Job Change Experience: At a Silicon Valley Venture Company, Part 11: Essential Items - Driver's License - Things You Stop Noticing Because They Are Too Obvious
It was the height of the bubble era in the Showa period.
My personal life was ready, with a car bought, an apartment prepared, and just waiting for my family. Work at the venture company had started, and next was...
Obtaining a local driver's license from an international one. In the U.S., a driver's license serves as a form of identification. I don't carry my passport around, but a driver's license is an essential item, just like a credit card.
When I ordered a beer at Disneyland in Anaheim, Los Angeles, I was asked for age verification, even though I was over 30. It's funny, but of course, I was able to resolve it by showing my driver's license. It's very useful as a form of ID in this way.
If you have an international driver's license, you only need to take the written and practical tests.
https://www.us.emb-japan.go.jp/j/certificate/Drivers-handbook_for_DC_MD_VA.pdf
I went to the DMV (Department of Motor Vehicles) and first took the written test.
What's different from Japan is...
Carpool lanes
To ease traffic congestion, cars with two or more passengers can use a dedicated lane, allowing for a comfortable commute in the morning and evening while watching the traffic jam.
Nighttime lighting
You must not turn off your headlights even when stopped at a traffic light at night.
School buses
Yellow school buses have the highest priority.
If the red signs or lamps are lit, surrounding traffic must completely freeze and stop.
School zones
School zones also have strict rules, such as designated speed limits and pedestrian priority.
That's what it was like. It's interesting that each state has its own local rules, such as some states not requiring seat belts. I really felt that it was a federation.
Digression
Speaking of the individuality of each state, there is something called California Emissions. California has the strictest exhaust gas regulations, and it was necessary to install a separate exhaust gas purification device specifically for California.
But misfortune and fortune are like a twisted rope.
I brought two American cars I bought locally back to Japan, and thanks to this, they were able to clear Japan's exhaust gas regulations with ease. I was able to make them Japan-spec just by replacing the Thunderbird's rocket mirrors with foldable door mirrors and changing the red flashing turn signals to yellow.
Returning to the subject
In the practical test, you use your own car and have the examiner sit in the passenger seat while you drive on the road. It's nothing special, but what's different from Japan is
K-turn
While a U-turn is done in one go, here you must turn the car at a right angle to the road, reverse, and then shift gears to change direction. You are always tested on whether you can do this.
Right turns at intersections are always possible unless restricted
Since they drive on the right, a right turn is a natural turn, which is also logical, isn't it?
Slowing down near crosswalks
You are trained to strictly follow the rules for this, just like in school zones and for school buses.
I suppose that's about it...
What's funny is that I was failed during the test...
A mother duck and her ducklings crossing. At the end of the test, when I was parking the car in the parking lot, a mother duck and her ducklings were crossing the lot. I turned into the parking lot in front of their procession, so it didn't really affect their path, but because I didn't come to a complete stop before them, I was failed on the spot. I'm sure there must have been another reason, but I passed with a perfect score on the next test on the same road course. I still don't understand it...
By the way, my wife studied the test questions that my father-in-law and I sent her. Since she was originally an athlete, she drove briskly but safely, with no violations or accidents. Therefore, she passed both the written and practical California driver's license tests with perfect scores. Moreover, for the practical test, she used our own car, a Thunderbird Super Coupe with a 5-speed manual transmission and a supercharger, which surprised the examiner so much that he said,
"Lady... are you really sure you want to take the test in this car?"
She surprised him again with her perfect driving and passed with a perfect score. I still can't look her in the eye regarding this matter (laughs).
In any case, despite being threatened, I was able to get my California driver's license relatively smoothly.
Regarding driving, there is also an interesting story about drunk driving...
At that time, basically, you wouldn't be pulled over for drunk driving unless something happened. That's why the people from the local Japanese semiconductor sales partner company would often go to karaoke until late at night after dinner meetings...
Also, the law is structured to allow for some (2-3 beers) alcohol consumption while driving.
