Driving in Japan, pt 3

When we last left off on my driving adventure, I had just failed my first driving test attempt by driving in the wrong lane. Luckily for me, there is no other traffic on a closed driver's course. Although, if there was, I probably wouldn't have made that mistake, so maybe it's unlucky? Well, whatever. I failed. sad face. The driving center set Ryan and me up with appointments the following Tuesday to try again.

So the next week, I once again left my high school early and arrived at the driving center a little before 1 p.m. and met Ryan and Inoue-san. Ryan and I payed our 2200 yen for the same forms as last time and filled them out. Then we went upstairs to the window that opens exactly at 1pm and checked in. The test was at 2:00 pm (however, you need to be there at 1:00... silly Japan) so we had an hour to sit and wait and look through the big windows at the course and try to memorize it. Our course for the day was course B.

Our beautiful course, a little different than last time.

Are we ready? I don't know.

Having an entire hour devoted to staring at the course layout and having done it once before seemed to help. I felt pretty confident I had it memorized. Ryan and I were concerned about a sign after signpost 3 in the A block. This sign in fact:

For those who don't know, this sign means honk your horn. It's for when you're going around blind turns where oncoming traffic can hit you if they don't know you're there. You beep your horn so they hear that someone is coming.

I've never run into this sign, except for on the test. Ryan and I didn't know where in correlation to the sign we were supposed to honk, for how long, how many times, etc. We looked online and in a driving book, but all it said was honk your horn. Unhelpful! When the driver instructor came up to tell us the driving order and explain the course, he asked if we had any questions. So we asked about that, and his answer was "Well, that's why it's a test. Do what you think is right, and if it is, you might pass." Great. Thanks.

He then explained the driving order. There were supposed to be 4 drivers, but one girl didn't pass the written exam, so it was just 3 of us, Ryan first, me second, and a Japanese girl third. Since we would all fit in the car, we all got in at the same time, the 2 testees not driving at the time sitting in back.

Ryan went first and seemed to do well, except he went really slow. The instructor actually told him he could speed up a little. I went second and was really nervous. I kept concentrating on which side of the road to turn onto. When I came to the scary honk your horn sign, I waited until the nose of the car was even with it, then wailed on the horn for a few seconds. I slowed down at the turn, carefully crept forward and looked both ways, then turned. After I drove, the Japanese girl took her turn. The first thing she did was tell the instructor she was cold, despite the 80 degree weather and the long sleeves she was wearing, and he turned the air conditioning off. It was so hard to sit in the back of that car, stifling in the heat next to Ryan and not be able to talk about our tests and how we think they went. The girl made really abrupt jarring stops as well. Not a cozy ride. Eventually, we made it to the end of the test and we all went back inside to sit on the benches by the driving test window and wait to hear how we did.

Ryan was called first, and he passed! Yay! A lot was said in Japanese and then he came back to sit next to me. Then, I was called. I also passed! HOORAY!!! The instructor actually said my driving was "上手です" or proficient, skilled, good. That is high praise coming from the Japanese driving center. He then told me I needed to look around more and turn tighter and of course stay further left, but whatever, I passed! I got to return to sit and wait. The other girl in our driving group was called up but unfortunately she failed. It was her second attempt. Good luck chica!!!

After sitting and waiting, Ryan and I got to fill out more paperwork, then go get our driver's license pictures taken. I was unprepared for a photo as we had to give them photos when we began, and I looked like a hot mess. A scary looking driver's license picture, what else is new. >.<

We took the pictures and gave them the completed forms, and minutes later were handed our shiny new Japanese driver's licenses. Sweet sweet success!