I managed to make it almost 10 minutes before the cutoff time and turn in my documents. However, as I was packing up and preparing to go back down to the third floor, the clerk came out from behind the counter and flagged me down. As it turned out, they wanted to check my eyesight again, for reasons beyond my comprehension. I did the eye test again and then waited for my turn in the afternoon.
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| The hardest section of the course, hands down. Get up to speed, turn on the blinker, then immediately slow down for the stop sign. All within less than 100 m. |
There was a new proctor today, and there were three foreigners taking the test this time. One was going for a bike license. The other, a man named Nautiyal who owns a few Italian restaurants in the Tohoku region [including Aizuwakamatsu], was going for his automatic license. We did third-party duty for each other. I noticed that he made a few mistakes that would normally be considered a failure. Then we swapped cars and it was my turn.
I made two pretty important errors. The first was at a four-way intersection with flashing stoplights. Today, for some stupid reason, there was an additional car and two mopeds on the course. The car was coming to my right. My lights were flashing red, but his were flashing yellow. However, the other car came to a stop at his stop line just before I was pulling up to mine. I traded looks with the other driver for a few seconds. He wasn't moving, so I made my safety checks and then made the turn. The proctor said something as I was going through the intersection, but I was too nervous and in the moment to figure out what.
Then, there was the straightaway. I'd just managed to get up to 50 km/h in fourth gear, and I was about to shift back down into third while doing the proper downshift technique. I went to move the stick into third, and it didn't go all the way. I started jerking the shifter back and forth as I was pumping my brakes and slowing down. At this point, it was too late, so I went back into two as we pulled into the bay.
The proctor had me finish the test by exiting the car properly, then getting back in to explain my results. He asked me how I did, and I told him what had happened. I also told him that I went to the driving school two days ago to figure out the proper downshifting technique. He told me to be a bit earlier with the brakes from then on out. Then I was dismissed.
I went back up to the third floor and had a quick Skype chat with Mom about my results and my imminent failure. I felt foolish, because I had taken that test so many damn times at great personal expense, and today's mistakes were purely preventable and did not require any careful translation. The results care back at around 1500 hrs, the same as before. The clerk came out of the back with the basket that holds the documents. I opened my portfolio so I could then take back my documents and put them away. The clerk then handed me my yellow card, and as I went to put it away, I noticed something. I expected the sixth black 不合格 (failure) stamp under the driving test column next to the date. However, there were only five failure stamps. The sixth stamp, today's, was rather faint. I had to hold it at the right angle to see it, but once I did, I was absolutely caught off guard.
The stamp was in red ink. It read 合格 (success).
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| The final tally |
I was so overcome with joy that I hugged the clerk with both arms.
As it had turned out, all three foreigners passed their tests today. It was my sixth time, and Nautiyal's fourth. A clerk from downstairs came up to give us our documents that we needed to pay for (around $20). In my excitement, I also requested a beginner's driving mark from the store, as it was required to show on the car for up to a year after I had received my license. But as the clerk explained to me later, because I had more than a year of driving experience back home, I didn't need the mark after all. So I bought the decals for nothing. But I was still excited regardless. (And, there's probably someone with a JDM craving back in the states that I could sell this mark to when I get home.)
All three of us got our pictures taken. I had and still have a serious zit on my nose that I've already popped twice without success, so that made it into the picture. My middle name also had to be truncated, as it was too long for the license itself. Once they were ready, the clerk pulled Nautiyal and I aside to give us our licenses and a sheet of paper outlining what the license is good for and the renewal periods. My license is valid for two years after my birthday this year, so I'm good for the rest of my time in Japan.
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| my jay-dee-ehm license |
And with that, this series (finally!) comes to a close. I'm glad it's over. It has taken me, from the date I first asked the foreign personnel advisor to book the appointment to today, three months and ten days to get this license. It was an absolute nightmare, and I'm glad it's over. Now I can put my passport back into safekeeping without having to worry about it getting lost or stolen. I could not have done all this without that advisor, my friend Naoki, the driving instructor at Ougimachi, and the various online turotials about the whole process, two of which were actually based in Fukushima Prefecture. (I actually plan to do my own writeup for anyone else that may be moving to Fukushima in the future and wanting to take the driving test.) And as for today's proctor, he's okay in my book.
But man, I never want to do this again. If I come back to the states and then move back to Japan for some reason, I'm moving to Maryland beforehand. They're the only state right now that doesn't have to put up with this shit.
-wp
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