My new drivers license

What is it about government issued photo ID's that make you look like anyone and anything but yourself? This looks like a mug shot. In my defense, they purposefully tell you not to smile, but I didn't know I look this unbelievably dorky.

Taking the driving test in Japan is less an exercise in showing off your driving skill, and more about jumping through hoops - like driving as slow as you can go. A 1.2 km course, the test should take a normal person driving on normal streets no more than 2-3 minutes. But in this exercise it takes about 10 minutes. I don't think, but for one stretch where it was mandatory, I got the car above 20 km/hour. In my almost 19 years of driving I don't think I've ever driven that slow. (I'm counting the year I had my permit when I used to take my parents' car out -- sometimes with their blessing, sometimes without. But come on, when you're 15 and your parents let you drive all by yourself once, it's a blanket OK to take it out whenever, right? Right? Anyway, I digress.)

I don't think I've ever driven that slowly. Imagine driving down the road without touching the accelerator and just letting the idling of the car propel you down the road and you're about at how fast I was driving.

When I clipped a curb turning left a bit too sharp, I thought I was a goner. But the examiner must have been in a great mood because he passed me on the first try. And now I finally am driving legally in Japan. My two month stint of joy riding sans license in Tokyo has come to a happier ending than when I was 15 and caught by my parents for taking the car out...and slightly scratching it. But that's another story for another day.

Anthon versus the monkeys

While visiting the historical mountain village of Nikko, we got up close and personal with wild monkeys that were hanging out by the lake. There were three of them, two parents and a baby, and they were getting harassed by onlookers who were jokingly trying to pick fights with the monkeys. Naturally, when the monkeys tried to fight back, the onlookers ran away like sissies.

I was of course filming some of this, hoping to catch something funny - like some dude getting pelted by monkey feces. After a few minutes, Anthon and I retreated back to where the rest of our family was, and we took out some bread and sembei (rice crackers) to eat. One monkey, about 40 yards away, charged towards us, resulting in our quick retreat. He ate our bread and then made a deliberate march towards Anthon, who was holding a sembei. Shelley screamed for Anthon to get rid of the sembei, so being the closest to him, I grabbed it out of Anthon's hands and threw it at the monkey who happily backed off to eat the loot. Anthon wasn't too happy - his sembei was stolen by the monkey. Later, Anthon offered tough words about the next time he came across the monkey - he was going to "kill him by slicing him with his sword"...my little samurai.

Here's a quick little video of the monkeys and the aftermath of their taking Anthon's sembei.



It's interesting to note that the two people that the monkeys proactively stalked and went after were little kids. They vigorously defended themselves (and their young) when adults came too closely, but they made two unprovoked advances on children their own size. I guess the primates take to heart the belief that you should only "pick on someone your own size."