Posts Tagged: car

Japan — 10 Comments
26
Sep 08

I Got a Gold Driver’s License!

I went to renew my Japanese driving license and was rewarded with a gold license!

What’s a gold license?

A gold license is given out to people who don’t have any points on their current driving license. From what I’ve heard, this is an achievement usually limited to “paper” drivers – those who have a license but never actually drive! The card itself looks the same as a standard blue license except the color of the stripe through the middle is… yeah, you guessed it… gold.

The biggest difference is that I don’t have to renew it for five years as opposed to the standard three. I’m also eligible for a SD (Safe Driver) card which gets me discounts at various hotels, hot springs, car rental places and gold courses (!) around Japan.

For once I was able to hold my head high as I walked around the driving center, knowing that by Japanese standards, I was one of the best in the building! :-P

I better wrap this up by touching wood, and lots of it. It’s almost a given that after writing about my lifelong, unblemished driving record, I go out and get pulled over tomorrow! :shock:

Japan — 8 Comments
20
May 08

Japanese Mothers with Big Cars

Last autumn there was a good drama on TV called Abarenbo Mama. One of the key storylines was how the young stepmother, Ayu, would get along with the other mothers at her son’s kindergarten. Although it was a comedy, “mama groups” really do exist in Japan, and mothers go out of the way to fit into these groups.

That means they have to share the same interests, opinions, fashion sense, attitude to their husbands, goals for their children, and anything else required to keep the status quo.

Got a small child? Get a big car!

Over the last few years, one of the more eye-catching similarities between mothers of young children is their need for a big car. They are supposed to be family sized, but I’m sure you could get half a sumo stable in these so-called “mini” vans.

It’s not the best photo, but you can see how the mothers at my local kindergarten all have 5-door hatchbacks off a grayscale palette.

Mama Group Mini Vans

I really don’t understand why small children need such large cars? These days it’s rare for a family to have more than two children, but even our little pink ‘n’ gay Lapin is big enough for two adults, two children and a push chair.

Maybe it’s a case of keepin’ up with Joneses, but it could also have something to do with the culture of husbands giving their monthly paychecks to their wives, and getting some pocket money in return. Perhaps these mamas have bought themselves big “mini” vans, while they let their husbands drive around in one of these:

Japanese Salaryman\'s Car

Family — 10 Comments
5
Feb 08

Mami’s Pink Car – The Lapin

A short while ago, a reader asked to see a picture of my wife’s pink car that I’ve mentioned in a couple of posts. Although I say it’s Mami’s car, I tend to drive it more than she does because the baby goes in the baby chair on the back seat, and Mami sits with him while I drive.

Mami's pink Lapin

So, not only do I go ballroom dancing with another man every Friday night, I also drive a pink car! I never asked for this life of gaiety, one minute I was dancing with my wife and driving a silver Suzuki Wagon R, and look at me now!

Japan — Comments Off
25
Sep 06

Car ploughs into 33 nursery school children.

I honestly don’t know what to add to the article you’re about to read. I was shocked to see it on TV today, and teaching regularly at Japanese kindergartens myself, I just felt sick to the stomach.

From the Mainichi News:

At about 9:55 a.m., a white van rammed into a line of 33 children and five teachers from a local nursery school at an intersection along a municipal road in the Totsuka-Higashi district of Kawaguchi, local police said.

In the accident, two children died and the heart of another child has stopped. Thirteen others including a 23-year-old female teacher were wounded, four of them seriously.

The driver was arrested and is being questioned, and it isn’t clear yet what caused him to crash into the children, but one thing is for sure – he wasn’t watching the road. We do know that he wasn’t drunk, though.

The children, mostly three and four-year olds, were on their way to a nearby park, being led by their teachers.