Oh for a simpler way.

So today I went to get my license renewed, which I thought would be an easy process. On the card they sent me they said I had two options; go to the test center, or go to the ward police station. I decided to go to the police station because it is much closer and I thought would be a much simpler process. I should have know things were not going to go well when I arrived to find that from the first of April they had moved locations. The map to the new station was behind a fence and not very legible. Luckily there was a man nearby that I asked and got directions. One problem down. Got to the new place and went in and asked what I had to do. The lady said that I could apply today but I would have to take an hour lecture also, ok I knew I would have to do that. The only problem was that she said the next lectured would be June 11th. I was like, "What?", and asked wasn't there a different day that I could go on. Well she couldn't answer that question and had to ask another lady. That later eventually came over to another counter, not directly to me and proceeded to say that if I applied today the license wouldn't be done till May 26th. I asked if there was a lecture in May, but she said that since the license wouldn't be processed and back to them I couldn't take the lecture. She also told me they only offer it once a month. So I asked about June. Her answer to that was, well that date is not decided, it will probably be on July 15th but she couldn't say for sure, so I didn't even have the option to ask for that day. No the problem with both the days and the times is that for either one I would have to take off work to do it. Then she said I can go directly to the testing center and get it all done in one day. So now I have to go to the test center and get it done. Well at least she said they are open on Sunday. Still that doesn't make me to thrilled because since they are only open during business hours during the week and closed on Sat. I'm sure the lines will be horrendous.

All this to say, why can't they make the process easier? In this land where everyone is tied up with their work, why not open the test center on Saturdays or in the evenings. Same for the lecture at the police station. Given the amount of people that have to go through this process you think they would offer the lectures more than once a month and not just during the weekdays during the middle of the day. Wish someone would think these things through.

So any way this is what I have to look forward to, but actually this picture looks fairly uncrowded.

Divorce Ceremony?

As I was watching the news this morning I was surprised to hear that divorce ceremonies are becoming popular in Japan. So when I got to school and tried to find something on it in the the Japanese newspaper I didn't really find anything but I ran across an article from 2008 on CNN.

If just discussing divorce in public seemed taboo a few years ago, the growing trend of divorce celebrations is helping lessen the stigma surrounding the end of marriage.

"Yes, it's sad and it's painful, but it's not failure," says Christine Gallagher, the owner of Los Angeles event company The Divorce Party Planner and the author of a book by the same name. "It's part of life, and yet it's the only major event for which we have no ritual.

Full article here.
Yes it may be the only major event for which we have no ritual, but do we need one? One of the commentators on the news today said basically, if they can get along well enough to throw a party, is there need for a divorce. I think the major difference with the celebrations here was that they may involve both parties. They mentioned a part of the ceremony where they take imitation wedding rings and the couple destroys them with a hammer. I think it might be something that is actually helpful but the most disturbing fact from the article was this, "A celebration communicates that divorce is OK -- life-affirming, even.". I so don't agree with that statement.