I went to convert my Singapore driving licence to a Japanese driving licence today, so that I can continue to drive in Japan after my international driving permit expires. It was not a good experience... because I had a taste of Japanese inefficiency.
Coming from a country that stresses productivity and efficiency, I just could not understand the long waits. There were a total of 15 applicants today to convert their driving licences to Japanese driving licences. After submitting our relevant documents, we waited... and waited... After the staff checked through my documents to make sure that I met the requirements for conversion (and it took quite a while for them to do that...), I was told to get my eyesight checked, and after that to make payment. Then it was more waiting as the staff proceeded to key in the data into their system, and when that is finally done, I was told to get my photo taken (digitally) and then wait to get my licence. There was a lot of waiting before going to the next step. If I had used the time waiting (while the staff was checking my documents) to check my eyesight and get my photo taken, I am sure I would have shortened like 10-15min of the process.
Of course, if everything was computerised from the start, I am sure I would not have to wait 4 hours just to get my driving licence converted, in a queue of 15 applicants... and I was number 5 in the queue!
Japan may be the third largest economy in the world, but if she is ever to regain her world footing, she seriously needs to start looking around at what others are doing and start catching up, rather than live in her ivory tower thinking the world is still far behind. It is not just about computerising her processes... she may want to look into the processes themselves to see if they can be streamlined. Why are we still doing things like we have for the past 20 years (or more)?
Coming from a country that stresses productivity and efficiency, I just could not understand the long waits. There were a total of 15 applicants today to convert their driving licences to Japanese driving licences. After submitting our relevant documents, we waited... and waited... After the staff checked through my documents to make sure that I met the requirements for conversion (and it took quite a while for them to do that...), I was told to get my eyesight checked, and after that to make payment. Then it was more waiting as the staff proceeded to key in the data into their system, and when that is finally done, I was told to get my photo taken (digitally) and then wait to get my licence. There was a lot of waiting before going to the next step. If I had used the time waiting (while the staff was checking my documents) to check my eyesight and get my photo taken, I am sure I would have shortened like 10-15min of the process.
Of course, if everything was computerised from the start, I am sure I would not have to wait 4 hours just to get my driving licence converted, in a queue of 15 applicants... and I was number 5 in the queue!
Japan may be the third largest economy in the world, but if she is ever to regain her world footing, she seriously needs to start looking around at what others are doing and start catching up, rather than live in her ivory tower thinking the world is still far behind. It is not just about computerising her processes... she may want to look into the processes themselves to see if they can be streamlined. Why are we still doing things like we have for the past 20 years (or more)?
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