| | When I applied for my moped parking permit at Rits, though I wanted the west lot, I was assigned to the lot at the main gate. Most people get to write down their top two choices for parking areas, but as a short-term exchange student, I wasn't given that option. The main gate is really inconvenient for me; all of my classes are held in the buildings next door do the west gate parking area. Furthermore, the main gate is the most requested area by normal students and fills up quickly, with the west gate being a "backup" area, so it sure seemed to me like it would be better for everyone involved if they'd just give me the lot I wanted. I complained at the time, but they gave me the typical "Sorry, this is Japan, you don't get to complain" business.
So I took my permit and went to the west area and tried to make friends with the security guard, explaining my situation. He said "well, I can't stop you from parking here, and I don't particularly mind if you do, but do try to get your bike out by 7pm, if you know what I mean." So I've been doing that for about a month now. Unfortunately, the duty shifts recently changed, and the new guard is much stricter. Today he told me not to come back to the west lot. I tried to explain my situation but he was very committed to the "I don't make the rules, I just enforce them" bit.
Frustrated, I went back to the registration office and asked them why it was that exchange students, despite the fact that we pay to be here and pay for the same bike registration as everyone else, don't have the option to choose our lot. They said "because that's how it is." I said "well I think that's ridiculous, and borderline discriminatory." To this they replied "we don't make the rules," as expected, but one lady came to my rescue and added "but if you'd like, I can take you to the person who does."
So five minutes later I'm in the office of the guy who decides all these silly rules, and two minutes later he said "yeah, ok, that sounds reasonable. Please give this young man a permit to park in the west area."
I've left out of this story the amount of bureaucratic bs I had to fight through to get that far, but in the end, I was victorious! Honestly, I can hardly believe it. For the first time in my nine months in Japan, I fought against a silly rule and actually won. My hope in this country has been renewed.
By the way, parking at Rits is about eight dollars a year. Parking at UW is more than ten dollars a day now. Ridiculous.
|
| | Posted 6/12/2007 5:54 PM - 58 Views - 4 eProps - 2 comments
- recommend
  - recs0
- share
- email
 - sent0
|
