Just before moving to Japan I sold my bike. It was Suzuki SV650S of 2003 model year. And I had no intension of getting bike in Japan. But after we've explored some of Japan's fine mountain roads I could not resist anymore and decision was made.
But there was a big "BUT" (there always is). My converted license only allowed me to have a bike up to 400cc, which is clearly insufficient for two people on the bike to have fun. And so I got into this adventure of getting a full motorcycle license in Japan.
First two times I failed. Now I know why, of course. They look at everything: how you sit on the bike, the way you grab clutch and break levers, which way you look and when, if you put blinker 3 sec before the move and how far from the white line you stop. One can fail the exam just when getting on the bike before even starting the engine.
And the funny thing is that you have to know all that - nobody tells you, unless you go to riding school, which I had to do eventually.
After 3 lessons it was clear what to do and how, so I went for another try. Yes, I forgot to mention that for every try I had to take a day off (or half day off) at work. And this time I failed because of the old tires on the test bike (no grip under hard breaking) - ridiculous. Nobody passed on that day.
And so I went again. It was raining and I failed braking again - my fault this time.
And I went again. Now I was nervous and scared of braking exercise (stopping within certain distance from 40km/h), so I hit the brake too early - and failed.
And I went again. 6th time... There were some minor mistakes, but you never know if you passed or not just after you finish the course: you have to wait until after lunch (about 2 hours). They then inform you the result and let you apply for next try. My file was not in the pile for the next exam - that's when I knew I made it.
Yesterday we found the bike of our current dreams and it will be ours in two weeks.
