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note:This story refers to Oita Ken. Other Ken's procedures and locales
will, of course, vary. ESID as always
It is always in vogue to complain about the high prices of things in
Japan. I've heard my foreign friends trade price quotes like old war stories.
"Apples for 250 yen apiece? That's crazy!" Oh, that's nothing.
I had a small pizza delivered to my house, and it cost 3,500 yen, no joke."
It's all in good fun until the veteran expat steps up and says, "Well,
I had my car inspected last month. It set me back 150,000 yen, and they
didn't fix anything!" Unless you can claim you shelled out more than
10,000 yen for a rectangular watermelon, no one can top that one.
The astronomically high 'inspection' in question here is the infamous
shaken, which is the certification the Japanese government gives your
car that declares it roadworthy. There are varying charges involved that
can mount up to upwards of 200,000 if you're unlucky enough. You have
to have it three years after you buy a new car, and successive ones every
two years after that. This is a very good way to sell new cars, as after
three years it is very tempting to upgrade rather than pay for the privilege
to keep your outdated wheels. However, as I found in my shaken experience,
it's actually quite reasonable. No I haven't been huffing too many kerosene
heater fumes, I think shaken is cheap! Let me explain before you call
the looney bin.
My car is a special case in Japan. It was bought used for the first
JET in my town, and has been handed down from one JET to another in my
town since. This year sees it sees its tenth birthday, absolutely ancient
compared to the average Japanese car on the road. It's a bubbly-shaped
turquoise Nissan March, still cute after all these years. While the finish
is a little dull and the tape deck eats cassettes like it's slurping soba,
everything else is in perfect working order. I figured the car's old age
would count against me come time to pay up.
As the time for my shaken drew near, I wanted to get my poor car (and
my wallet) ready, so I did some research on the internet and with my Japanese
friends. I cleaned out the amassed Pocari sweat bottles and onigiri wrappers
from the backseat. Basically, I don't know much about cars, just how to
pump gas and change tires, but I peeked under the hood, making sure nothing
screamed 'freak 10-year old Japanese car!!!'. Then, I prepared the necessary
paperwork. I fished through my glove compartment and got out the old shaken
certification, my current compulsory insurance certification, and my car
tax certification, which is like proof of ownership. Then I got a wad
of cash out of the bank.
I readied my hanko seal and my electronic dictionary just in case.
I took nenkyu on a Monday and headed off to Oita city. My destination:
the riku-un shikyoku (say that three times quick). Loosely translated,
it means 'land-based transportation office', but just think of it as the
government shaken center for the prefecture. It's a complex in the north
part of the city that has a couple offices and a large vehicle testing
facility.
I walked boldly into the office and said in my politest Japanese, "Hi,
this is my first time doing this, what do I do?" Instead of getting
pidgin English and shaking heads, the folks I dealt with were all very
considerate, polite, and helpful.
First I had to get some forms from them. I got a pink weight tax form,
a compulsory insurance form, an examination sheet, and a shinseisho (a
bureaucratic office form). I wrote my address and name multiple times,
and copied the information from my current shaken certification to various
fields on the forms. Even if you can't read kanji, you can just copy the
information to boxes with the same kanji header. The shinseisho cost me
a whopping 35 yens, goshdarnit. Then I paid 1,400 yen for an inspection
stamp, which you affix to your examination sheet. Then I paid 27,600 yen
for the automobile tax, and got a tiny stamp in return (with '27,600 yen'
nonchalantly written on it) for the shinseisho, which makes me feel like
I could affix it to an envelope and mail it to Mars. Then I shelled out
for the weight tax, and for my lighter white-plate it cost a mere 25,200.
Of course this is a government office, which means the desk where you
turn in papers is not the same as the one you pay at, and is also not
the one where you handle insurance forms, etc etc. As the offices are
split into two buildings, a little footwork was in order. Much stamping
and shuffling and filing later, I was told to queue my car up at the testing
facility in half-an-hour. Elapsed time, about 45 minutes.
I hopped into my chariot and pulled up to a line about 10 cars deep.
This was the preliminary check where they spot-check your car for physical
defects. I noticed a strange phenomenon: everyone was wearing jumpsuits
of some kind. "Man, these other folks must really be into driving",
I thought to myself. Then I read the names on the jumpsuits: Eneos, Idemitsu,
Kyushu Sekiyu…and then it came to me. Almost everyone else waiting
in line was from a garage! They were driving customer's cars here and
doing what I was doing by myself, but to the tune of probably 20,000 yen
or more per car. They got out of the cars while waiting, smoking and chatting
amongst themselves, all in on this dirty little secret. I recalled something
I read on the internet, about how when you take your car to a garage for
shaken, they replace things that might break in the coming two-year period,
including oil and other fluids, and at higher than normal prices, using
the expense of a shaken for cover. My reverie was broken by the inspection
guy, who began yelling at me.