By the way, the local sales companies were important partners from our perspective. Therefore, we often had to entertain them. Speaking of the etiquette for us local expatriates at karaoke, what was funny was that we were restricted to Enka (Japanese traditional ballads). At the time, it was taboo for us to sing Western music (English songs) or Japanese pop songs. Especially at karaoke bars that provided entertainment services, duets with women were strictly forbidden.
In that sense, Fuyumi Sakamoto, who had just debuted, was barely okay, and well, as for Enka, we were battle-hardened under the California sky...
Local police knew that Japanese people were drinking at karaoke, so they would stop us for other reasons, such as not using a turn signal when leaving the parking lot or having a broken taillight, to check for drunk driving. At the time, the definition of drunk driving had just changed from a blood alcohol concentration of 0.15% (1.5mg/mL) or higher to 0.08% (0.8mg/mL) or higher, so enforcement was particularly strict.
Recent circumstances are like this...
Consulate-General of Japan in San Francisco
Consulate-General of Japan in San Francisco
Consulate-General of Japan in San Francisco
To avoid becoming a 'criminal' or 'violator' in California
July 26, 2021 To all Japanese residents and travelers
At the time, although it was later abolished due to frequent accidents... there was a penalty where drunk driving violators had to wear orange jumpsuits and clean the highways. After this regulation went into effect, many people were caught, and I often encountered scenes where this penalty was being carried out on the highway. During that time...
The salesperson who is the subject of this story was quite a heavy drinker and had been drinking at a good pace since the dinner party started; he said he was in a state close to intoxication. On a whim, he forgot to use his turn signal and was signaled to stop by a waiting patrol car.
He was pointed out for forgetting his turn signal and, while being asked if he was drunk, was instructed to perform the classic walk-the-line test. This is a test used to judge intoxication. If you can walk back and forth on the white line of the road without wobbling or stepping off, you are released. He somehow managed to do it and was not cited for drunk driving, so he used it as a story to brag and get laughs as a sales anecdote.
Well, what a laid-back era...
So, since a local driver's license is essential for changing jobs to the U.S., there were various stories related to that.
To be continued
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Background
I changed jobs to a company in Silicon Valley that develops and manufactures high-speed semiconductor memory.
Formally, I was an expatriate from a steel company, receiving a salary as an employee of the steel company, as well as a salary as an employee of that U.S. venture company. I paid pension insurance premiums in both Japan and the U.S., and paid U.S. taxes on my entire income, including salaries from both Japan and the U.S. and expatriate allowances (housing costs, car purchase costs, transportation expenses, etc.). When moving to the U.S., the first step was obtaining a visa at the U.S. Embassy. Since I was moving under the formal setup of being a semiconductor technology development engineer, the visa I obtained was an H-1B. The interview at the embassy for the visa and the subsequent procedures were quite troublesome.
Part 2 was about the bright and fun times before moving.
Part 3 was about the importance of vaccinations and the benefits of a work visa.
From Part 4, it was about the flow of life locally.
I set up my life temporarily with a rental car, hotel, and eating out, creating a system where I could work. Then, I completed the basic procedures as an employee of the company I joined by opening a bank account and handling pension and health insurance procedures.
Part 5 was about breaking away from temporary living.
If it were now, arranging a smartphone would be essential, but at that time, it was an era where we didn't even have mobile phones, just company-issued pagers.
So, first of all, since rental cars at the airport are expensive, I decided to hurry up and buy a car... The Lexus LS400 was too small, so I put it on hold.
I went to see a Chevrolet Camaro on a whim and was surprised that it had a premium price attached to it...
Part 6 was the continuation of that.
In America, a car is an extremely important item
Since I'm going to be stationed in America, I wanted to act like an American and enjoy it, and I'm a car lover myself. On a Sunday afternoon, I got lost, entered a Lincoln Mercury dealership, and while asking for directions, I also looked at cars...
This is a live report of buying a car in the U.S.
Thanks to the polite service of a Mexican salesperson, I chose a Lincoln Town Car, the top-grade model of an unpopular American full-size sedan, and decided to sign the contract on the spot, feeling it was in a different league from a Lexus.
Since it was made exclusively for America and had been continuously refined, it was the optimal solution for this country...
Part 7 is the sequel to that, a live report of the contract procedures.
It's a rare experience you can't have in Japan...
