I merely followed. The lady in front of me was golden. She was treated with respect. She was not expected to queue.
She was smiled at.
The lady in front of me was my wife. She still is. She is not royal. Her family are not rich or powerful. She is not ( at least I hope not ) connected with the infamous Yakuza crime organisations.
She simply has an unblemished Japanese driving licence.
Driving in Japanese cities is neither cheap nor convenient. Parking costs are almost the same as renting a small apartment. Driving speeds are slow, the roads very narrow and laws are enforced with gusto. Many areas have police on the beat and on bicycles who have little to do except book badly parked cars and issue speeding tickets.
To drive a car in the city means at some stage everybody will feel the white-gloved hand of the law.
Like many countries a licence is issued for 5 years and needs to be renewed. In Japan this involves an eye test, a new photograph ( no smiling or peace signs allowed ), payment of a fee and a lecture from a driving instructor. The golden people are those with no infringements.
On arrival a form is completed and handed to a clerk. Once the records have been checked and golden status established the clerk smiles and very politely points the driver in the correct direction. The various formalities are completed in a similar efficient and polite manner.
A caste-like system applies to the drivers. Those with a couple of fines, silver if you will, are treated politely but a little more business like. Some of their queues are a little longer. The lecture from the driving instructor might last an hour or so, twice the time of the golden lecture.
The bronze group are usually there most of the day. They spend a long time having lectures. Queuing takes up a lot of their time. The instructors are very firm with them. They are reminded they are close to losing their licence. They receive few smiles during their day.
Many of the bronze group are drivers for their work. They usually have most points as they spend more time driving. If they can not drive they can not earn. The consequences for not renewing their licence are huge. The instructors remind them one more ticket and they will be banned.
This is done not in a nasty or vindictive way. It is to remind them their current practice is unacceptable. To imply to a Japanese person their habits are not socially acceptable can cause great shame. It is this shame which is the planned catalyst for change.
However, when it comes to shame as in any caste system there are the untouchables. Usually shielded from view are a sad collection of those who have lost their licence and now applying for it back.
These poor souls wear a yellow sash, with slogans such as, " Safety Driving is my Aim" and, " I will drive with safety in mind."
They use different stairs to everybody else. The look like condemned men, heads low and not at all proud of their sash. Nobody actually shouts at them but for the brief glimpses I had they all did as they were told. I would not imagine a foreign husband would be allowed to follow their wife around either.
People are nice to golden drivers and their gaijin husbands as well.
The lecture for the golden drivers was similar to a coach at half time. The team is comfortably ahead at half time, all is going well but do not sit back on your laurels and get too confident. The instructor ( and all I saw were male) informed them about some new laws and then a bow, a smile and that was it for five years.
My wife is very proud of her golden licence. She now has ten years of blemish free driving. Even the lecturers bow deeply to her.
Maybe I am a little cynical, but I do think living in Australia has helped, especially how she was bronze before she left and has not driven in Japan for, well there is a coincidence, ten years.
Rob
Every effort was made to keep her happy. Even unavoidable bureaucracy was managed to reduce her time spent in the building.