the DMV and Work

Headed to the DMV this morning in Samezu. Samezu is a really old style town and the area near the station felt like old Japan. Kinda cool.
International licenses are ok to use in Japan, but technically if you are living here you should have a Japanese license. It's good to hang onto the international license though cause it can get out out of tickets since the cops don't want to deal with the paper work.
As an American the process of getting a drivers license can be tedious but worth it when you consider the cost of driving school which can run over $3,000. The first thing you have to do is go to JAF, the Japanese Automobile Federation. You need to go to one of their offices to have your licence translated or it can be done by mail. It costs about $30 for the translation. I had mine done in Tokyo in 2008. One of the requirements for changing your license to a Japanese one is that you have to be able to prove that you've been driving in your home country for 6 months before coming to Japan. Unfortunately, I renewed my license right before coming to Japan so it looks like I got it days before coming there.
When I went back to the US for Christmas, I got my driving records but the dates on my "records" matched the dates on my license again making it look like I had just gotten my license before coming to Japan which is why this took me longer than it should have.
Anyhow, I headed to the DMV with:
-my passport
-my US license
-my foreign ID card
-the translation of my US license
-copies of the front and back to my US license and foreign ID card
-and money

I got there around 9:30 and submitted my paperwork. The building is 3 floors with a course in the back. Very different from the DMV in the US. Anyhow I headed up to the license exchange section, submitted my paper work and waited. After confirming some details and signing some papers I headed down to the first floor to get a picture taken for the form and then took the vision test. It consisted of looking at circles that have the sides, top, or bottom open, and then a color blind check. From there I headed back upstairs to pay the $24 fee and took the knowledge test.
The knowledge test was made up of 10 questions and taken on a touch screen computer. I got all 10 right, cause I'm awesome and then headed back downstairs where I made the reservation to take the actual driving test. Unfortunately, you can't do it the same day unless you call in Advance.
In the evening I had work like usual and headed home.