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Any update on Samezu Gaimen Kirikai (Driving Licence conversation) situation?
I went there a month ago. Reached at 6 o'clock in the mornin… Hello, I was wandering if any one managed to convert their driving licence to Japanese driving licence in Tokyo Samezu DL center recently?
I went there a month ago. Reached at 6 o'clock in the morning but could not manage to apply because they reached the number of applicants per day limit.
I realised apparantly you have to camp overnight outside the Samezu DL center to apply successfully. Indeed there were already so many people camping when I reached there in the early morning.
I wanted to know if anyone has any updates on whether the situation has improved, worsen or still the same.
Thanks in advance!
I went to Samezu last Thursday and got in, but only because I showed up at 2:30am. There were already 8 people ahead of me. One guy had been there since 10pm the night before with a camping chair and a book.
What nobody told me is that the number they give you at 6am isn't a guarantee. I saw several people get turned away because their documents had minor issues. The staff at Samezu are known for being stricter than Fuchu on things like the JAF translation format and the wording on your driving history certificate.
If you do camp out, bring something warm even in summer. The breeze off the canal gets cold around 4am. And there's a 7-Eleven about a 7 minute walk south on the main road if you need coffee or snacks.
yeah samezu is still brutal, i went two weeks ago and showed up at 5am and was already number 28 for the day. the security guy told me people start lining up around 9pm the night before during peak season
one thing nobody mentions is that tuesdays and wednesdays are slightly less insane than mondays. still need to be there before midnight tho. i ended up giving up and going to fuchu instead
if you can get to fuchu by 6:30am you're usually fine, they process way more people per day. just bring all your documents triple checked because they're picky about translations and stuff. took the keikyu line from shinagawa and it wasn't that bad
honestly it's still the same shitshow. i went about 3 weeks ago and got there at 4am and there were already like 15 people in line. the overnight camping thing is real, i talked to a guy who showed up at 11pm the night before and was 3rd in line.
if you can swing it, try the Fuchu license center instead. it's further out but way less crowded. i got mine done there last year and showed up at 7am and was out by lunch. Samezu is just a nightmare for conversions right now, everyone knows it
Where can I find crispy, pan-fried bacon similar to a certain international style?
if u have a costco membership the kirkland thick cut is the move, 4 packs of 500g for around 2500 yen and it crisps up proper in a cold pan. for smaller runs, precce in azabudai hills & the basement at isetan shinjuku both carry imported US & danish brands in the chilled case, just read the label for "thick cut" or "smoked" and not "loin". also worth knowing japanese bacon is often wet-cured so pat it dry before frying or it steams instead of crisping
kaldi coffee farm is hit or miss but their smoked bacon from denmark shows up pretty regular, the 200g pack runs about 600 yen. what actually works better for me is asking the butcher counter at peacock or life to slice the block bacon thick, like 5mm, they do it for free and it crisps way better than the pre-packed stuff. also fwiw cheap bacon crisps faster, the fatty supermarket kind at 300 yen a pack works fine if u cook it from cold in a dry pan and pour off the fat as it renders.
tbh the gyomu super store brand bacon is surprisingly decent for crisping up, its not thick cut but if you cook it low and slow it gets pretty crunchy. the key is the dry cure vs wet cure thing, wet cure steams. also check hanamasa if you have one nearby, they sell big packs of american style bacon thats actually smoked and firm.
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