Since I had just arrived in the U.S., I could basically only insure conservative cars. Of course, a Lincoln Town Car was no problem.
So, I read through three sets of contracts at the dealership. We read through each item, and once I understood, I initialed it, and we kept a record that even the detailed items had been explained. Once one set was finished, the task was to sign my full name, not just initials, on each of the three copies of the contract. After that, there was a detailed explanation of how to operate the car and a similar confirmation process. As expected of a Lincoln.
· Emergency trunk release device
(You can escape on your own from the inside even if you are locked in the trunk)
It even had equipment like that... It's typical of an American luxury car.
The American way is to stick a temporary paper license on the windshield and drive it home on the spot until the license plates are ready. It's rational.
That concludes the matter of my own car, and I felt I had splurged a bit. But as planned, I'm still using it 35 years later, so I guess it's fine...
Next after breaking away from temporary living is...
Part 8 is about where to live. From a hotel to an apartment.
Since this was my first overseas assignment, I chose the standard path of quietly choosing a room from the apartments prepared by HR. However, those experienced in overseas assignments or those who were clever would use their expatriate allowance to buy real estate, sell it when returning to Japan to make a profit, or even rent it out—there were some real pros out there...
The apartment prepared by HR looked like this...
The apartment's management building was right in the middle of the premises, and under the tower was a large hall. It felt like a lounge. They hosted a weekend brunch once a month for the residents to socialize, which was a very American kind of hospitality.
To the left of the building was the office. To the right was the gym, which closed at night for security reasons. There was a pool in front of the building, and a jacuzzi right in front of the tower. At night, the underwater lights in the pool would turn on, and it was very beautiful...
There were also several courtyards, and with a fountain, it had a very calm atmosphere...
The scenery of the small paths that made walking around the premises enjoyable...
And so, for me...
I chose a room with a large, uniquely shaped living room and two bedrooms for my children and us. In any case, I chose a floor plan that felt very American and unique. The floor plan on the cover.
Of course, the bathroom had a bathtub and shower combined, a type where you soak in a soapy bath and finish with a shower. It's a very American type where each person enjoys it that way.
The patio was also large, and although it was expensive at around $1,700, I ended up choosing it.
Part 10 is the sequel to the story about where to live.
Since housing is important, I introduced a bit of what it was like after my family joined me, in a somewhat cluttered way.
Barbecue on the deck.
I was bad at barbecuing, and an Iranian neighbor from the floor above advised me that if I used infrared to grill, it would cook through to the center nicely. It was the first time in my life I had a conversation with someone from the Middle East.
I put a bird feeder on the tree in front of the gate at the very back of the patio...
Chipmunks were also wandering around there.
The semi-basement of the building was entirely parking and storage. Like the Shosoin repository, it was an elevated floor structure, so it was a very comfortable apartment with good ventilation. Surprisingly, there was no air conditioning, only a heater. Even in midsummer, it was cool, with a climate like a highland.
I was told by a neighbor that 'furnished' was expensive, so I changed the contract. The rent became about half, at $990 per month.
I encountered a rattlesnake on the suburban highway.
The carpet in the room was held down by sharp nails sticking out from the floor, so it was safer to avoid going barefoot.
Because it's rich in nature, ants appear.
The patio became flooded due to roof cleaning by apartment maintenance. Basically, in American apartments, drying things in the sun is not expected. You do everything, including drying, in the laundry room.
It is expected that mechanical things will break. Washing machines, dryers, pool water purification systems, night lights, etc. Everyone handled it like adults, feeling that 'well, that's just how it is.'
Also, trash was put into a large metal box, like the bed of a large truck that could fit a regular car, located a little way off, without sorting. We didn't sort anything.
And so, that was the kind of daily life we had in our Silicon Valley apartment.
Part 10 covered the office atmosphere.
Work at a Silicon Valley startup started surprisingly easily. The only trick was in document management, and it took a little time to put the know-how between the lines into words. Building relationships with other engineers was also something I was used to, so there were no particular problems. Well, we might increase their workload, but we never decrease it. Rather, the IPO would come sooner, and their retirement would come earlier...
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To be continued