The Story of my DRIVING Test

A Video of me (John) DRIVING

John's 3rd Driving Test

Wednesday, July 21st

(as told by Wanda per request)

This time Toru-san was busy and could not meet us, so we went by ourselves. When John & I went to the counter to check in, the first thing they wanted to know was how he got his renewed international driver's license without going back to the U.S. So we had to explain that the U.S. issues it while citizens are out-of-country. They seemed to have difficulty understanding this and how it could have been issued without a driving test. After the driving center's translator helped with this, we were given a form to fill out. Usually Toru-san filled this out in Japanese Kanji --or characters-- for us. They told us we had to fill it out in Kanji or else pay ~ $6.00 to have an assistant do it for us. It was just our address, so I was able to copy it over from my license. It sure wasn't the prettiest Kanji, but it worked!

Then, because it had been over 1 month since the last time, John had to re-take the eye exam. Then we sat and sat and sat. Finally, the driver's were called up.....John was hajimette---First!!! So he had the privilege of drawing the ball out of the box which determined the course for all 8 of the test takers. He made them all happy when he pulled out for course A. (He'd actually been hoping for course C--his easiest to drive) Because there were so many people taking the test, they split up in to two cars of 4.

When John and the crowd headed out to the curb to wait for the instructor to bring the car, Renae and I and the kids went up to the balcony to watch from above. I wanted to take a video so in case John did not pass, we could critique his driving. Whether or not we could have actually seen anything useful is doubtful since I had to zoom in and it got all blurry.

I'm waiting up there and John does his safety checks on the vehicle before entering....all nicely done, and then he takes off for his practice round. When he pulls back up to the starting position, I started the video but instead of pulling forward again, he jumps out of the car. What??? He waves up at me and then points to his shoes. Ooops! He's wearing his crocs. Halfway the practice run, the instructor looked down at his feet and exclaimed, "Uhhh! Iie!---No!" So when he parked, John said, "Chan-gie, chan-gie---change, change!"

I went running down the stairs and down the sidewalk to swap out shoes with him. The instructor took off, so then we figured that John would be put at the back of the line and have to wait. So instead of rushing, we sat down on a bench and John asked for my socks as well. The second test car was just pulling up as I was stripping off my socks. The instructor gave us an incredible look and then burst out laughing. What a sideshow! John's car pulled back up and he was told to get back in and take the test. As the instructor was about to get back into the passenger side, he glanced at our shoes, slightly confused. I said, "Onaji sizu----same size!" "Honto?!?!!! Sugoi!"--Really? Wow!-- and more surprise and laughter, including all the other test takers.

I headed back up to resume my post to video and comment on John's test drive. Then, I critiqued the other drivers, and watched with dismay as two of them failed immediately by going over the edge on the sharp "s" curve and the "crank" curve.(basically two 90 degree turns, sharper than the "s". After they were all finished, we waited again to "sit and stew about if you passed or not," as John puts it. Being first, John was called up first.

I went with him to help a small bit with translation. First of all, he said that John went too slow along some of the main straight areas. Second, he had coasted through a curve instead of maintaining speed. This was dangerous, they said, because the person behind him could bump into him. Third, he did not wear proper shoes! And fourth, he did not double check and look behind him before opening the car door to exit after he finished. After John had given up hope passing, the instructor said, "These are all small things....not enough to take too many points away..." He looked at us. We looked at him. He said, "Pass." Oh! Got that! Yea!!!!!

Then we went back to sit and wait until all the others finished. Only John and one other girl passed out of the 8. So together we went down to pay for the license to be made and take a new picture....the one that you can't smile on. :)

Upon leaving the facility, Renae took a picture of both of us...O Medetou Goziamasu!--Congratulations!