Results of the driver's test

I know you're all sitting at the edge of your seats, waiting to hear how we did at the Japanese DMV. Well, it was 10 hours (total) that we'll never get back, but we passed!! The failure rate was astonishing. I'm not trying to suggest that Christian and I are rockstar drivers, but the course was quite difficult. There was an S-curve part that was the most challenging thing I've done behind the wheel. If you hit the curb, you automatically fail. Before you take the test, you sit in the backseat behind the person taking the test before you. The woman before me was doing really well on the course until - BAM - hit the curb. I drove that curve about 2 miles an hour. I even backed up a little bit because I wasn't sure I'd make the turn. Well, given how narrow the streets are in Tokyo, I would guess this crazy S-curve was necessary.

The funny, well, not so funny, part of our testing ordeal was the process itself. Most of you probably know that I've never been to jail. This Tokyo DMV experience was what I would envision a holding cell to be like. The applicants were shuttled around like cattle by very mean-looking people. We sat in a waiting room (kind of like a mobile office) with metal furniture and no eating and drinking allowed. Furthermore, there is NO English spoken. Fortunately, I befriended some other foreigners who knew Japanese. They translated everything for me. (Christian, on the other hand, thought that this whole process was just like being in the Army.)

During my testing session, only 5 of the 12 applicants passed. The driving instructor came back to tell us that the course was actually pretty easy compared to the course that the "real Japanese" drivers use. Thanks, dude.

We will have to do this all over again in three years. God willing, we'll be back in the US by then. Got that, Harley?

On a completely unrelated note, I wanted to share that Joseph's first Japanese word appears to be "kanpai!" To save yourself the time of looking this up, it means "cheers!" It's pretty cute to see him raising his sippy cup of milk to our beverages!