small enough that you can walk around it in a couple of hours, but if you take in the museum you'll need to add that time in also.  You can pop in & out of any shops that are open and in the shop on the corner, which sells a large variety of craft items, you can go up into the 2nd floor shop which is converted from the original warehouse.  They have a very lovely little garden between the entrance to the back of the shop & the entrance to the upstairs warehouse shop. 

If you're there during the lunch hour you may want to try soba at one of the old shops.  If you stay into the evening you may want to give the French restaurant along the canal a try (we didn't stay long enough to try it).

 

Ancient Hearts

Japan's oldest person, Kama Chinen, died this week at the ripe old age of 114 - just a week shy of her 115th birthday! That's 5 score and nearly 5 years! It's mind boggling to think of all that she must have observed during those years. Some wonderful, some probably not so wonderful.

She was born in the same year that Marconi sent the first radio signal. Today, there are over 44,000 radio stations worldwide. TV wasn't invented until 1926 and broadcast TV didn't happen until 1946. 

She lived through two world wars and many lesser - but no less devastating - wars & conflicts; almost countless prime ministers (wonder if there was a good one somewhere there in the bunch?); and the reign of 4 Emperors.

Japan is rapidly becoming a nation of the aging. Yesterday, as we rode our bikes along the Tama River the number of elderly people, many using canes and even some in wheelchairs, walking or wheeling along the river was amazing.

At the same time, the number of people under the age of 15 in Japan has declined again for the 29th year in a row. There are slightly less than 17 million under that age now. There are almost as many dogs in Japan as there are young children - about 13 million dogs.

With the passing of Chinen-sama, the oldest person in the world now is French citizen Eugenie Blanchard, who was born on February 16, 1896 on the Caribbean island of Guadalupe. May you live many more years, Ms. Blanchard!