The Prestigious Gold License

 So I took time off today in lieu for working on Sunday so I could renew my driver's license, which was going to expire very shortly. I made a post years ago about obtaining a Japanese driver's license, but in this case, and just like 3 years ago, this was purely renewing my license, which doesn't take as long compared to transferring my Australian license in to a Japanese one. In addition, unlike previously where I went to a licensing center to renew my license, I went to the police station to do it this time. 

I had no problems previously with the renewal process, but as I had not updated my address since moving from Ibaraki prefecture, along with the fact that I did not have my residence card due to it being in the process of renewal - though I did have a receipt and photocopy of my residence card as form of proof - the staff at the police station told me there was no problem all.

Source: Hino Maple

But what is different this time round is, as the title suggests, I would be getting a Gold Drivers license. A gold license can only be obtained after holding a driver's license for 5 years - without any traffic violations at all. I was actually a little worried about this part, as I thought I got snapped by a speed camera back in December while driving a company car, and I was waiting for that red speeding ticket (which would have led to a conviction, and possibly harmed my chances of continued employment at my current company), but 4 months on, the company never got any letter from the police, and I never get the tap on the shoulder about it.

The benefits of a Gold license, is that unlike the green or blue drivers licenses where you are required to renew every three years, renewal for gold is every five years. Also, renewing your gold license will only cost 500 yen (renewing my license this time was 3000 yen, which is still cheaper compared to Australia). Finally, the driving safety lecture/video you have to sit in on every time you renew your Gold license will only take 30 minutes. 
In addition, a gold drivers license also grants you certain discounts for car insurance, among other things.

I got in early around 8:30am, and was out by just after 10:00am with my brand spanking new Gold license. This was definitely much more pleasant compared to transferring my license which required me to be at the licensing center for the whole day. To make it even better, there weren't all that many people renewing their driver's license, so I had the rest of the day to myself just relaxing and trying not to worry about work, which has been particularly stressful recently, due to it being the peak of the busy season in preparation for the new school year. 

I decided to call home, as I really had nobody to talk to about my problems, and got some useful advice and words that I really needed to hear. While I have experienced stress in my job in hospitality, it was usually in short bursts of maybe 2 or 3 hours at most, but for this office job, the stress of the work is more akin to a slow boil, and I think I reached breaking point yesterday where I didn't get home until 11pm last night. I just can't wait for the busy season to end, but I'm worried I'll wind up in hospital before that.