February 2009

Japanese efficiency When you live in a big city things are typically done in a different manner than they are done in the countryside. Getting your drivers license renewed is no exception. I woke up a little later than I had planned and tried to help with Anna then took off. I got on the train and could not remember the stop. Was it Higashi or Musashi-Sakai? I chose Musashi-Sakai, got off and found the bus to take me the rest of the way pretty easily. I was not sure when to get off but spotted another guy with a card like mine telling him to go to the Drivers License Center and wisely got off when he did. When I got out of the bus there was a woman herding people towards a rather unofficial looking tent. She told me if I paid 600 yen she would get me the paper I needed to get started and I could skip the first queue. I was skeptical since all the people ran straight for the Drivers License Center (DLC). Then I remembered how cheap most Japanese people are when it comes to something like this. They would rather stand in line another hour than pay 6 bucks. My time is worth allot more than 6 dollars so I paid up and when I got into the DLC I saw she was right. The first queue was the longest, must have been at least 1 hour wait. I stepped right into the payment line where I bought some stamps and put them on my paper. The wait was about 10 minutes but I think you might be able to skip this part if you knew exactly what stamps to buy, they are common forms of payment at city halls and ward offices. A savvy Japanese native could circumvent this step as well I would guess. After this the experience pretty much turned into follow the herd as I went from station to station noting the people around me and making sure they where in the line for the next station as well. It was simple and efficient every section was broken down into a series of short questions and that I answered with a yes.

There was a eye test.