[Nyororin]

Originally Posted by Sangetsu

First, you have to be 20 years old or older to get a Japan drivers license. If you don't have a valid license from another country which you have had for a period of time, and which was valid when you obtained your passport/visa, then you'll need to go to a Japanese driving school.

Is the 20 a foreigner thing? Because Japanese can get their license at 18. (16 for scooter type thing.)

The driving test is difficult. You'll be tested on things like inspecting the car before you get into it, locking your door, setting your mirrors, and using the mirrors before opening the door. You'll have to navigate a tight driving course, and deal with Japanese driving officers who often love to fail foreigners just because they are foreign.

I`ll agree that the test is difficult - or rather detailed would be a better way to term it... But I beg to differ on failing foreigners just because they`re foreign. Think more like "Failing foreigners because they didn`t go to driving school so screw up on the details in the test even if they`ve been driving for years in another country..."
Japanese people fail incredibly often too. There were people in my group to take the test who had taken it 6+ times - all Japanese. They really check the details, and no matter how great a driver you - from the eyes of the tester - if you can`t be bothered to do the detailed stuff on your driving test you can`t be trusted to do the more important stuff on the road when no one is watching. So you fail.

I'm not sure what the road tax is on older cars, but the Japanese government offers a 250,000 yen incentive to trade your old car in for a new one if it is more than 13 years old.

Tax is set on engine size, emissions, weight, and physical size. The older the car, in general, the higher the emissions and weight. There are various tax brackets based on these.
The bigger cost will probably be the yearly emissions and engine/body checks you`ll have to go through. They can be outrageous the older the car is to keep it qualified for the road. Our car is 7 years old, and is now virtually worthless due to this - and the costs are stacking up so it is almost cheaper for us to invest in a new car (which we have on order now).

Other than the uniforms and language, I know of nothing in Japanese schools which genuinely resemble anime/manga.

Really? I`ve found that a lot of anime are pretty darned accurate when it comes to school life - if you realize they remove all the long and boring parts. (As they`re long and boring.) It ends up being a sort of compilation of all the fun and memorable parts of high school - which are a very small percentage.