The Eye of Patrick

Recently I have gone through the process of converting my Canadian Driving License to a Japanese license. The reason is that you are only allowed to drive in Japan using an International Driving Permit for one year and I plan to stay another year in Japan. I wrote this post to share my personal experience on changing over and provide advice for people who are thinking about going through the process themselves.

I started the process after I returned from Europe. I was told that it is best to take your time, as the process can be time consuming, as sometimes it is tough to organize all the documents required. Another reason to change over as soon as possible is that any minor traffic infringement occurs while on an international driving permit can later result in a delay in receiving your new Japanese license. Even a minor traffic offense could result in your license getting suspended for 2 years. This includes simple parking tickets.

So once you decide to convert your license over to a Japanese one, you need to know whether your driver license issuing country has an agreement with Japan that makes the process much easier. You don’t need to be citizen of the country that issued your license, but have lived there for 3 months or more. The following countries do: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and South Korea.

If you do not come from one of those countries then you must go through a more detailed procedure that will require you to take a written and road test. If your license is from U.S.A, South Africa, China and Brazil, Africa, Asia, South America, Eastern Europe and Russia then you will need to take the written and Road Test. Which is a different procedure then the one I took so I cant really offer you advice. Though the USA State department has information on their homepage (Click here)

My license is from Canada so I was lucky and all I had to do was simply fill out forms and submit them to my local motor vehicle association.

The documents that you need are as followed:

1. Alien Registration Card

2. Passport

3. Hanko (Name Stamp)

4. Translated Canadian License (¥3000)

5. Application fee:¥4,150 (¥2,400 for a road test and ¥1,750 to issue a license)

6. Two photographs (3cm in length×2.4cm in width)

You must make sure that your driving license is at least 3 months old and that you were a resident of Canada at the time. The reason that they have this rule is that they don’t want Japanese people going to another country and getting a license and then returning to Japan as getting a license in Japan can be really expensive.

My case was some what different as I got my license issued in Ontario (Province in Canada) and only received a G2 license, so I had yet to receive a full license, plus I didn’t have the G2 for at least 3 months. So I had to prove to them that I had lived in Canada for a period of greater then 3 months. This meant that I had to show them my passport and they copied the dates in which I entered and left the country and then added up all the days I was in Canada to see whether I qualified. They also required me to get a driving record from the province that issued my license. This was because my current license is less then 3 months old and so they wanted a record of my earliest license. So if you come to Japan with a license less then 3 months old make sure to have evidence that you have had a license longer then 3 months. If you do not you will have to put a green and yellow sticker on your door to show you are a new driver.

After I got all my documents organized I went to the nearest driving center. This is important, as even within a single prefecture there might be many driving center but you can only go to the one nearest to the place you live. An easier way to tell where you are suppose to go is to check your license plate to see where it is registered, in my case it said Asahikawa City(旭川).

When I got there I met one of my co-workers who agreed to help me with the procedure. It is useful to have a person who can speak Japanese to make the process smoother. First we met with an employee of the driving center. I was then given forms that I had to fill out, they asked about where and how I received my Canadian license. While the second form dealt with my medical history and asked if I had any medical condition that reduced my driving ability. It was really easy to fill out as they had an English information sheet that helped you to fill in the Japanese part.

Then I took the only test I had to take, which was an eye exam. This was fairly easy as all you had to do was look into a machine and tell which direction the object was pointing.

After that I just had to wait and about 15 minutes later I got my new license. My license has a green highlighted part, which just means that it is my first license and I am required to renew it in 2 years. After that you must renew your license every three or five years (Blue Color). If you are really lucky and you don’t get any violations after that, then you can get a gold driving license that entitles you to cheaper insurance. Such renewal must take place no sooner than one month prior to and no later than one month after the third or fifth birthday following the date of issue as written on your license. At the time of renewal, you must undergo an eye examination and attend a lecture on safe driving.

So that was my experience, and I hope it helps you guys looking to apply for one yourself. If you have any questions please leave a comment and I will try my best to help.

Take care,

Patrick

Useful information:

FOREIGN DRIVER’S LICENSE
If you have a German, French or Swiss driver’s license, you can drive in Japan for one year after entering Japan (with passport for verification purposes), on condition that the license is translated into Japanese at your nation’s embassy or consulate in Japan or at the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF).

JAF operation hours and service fees:

1. Hours: 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday to Friday (closed on national holidays)
2. Fee: ¥3,000 for a certified translation (If application is made by mail, another ¥290 is required for postage.)
3. Address: Fukuzumi 3-jo 1-1-1, Toyohira-ku, Sapporo 062-0043 TEL: 011-857-7341 (in Japanese) License

Asahikawa Driving License Examination Center
Chikabumicho 17-chome 2699-5, Asahikawa 070-0821
TEL: 51-2489

Japanese Traffic Violations Information

City of Asahikawa Driving homepage

My last europen post will brief as I want to return to posting about my time in Japan.

After Germany I flew into London to spend a few days before I made my return trip to Japan. While in London I met up with my friend who is from Japan but is doing his masters degree in London. It was nice to have a chance to see an old friend.