The orders came non-stop. "Right blinker, left blinker, hazard
lights, wipers, horn, reverse lights, brake lights, high beams…"
He was pretty thorough. He also asked me to spray the wiper fluid and
looked under the hood quickly, noting some serial numbers on the engine
block.
Finally, with an air of dismissal, he wrote some notes on my inspection
sheet and said, "Take off your wheel covers and come around again
after." and walked off to his next victim. I guess I was supposed
to take off my hubcaps before I went through. I quick glance around at
other cars confirmed this. No problem, I thought, as I proceeded to the
technical inspection.
The technical inspection covers a wide range of criteria. First, I drove
my car onto a platform with rollers for the rear wheels. As a speedometer
check, I had to accelerate the car to 40 kilometers an hour and signal
a sensor with my headlights. Then, a robot-like machine moved in front
of my car and scanned my headlights for proper alignment. Several flashing
red X's on a panel told me something was wrong there. You have to place
your sheet into a machine that stamps whether it passed or failed a test.
Then I proceeded to brake testing, where I alternately applied the foot
brake and the parking brake while rollers tried to spin my wheels. Then
the platform I was on shook around to test the suspension and the wheels.
I passed those without a hitch, and got another stamp. In the third and
final stage, a guy waiting in a recess in the floor checks the underside
of your car for corrosion and damage, and taps everything with a hammer
to be sure its solidly in place. They also stick a probe into your exhaust
to make sure your car isn't a pollution bomb.
As I feared, at the end I was told my headlights were out of alignment.
I was told to get them fixed and come back. While I can't see how my headlights
were out of order, that was the only thing they found wrong, so it was
actually a relief. I was instructed to head off to a garage nearby where
they fix headlights and come back through the tester again. Twenty minutes
and 3,000 yen later, my headlights were fixed, my hubcaps were removed,
and I was ready to go through again. After a longer wait (I guess it gets
more crowded in the afternoon) I got all OK's this time, and returned
to the office where I started at the office and turned in my OK'd inspection
sheet and all the other stuff one more time. Five minutes later, I had
a shiny new certification sticker to put under my rear-view mirror, as
well as an updated shaken certificate and compulsory insurance certificate
for my records. Total cost to me, including gas to Oita city and back
and a stop at Lawsons, about 58,000 yen. Total time, about 3 hours, plus
2 and a half hours on the road.
So was it worth it to do this all by myself? Definitely, and for a couple
reasons. First, it was dirt cheap compared to the regular accepted price
for shakens. Second, I didn't pay into what I see as a corrupt and overpriced
industry that preys on people's ignorance, an ignorance that is mostly
based on the assumption that a shaken automatically costs as much as the
garages charge. Third, I had an experience few foreigners in Japan have
had, namely doing one's own shaken. I learned some new words and got a
better insight into the Japanese automobile industry through my research.
At a base rate of around 29,000 yen a year, insurance included, it seems
almost reasonable, doesn't it?
I recommend doing your own shaken to all, with the following caveats:
First, you need to be able to speak and read Japanese. I would recommend
a JLPT 2-kyu level or higher. If your Japanese is still in the beginning
stages, bring a Japanese friend or coworker, or even coerce your supervisor
or JTE to help you. Fun for everyone, and you might not have to take nenkyu!
Only one person can be in the car during the inspection, however, but
your Japanese friend can do it for you. If you have someone take the tests
for you, you have to note it on the shinseisho.
Second, if you bring a clunky, broken car in, or one with obvious shortcomings,
don't expect to get away so cheaply. I was lucky that the car I bought
sight-unseen had no long-term physical or hidden defects, except for the
noted misaligned headlights. If you go in, and you fail a major test,
like the emissions test, expect to pay a pretty penny to get that up to
spec. You will probably also have to come back a different day, which
means more paperwork and time. For some, it might actually be more reasonable
to take it a garage and leave it to them, but at that point, it might
be time for a new car (lease, it's cheap and you don't have to worry about
this shaken crap!).
Once more, the documents and terms involved.
自動車税納税証明書-jidousha-zei-nouzei-shoumeisho
Automobile tax payment certificate You should already have this. Bring
it with you.
自動車損害賠償責任保険証明書-jidousha-songai-baishou-sekinin-hoken-shomeisho
Automobile damage compensation responsibility insurance certificate. You
should have one of these too. Bring it with you. This insurance is also
called 'jibai hoken' and is compulsory automobile insurance for all car
owners. Around 27,600 yen.
自動車検査証-jidousha-kensa-shou-Automobile
inspection certificate Slightly larger than the others, bears a lot of
info about your car. You should have this too. Bring it with you.
自動車重量税-jidousha-juuryou-zei-Automobile
weight tax. The heavier the car, the higher the tax. Average is 25-35,000
yen, while yellow plates get a cut rate at 8,800 yen
申請書-shinmeisho-A bureaucratic form you get at
the office and need for the shaken process. 35 yen, mind you.
陸運支局-rikuun-shikyoku-Bureau of overland
vehicles, where you can take your car to do a shaken by yourself.
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