Getting a Driving License in Kumamoto

I recalled my miserable driving tests in Kumamoto when I read the article below. I failed three times and only passed the test on my fourth attempt. I know some people who renewed the international license every year at the original home country and used it to drive in Japan. However, it's not really legal. I once heard from a former colleague who studied in Japan for his degree, he was almost deported back for driving with a international license after two years in Japan. Since he was a student, the judge gave him a lenience sentence which was only fines. So, he borrowed money and paid off the fines, he said he had bread only for almost a year to pay off the debts. So, better get the license the proper way.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/lifestyle/view/driving-illegally-in-japan

First, I worked in Kumamoto City for a year and I took train to work. The second year, I had to transfer to Nakatsu in Oita 中津市、大分 which was not very convenient in terms of public transport. So, I had to take a driving test to drive in Japan. International driving licence is valid for the first year only. Since I had my original driving licence from Malaysia (pass on my second attempt because I forgot my seat belt the first time around), I could convert the license to a Japanese driving license, it is called 外国免許切替. However, for direct conversion, only a few countries are qualified, info here. 

For others, like a Malaysian driving license holder, I had to take a written test and driving test to convert my license to a Japanese license. It's a big discount compared to what the Japanese people had to do to get a fresh new driving license. To many Japanese, the written test was what they dreaded the most. It's a very difficult multiple questions test and many failed at first attempt. So, in Japan, there's tuition class for driving license written test. However, for this license conversion written test for foreign driving license holder, it's just a common sense 10 multiple choices questions. I personally found it easy. 

Maskerade by Terry Pratchett

When the news broke out that Terry Pratchett dies on March 2015, I felt sad. I just gotten to know his works recently, and I just started to follow the Discworld series. Anyway, thanks to him, we have many good stories to read.

Maskerade is like the Discworld version of "The phantom of opera". Like "The phantom of opera", there's a masked man who lurked around the opera house and opera singers, in Maskerade, add two witches and it made the story much more interesting.

The protagonist in Maskarade was Agnes (who goes by Perdita X), a girl with a very good voice who was not so thin, who was also courted by two witches to join them. However, she didn't want to become a witch. So, she went for interview at a opera house and got accepted. The story started from here. 

Maskerade by Terry Pratchett

Cetaphil Oily skin Cleanser

There're many blogs and websites that gave the Cetaphil Skin Cleanser a very high rating. They mentioned that it's a good drug store cleanser. When I saw the word "drug store", I thought it's not too expensive. After reading so much about this cleanser, I decided to get it. I went to Guardian Pharmacy after work one day and couldn't find it, have to ask the salesperson to find it for me. It was placed on the bottom of the rack. Anyway, when I saw it, I was actually quite surprised with the price, it was definitely not wallet friendly, for the 125ml bottle, the price was almost RM60, not really cheap in terms of my budget. 

Cetaphil Oily Skin Cleanser

Anyway, I bought a bottle because I was having pimples that time and the reviews on this cleanser was really glowing. Some even claimed that after using this cleanser, the acne improved a lot. However, I ended up not using it right after I bought it. I wanted to finish up the Exuviance Purifying Cleansing Gel first. Somehow, it took me a long time to finish it. Then, I think two months ago I found out that this Cetaphil cleanser are going to expire on 31st October 2015, and I haven't even started to use it. I never knew cleanser has expiry date too.

expiry date of Cetaphil Cleanser

Souvenirs from Japan 2

I work in a Japanese company, so we have many visitors from Japan and they would normally bring some omiyage (souvenir) over, over the years, I had eaten many items from Japan and I found out that a lot of people would buy the similar items like below pictures. 

One of the items was KitKat, there're many "Japan only" KitKat. I used to like the matcha KitKat. Recently, there's even a flavour for sakura. Nice! 

Kit Kat Otona no Amasa オトノの甘さ

Below KitKat is quite special. The bake-able KitKat in cheese cake flavour. I have seen an article in Rocketnews24  that it could be baked. But I didn't do that, of course, I just got a few of it, too troublesome to do that. I ate it just out of the packaging and didn't get stomach ache. Hahaha! Very special product. 

bakeable Kit Kat in cheesecake flavour

Empties For First Half '15

I enjoyed reading about empties on other blogs. It's quite soothing to the mind. Well, whenever I finished something, I felt a sense of accomplishment, the feeling was like finishing a report or solved a problem, kind of weird, hahaha! For this post, I saved up the empty bottles for a few months for the picture. However, sometimes I forgot and threw it away, so it's a difficult task. Anyway, finally I saved up to nine items and I took the photo below. 

Empties for 1st Half 15

1. Exuviance Purifying Cleansing Gel
I got this cleansing gel from the shop I went for my facial. I didn't feel anything special when I was using this. The beautician there strongly recommended this to me. So, I ended up with two bottles. I finished one, still another half to go. This cleansing gel has an unpleasant smell, although I did get used to it after a while. I used this when I was still having acne on my chin for one year plus, it didn't break me out, but it didn't help me also. After my acne cleared, the function was just to clean the face, nothing else. However, when my youngest brother used this, he suffered serious acne. According to some reviews in Makeupalley, it made their skins tight and dry. Maybe I didn't have this issue because I had very oily face and I used moisturiser after cleansing, I topped up the lost moisture. Will not going to repurchase this, I think one bottle costs around RM150 or more, although it did last a long time, I think it is too expensive for me, especially for something that I am going to wash off.