English guide on how to read a Japanese DL
 

So long story short, I'm trying to get the local Road Traffic Office in India to understand my Japanese driving licence. I have a certified translation, but of course that doesn't entirely help, since it indicates merely I have a "normal" licence for driving "regular" vehicles.

Mr Officious at the RTO wants something more than that. Is anyone in possession of, or do they have a pointer to, an official-looking guide on how to interpret a Japanese driving licence that is written in English?

Something like this? Or even more detailed?

http://www.budgetrentacar.jp/common/image/sample01.gif

Perhaps this Wikipedia article on Japanese vehicle classifications will satisfy the RTO? It provides some information about the meaning of "normal": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle...ss#cite_note-3

Sure, it's Wikipedia, so Mr. Officious might not accept it. If that's the case, you might be able to find an English translation of the Japanese documents that it cites.

IMHO it's possible this problem might be easily solved by paying the officer a "translation" fee.

Depending on the OP's level of experience in the country, he might do well to get a local to propose and negotiate this "translation fee" on his behalf. This should mitigate the possible consequences of a "misunderstanding".

If the official were able to assist with the help of a "translation fee", I assume that he would have already taken the initiative to propose such a solution?

I'm not familiar with the culture. You may be right. All the more reason to rely on local experts to navigate through this.

India has a multitude of very low-cost translation agencies, much to the dismay of us translators in Western countries. Since a translation of a driver's license doesn't have to be elegant prose, perhaps you could find one of them to translate your driver's license for literally pennies per word.

I already have a certified translation; which is the really annoying thing. I have already provided the Wikipedia page too.

They are asking questions like "where does it indicate this it is a Class 1 licence?", and do not seem satisfied that Class 1 gives a subset of the rights of Class 2 and that these are the only classes that exist.

I've only been in India for six months, but I already recognise this type of behaviour as the prelude to a suggestion that a gratuity will ease the way.

Sometimes I wish that such gratuities were accepted in Japan. I had to take the driving test to convert my license four times before I finally met their petty requirements that only apply on the test course...

International license works pretty well in Japan. Easy to pick up at a AAA office.

Only for the first year you are in Japan. After that, converting to a Japanese license is mandatory.

Officially yes.

Yeah. Well, unofficially I expect you can carry on using your international license for several years ... provided you have no reason to interact with the law. But if, for instance, you have a prang and the rozzers get involved, I would expect reality to match the official position - and the lack of a valid license could create some problems. Do you know different?

Officially nothing. It was a cool loophole 15 years ago, but now if they find you using nothing but a valid international license while having lived in the country for more than a year, they will haul your ... to jail, and possibly deport your ... out of the country.