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For some reason, it came to me as I came down the elevator. I impulsively reached for my wallet, pulled out my driver's licence and, sure enough, it had expired two weeks before.

If your license expires in Japan when you should have renewed it, it is called shikko ??, i.e., lapsed, or invalid.

My invalidated Japanese driver's licence
It's not that big a deal. You simply have to repeat the whole application process for a new one, which, if nothing has changed too much since last time, is time-consuming (a couple of hours).

To my shame, it has happened to me before. In addition to going through the whole rigmarole, including having my eyes tested, I had to sit through a one-hour traffic safety seminar - which was actually well done, with lots of visuals - reserved for those who have done something amiss.
I telephoned ahead a few days ago to see what I should do this time, and one of the questions I was asked was "Were you out of the country at the time your licence expired"" It just so happens that I was. I was in Turpan, China, for 5 days, neatly enveloping the date my licence expired. It so turns out that being out of the country is a watertight reason for not having renewed your licence.

I went to the Samezu Driver's Licence Center this morning. It opens at 8am, so I got there when it opened so I wouldn't be late for work. (The Driver's Licence Center is closed on weekends.)

Because I had been out of the country, I went to only two counters...