I got extremely lucky and met a someone who gave me some "inside tips"
. Even still though, I think it's protocol to just fail a person on their first attempt here. I forgot to mention, you are also expected to memorize your path in their course.
No offense to people from countries other than America (and wherever else that has to take these tests), but I think you guys could just as well benefit from learning some of the rules here too.. unfortunately the tests they put you through do nothing to teach the nuances that exist in driving in Japan (some of which are very hard to pick up on by simply just driving in my opinion).
It's funny because after you pass the test, you are expected to put the newbie mark on your car for x number of months. What is ironic about this is taht you are not expected to do so for the first year of your drving here (which I did anyways). I think there are serious (potentially dangerous) flaws in their system of assessing foreign drivers.