Driving Licence Meaning?

I have a full Japanese driving licence and just noticed something on the card that I don't understand. I'd be grateful if someone could help me out.

Bottom left of the card are a series of 3 rows of dates (year, month, date).

Top row is all zero.
Middle row has 09/02/28
Bottom row all zero

Is something due to expire? My licence is valid to May 2004 and is Gold type

I believe it is the date that you first got your license. It does not mean expiry. After all, Heisei 9 is 12 years ago.

Thanks, Uji. I was assuming a future date of 09, forgetting about the Japanese style of years. A first issue date sounds about right.

About the "three rows," the first is the date (again with the Japanese year designation) for issuance of motorcycle license, the middle is for issuance of your "other" license issued (the type is specified to the boxes on the right), and the third is the date for issuance of commercial operator license. That's why you have only the second row with the date, just like many others do :)