I’m not sure what is the law for drivers who converted their license (and hence are not technically beginner drivers).
But if you are taking your license from zero (as was my case), yes it’s definitely mandatory by law during the first year.
If you get caught driving without it you loose one point at your license and must also pay a 4,000yen fine.
I know, right?
That’s exactly why I say crows are not nice. It clearly knew what it was doing.
Though times.
Wow, that’s intense…
Glad for the footnote saying the police shot firecrackers because I definitely thought it was the monkeys.
They told me I had to get the beginner’s mark if I couldn’t prove I had had my previous license a year before I came to Japan, and unfortunately I had just renewed my license so they didn’t accept my “previous year of driving experience” and was required to get the badge.
It’s really only a problem if you get caught without the mark, but since accidents and whatnot can happen anywhere I figured 100en shop does well enough to keep safe
EDIT: for those who might see thing and get nervous about proving their driving history. If you have your original license (which you need for an international license anyway) you can just print a year’s worth of bank statements to prove that while that license was viable you were also actively living in your previous country. It’s kinda annoying, but worth it so you don’t have hawk eyes on your car due to a flashy beginner’s mark
I’ve very glad I had proof of my previous driving experience because I may have gotten a speeding ticket while in my first year of having my Japanese license
I find it so easy to speed here. Speaking as someone from a mph country, switching to kmh makes the speed look so much faster than it actually is. Once I figured it out I was like, I have been driving so so so very slow. I can definitely go faster. (my license will be a year old in September. Let’s hope I make it that long without a ticket aaa)
Best of luck to you!
Yeah, and then everyone goes over too, at least in my area. I didn’t realize that the police were scanning and passed someone going under and then right after I finished passing, there was a speed trap… I wasn’t even going the average speed most people do there 
Yeah, Japanese overspeed all the time. It really is a luck game in the end.
My impression is that purely indoor cats is more of a US thing (maybe also Aus/NZ/Canada?), so more “US is odd” than “Japan is odd” in this case 
Certainly in the UK letting your cat roam outside is still the norm.
There is a probably a big contrast between countryside and city, because at least in Tokyo in the past twenty years outdoor cats drastically decreased (indoor cat went from 56% in 1997 to 86% in 2011)
And looks like there is even a campaign from the Ministry of the Environment to push people to raise cat indoor. (2015)
Well, a crow stole my friend’s keys out of his car while he was getting gas this weekend, so they can definitely be a problem 
Apologies to your friend, but this story only increases my fascination with and admiration of corvids!
We keep discovering that they are even more intelligent than we thought. In a few generations, they may drive off with the car!
I’m trying to comprehend the visuals of the video I watched tonight. It’s published by the National Theatre of Japan, and it used to promote their traditional stage arts…
…but!! What’s going on here with the dress…
I can’t read it,but it certainly reads like promotional/sponsorship a bit like for culture.
Sponsorship of culture is not new, and has been around for some time, but if this is “branding” being displayed during a performance - well, things have gotten to a whole different level of monetary value = cosying up to to make it happen. It’s a bit disturbing that if I were to visit a real Kabuki theathre today,that I might possibly be met with ads during the performance. I still cannot process this and hope I’m just reading things wrong, or am misunderstanding things. 
I didn’t forumulate that into a proper question, but, have any other user on here encountered this thing I just described and what were their reaction to it?
Did you post the wrong photo? Because I genuinely cannot tell what you’re talking about.
For starters, that’s a kimono. And there’s no writing on it.
Are you wearing your glasses? 
Also, could ya post a link to the video if you’re gonna talk about it?
Here’s the video. It’s just a belt with a floral design, right? I suspect it might be a stylized, simplified wisteria pattern (read the YT description) but can’t find an exact match on Google.
Indeed. Same floral design as the one hanging from the backdrop, in fact.
Just to be clear, you’re concerned that this part
is words? In Japanese?
I see it. It hardly helped with how small it all looked on screen. XD
Has anyone heard of digital ticket parking in Japan? I went into the city with a Japanese friend and the lot we entered didn’t give us a ticket. As in, we pulled up to the gate and it automatically opened for us. We saw several people paying for parking, but the signage and machine asked referenced a physical ticket, which we didn’t receive like I said. This didn’t really phase me as recently I went to a different city and one of the lots I entered had changed from ticketed to free parking in the time before I arrived that day, so several people were validating tickets at that lot, even though it was definitely not necessary for me and other people who entered around and after me.
She said digital tickets have become a thing though. As in you get a smartphone ticket or something and pay online. We live in the inaka though and don’t have experience with such situations. We both shrugged it off, but I’m wondering if anyone else has heard of such lots? I think that probably a majority of people nowadays have smartphones, but I know so many Japanese people who don’t have smartphones and with the way a lot of companies have 5-10 payment methods, I can’t imagine a parking lot deciding that only people with smartphones can use it and then not having clear signs or explanations anywhere.
although maybe that would be too much credit for this establishment as they displayed a map of the 2nd floor when you walked onto the 3rd floor from the garage…