This was my second time in London; I went when I was much younger and so I didn’t feel a need to see everything, though I did make it to the Science Museum, Tower Bridge and Paddington station to see Paddington bear.

If you do not know who Paddington bear is, he is:

“Paddington is an anthropomorphised bear. He speaks English, wears a battered hat which he refuses to part with, and carries with him everywhere a battered suitcase (later revealed to have a secret compartment in which Paddington keeps those items he considers most important – such as his passport, for example) containing his personal belongings. When found and in the early editions, he also wore a duffle coat, and wellington boots. He is always polite (always addressing people as “Mr.”, “Mrs.” and “Miss”, and very rarely by first names), well-meaning (though he inflicts hard stares on those who incur his disapproval), likes marmalade sandwiches and cocoa, and has an endless capacity for getting into trouble. However, he is known to “try so hard to get things right”.” (wikipedia)

I went to the train station just to take the picture of the teddy bear with him. He is kind of like a childhood hero to me and I still love his stories.

The rest of my trip was mostly shopping and eating wonderful food. I found London to be a city I would not really want to visit, but more of a city I would love to live in.

I am sorry this post is not interesting, I mostly just want to get my Europe posts done. Hopefully my future ones will be more interesting.

I realize I left Europe on January 15^th I think and I am still blogging about it all the way in March. So I will try to get off both my Berlin and London posts today in the hope to returning to blog about Japan soon.

After Geneva I said good bye to my family and boarded an Easy Jet flight to Berlin. The reason I had selected Berlin was not for any real reason except it was a place I had not been and up to the moment I bought my ticket I wondered if it was a good decision. I why Berlin? As it didn’t seem to have many historical sites that came to mind on the level of Rome or Venice. But then I thought to myself that I did not really care for the sites, but the experience of going. A vacation is what you make of it, so I decided to head to Germany and Berlin.

I arrived in Berlin SFX airport and made my way to my hotel and checked in. Usually after saying good bye to either friends or family I am blue and being in a new place made me feel even bluer. But I am lucky in the sense that I know when I am in a mood and can rationalized that once I sleep I will be better. So I headed to bed.

The next day I woke up and got on the train to head towards the main areas of Berlin. I decided to make my way to The Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church which was one of the few surviving churches in Germany after the bombing of the city during WWII. It is an interesting building to see as it is kind merging of both old Germany a modern Germany.

Some of the other highlights of my trip were attending the opera. For some reason or another I have gained a love for the opera and thought of two places that would be great to see it in, either Italy or Germany and so I was in Germany, I decided to see La traviata.

 

If you asked me to explain what the opera was about, I would have to tell you it was a love story about a girl and older and younger man and the fight for love. The reason I can’t say much about it is because it was in Italian. While on the top of the screen they had subtitles. But not understanding the words did not make it any less interesting, as the atmosphere was great. It was a real opera house and everyone was dressed in suits and such. I think it was the highlight of my trip to Berlin.

The singing was amazing, I don’t know why I like opera as I find the music to be at first so harsh. But it has slowly grown on me and now I just love opera.

Also in Berlin it was fun one night when I went for the subway to catch the train back to my hotel. The train was having problems or construction so for one part of the line only one train was running in both directions. So while I was waiting many German people would come up to me and speak to me in German. It was at this moment I think understood how Asian people feel when they are confused for other Asia people. I enjoyed it though, because in Japan I never have that problem. Everyone thinks I can’t speak Japanese because I am white.

I went to the Jewish Museum and learnt of the horrors of World War II. I thought Germany in some ways can be a model for the world in how to deal with the failures of the past. The accepted their guilt, genuinely sorry for it and built museums and such to never forget it. This is in stark contrast to Japan where the currently leader of Japan has decided to deny the use of comfort women during world war two (link)

To get into the museum was difficult as you had to go through metal detectors and such. This shows that there are still unresolved feelings in the country.

The Berlin Wall and Check point Charlie were not that interesting. They have for the most part been turned into over commercialized tourist traps selling GDR Chinese manufactured souvenirs at inflated prices. Though the Berlin wall museum was interesting in that it showed how many people tried to escape East Berlin to West and I enjoyed learning about the Berlin Airlift.

But the topography of terror exposition was the most moving place I went to. It is an outdoor museum dedicated to remembering the horrors of World War II. The reason it is still outdoor is that they have had difficulty getting the funding to build a proper building. But in some ways it being outside created a darker mood as the sky was grey and it was slightly cold.

Part of the reason I found it interesting was it dealt with World War II and the post war Nuremberg trails of the former Nazi government officials. It showed how the world can become a horrible place if good people do not stand up to fight for it. (On the right you can see some photos of it.)

The food in Germany was good; it was not fancy like the stuff in Italy. But in some ways I found German food to be more practical, it was more meat and potatoes you could say. I had lots of German sausage and pretzels and other little snacks.

If you asked me would I return to Germany and Berlin, I would have to say yes. I just felt a connection to Germany. For me Germany or Berlin is that rugged city that is not as polished as the other cities. But it had a charm to it. Though talking to a friend we both worry that Germany’s dark history and dark feeling could some how swallow our souls. But time will have to tell.

So yes I enjoyed Germany.