Got my license! (sorry for the blurriness of the image)
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I’m actually surprised I got it on the first go… some of the questions really had me scratching my head and I didn’t hand in my papers till about 3 minutes before the end of the test period (usually I finish the practice tests in under half the allotted time). The questions that really irritated me involved motorcycles – for example, “it is important that you be able to do a figure-8 when looking to buy a new motorcycle, T/F?” I was just….???
Motorcycles are covered to a very limited extent in the textbook but I never saw the point to study them since I’m trying to get a CAR license – which doesn’t allow me to ride a motorcycle anyway! Regardless… I passed. 🙂
I was really worried because there is a fair amount of paperwork involved in the application and this had already all been taken care of for me by the Koyama Driving School. Should I have failed, I would have had to have tried redoing all the paperwork again on my own… something I did NOT want. Plus, the test costs 4,200 yen a pop and given what I’ve already paid for classes and the previous test – I was not keen on shelling out any more money!
There were quite a large number of people at the test center, perhaps up to a 100 (and this just for the motorvehicle test – there were many more people there for license renewals, etc.) I would say that at least half of testees failed the test though… For a while, I thought I had failed myself since my number wasn’t displayed on the screen (a large screen displayed the numbers of the people who had passed – people whose numbers weren’t displayed had to leave the test room). Turns out that it was just because my test was probably scored separately and the test proctor told me to stay.
Overall the experience wasn’t bad. The people at the test center were brisk and efficient, but not rude or mean, like I’d sometimes heard they could be. I’m just glad it’s over – though to be honest, I’m more than a little nervous about the idea of venturing out on the road in Tokyo now… (>_<;
P.S. The answer to the motorcycle question about is True!
#290214 (no title)
6 Comments
Congrats!
I’m not sure, but from what I hear, a license here lets you ride scooters (-50cc) too. If that’s the case, then those questions actually make some sense.
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to go! Yes!
Your logic is sound sir Tal – yes, a regular motor vehicle license also allows one to ride a moped/scooter, and I guess that there would not be much difference in the regulations/safety practices between the two. I was just a little irked that such questions were coming up and I hadn’t studied for them – which was my bad..
And welcome to my blog! Let’s see if we can get together with the others next Friday. 🙂
Congrats on your licence! This calls for a celebration on making a food run to Costco =P
I suppose I should jump ship and get mine changed too…
Also for the bike question, if you decide to get a bike licence, they’ll make you do a figure 8 with your motorcycle. I also heard (from a client) that theres a total of 3 ranks that gives you permission on how big of a bike you can ride.
Apparently, when you reach the last two ranks they make you lift the bike on one its back wheel using the center kick stand. (Or something to that extent… /shrug)
Btw, shouldn’t you wipe out your actual licence number too? ~P
Sure, we can do a Costco run sometime – perhaps sometime in Dec. 🙂
As for the motorcycle, yes, there are different levels – IIRC, moped, regular, and large. Maybe I should go for a motorcycle license next!!!