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.

Racial profiling by Japanese Police

For those not aware, Japan is surprisingly xenophobic, despite being known as a county that is surprisingly polite. But this article beings to light a lot of racial profiling coming from police, people who should be protecting and serving all who live or visit Japan.

On the one hand, it is good that attention is being brought to this issue. On the other hand, it doesn't seem to be taken seriously by the people who are in a position to rectify this. Not sure if it's a translation issue, but in the above article the National Police Agency (NPA) issued an advisory to not question foreigners in a way that would be perceived as racial profiling. Notice the wording - almost like they're saying it's OK to do so, but don't make it so obvious. Why not just say "don't racially profile people" or "don't be pulling up foreigners unless you have reasonable cause to do so" ?

Fortunately, my run ins with the police have been very few, with probably only two encounters ever. The first of which was when I was travelling to Tokyo with a friend for a holiday, and an undercover police officer flashed his badge, and wanted to see our passports, and then asking questions to the purpose of our visit to Japan (hint: it was travel).
The other time was a bit more irritating. In preparation for starting my ALT job back in mid-2016, I decided to go to Kyoto and spend a week with my gf before heading to Mito. As soon as I got out of the arrival gate at Kansai international airport, I was approached by an undercover officer, who wanted to see some ID. Again, I showed my passport. Hadn't even got out of the airport, and already being I was being hassled. Probably didn't help I was wearing a black leather jacket in the middle of a hot August day. 
Since I had been living in rural parts of Ibaraki for the past 5 years, I have had no run ins with the police. Though, now that I'm in Saitama, I hope I not to have any encounters with police, as I have heard stories from foreigners being frequently harassed by police, for ... being foreign, more or less. 

I won't deny I don't have the answer to this, but unless Japan wants more foreigners to work in Japan, and for tourists to come back in numbers again, the government and police need to start taking this problem seriously.