Getting a driver license in Japan for a foreigner
 

Hello,

I am a Tunisian student, and I will be coming to Japan (Tsukuba) next April in order to pursue my higher studies.

I am wondering about how to get a driver license in Japan: is it hard for a foreigner? how many does it cost in average?

Thank you,
TheChatbour.

This depends on so many factors. I have mine, it took me a lot of pain, a lot of effort, and a lot of money. Not to mention taking the test four times before I passed.

...my Australian coworker? He just walked in, and they handed him one.

It depends largely on if your country or state has an agreement with the Japanese government. Australia has like six states. Very easy. America, of course, has more than fifty distinct license granting regions (not just the states, but commonwealths, territories, yadda yadda).

You can drive for a year on your international drivers permit, but after that you need a license. Better find out if your country has an agreement with Japan, if it doesn't, be prepared to pay out the ear, every time you fail, you have to try again, and pay again.

If you already have a license, take a course or two at a Japanese driving school. There are specific things they test on, and they are very strict when it comes to the test. The thinking is, if you don`t do the details even when being tested, you`re probably not going to do the important stuff when you`re not. I have heard the single classes are in the 10,000yen range. I have heard it is often pretty hard for people who have driving habits that are against what is tested... As you are failed for even one mistake.

If you do not already have a license, your best bet is to take a full driving course in Japan... And that is expensive (300,000yen?) and a long term commitment. This is what I did, and I had absolutely no problems with the test - both paper and driving.

thank you very much :) You're quick ^^

so I'd better get my driver license as soon as possible before coming to Japan. Please feel free to give me any other informations.

Thanks again :)

I will back up Nyororin. I failed three times because what I was taught to do in America is not always what you do in Japan.

I failed the first and second time because of my near instinctual refusal to cut off bikes and scooters when making a turn. In Japan, this is expected, and the scooters know it. In America, of course, doing it would be terribly dangerous, because the scooters won't stop. So my gut reaction was "avoid collision, avoid collision" and I just would not get close enough. On the third time I got close enough, but I turned into the wrong lane and failed. In America, you turn into the closest lane, in Japan, you turn into furthest lane. Again, for someone has ben driving for ten years in America, this just bothered me.

On the fourth time I told myself, accurately, that A) it was only a test and B) no one else was on the road. This allowed me to pass the test without being a nervous wreck. It didn't matter if I did things against my instincts because I would not hit anyone! And so, I passed.

In Kyoto, you can drive the test track on weekends for ¥5,000, which is something I wish I had known about when I did it. Also, in Kyoto, the driving school costs ¥200,000, but if you already have a license, this is not worth the money. I believe it cost me about ¥70,000 to take the test as many times as I did, with all of the stamps and taxes, the busfare, the trainfare, the hotel I stayed at (I live in Fukuchiyama, not Kyoto proper), and it takes all day to do the test. Still cheaper than the ¥200,000, but not cheap. If I had lived near the testing center and had had more information, I might have passed on my second attempt. *shrug*

Thank you very much Tsuwabuki :) very helpful.

I never thought about this... Well, I mean, I know that they stop on the Japanese side (and there are signs indicating whether it is stop or not for the scooter), but I don`t recall ever being tested on it. They did drill the "stop for bicycles" as they have the right of way and are treated as pedestrians. And the numerous checks you have to do when making a left turn to watch for pedestrians.

Furthest lane? You mean on a right turn? The rule isn`t the far lane, but the left lane.
Always turn into the leftmost lane. A left turn goes into the left lane, a right turn goes into the left lane. There are streets that have 3 lanes - you can`t be sure of the middle but you can always be sure of the left.
But... if it was a right turn, scooters should have been to the left so I`m kind of confused about what you mean.

My aunt is a driving instructor in the US, and there were a lot of things that freaked her out when she rode with me in Japan. I`ve never driven in the US so nothing bothers me (as I know no different), but apparently for her it was a real adventure. :D

I do not have a license, as I have never really needed one. But the people I know who have them, most had quite a lot of trouble trying to pass. I heard there were a lot of seemingly silly rules, like checking under the car before you go in etc. I suppose it could be different from prefecture to prefecture though. The impression I got is it is a lot of just going through the motions (like a lot of stuff in this country), and does not really test a driver's skill.

As far as some of the rules being talked about I would be surprised if cars were not suppose to wait for bicycles to pass through the intersection first when taking left turns, I was pretty sure I had the right of way in those situations. Either way, I am always cautious though because people more often than not are not paying any attention.

I know I have the right of way at crosswalks with no lights, because a friend of mine said she got a ticket once for not stopping at a non-traffic light crosswalk while a pedestrian was waiting.

I took the normal driving course Japanese people take before taking the test, and passed with a perfect score on the first try. It`s a matter of knowing the rules and knowing what they are testing. The laws and rules are different here than elsewhere, so even if you are a perfect driver in your home country chances are you won`t pass the test here if you didn`t look into it well. Most people seem to assume that as they`ve been driving for so many years that they`ll have no trouble - and fail miserably.

The checking under the car, etc, isn`t a silly rule - nor are any of the others. They don`t test on just what you`d do on a normal day hopping in your car - they test for a series of different circumstances to see if you know how to handle them. Not just an average day. I`ll restate the same thing here as I always say when the topic of the test being silly - If you can`t be bothered to go through the motions when you know you have to and are being tested on them... Who knows what you won`t bother to do when you`re not being tested.

You check the car so that they can see that you know how to do a basic check of your tires and lights, and then a basic engine check of oil and the like. If you don`t know how to do such a basic test, the thinking is that you wouldn`t know how to do basic care of your car and are not ready for a license.
The actual vehicle test is normal driving, uphill stop - shifting without rolling back when you release the brake, downhill shifting (don`t ride your brakes), turning, parallel and back-in parking, proper turning checks, etc etc. Of course that is on top of a long written test.

They will test you on more things if you have not taken a driving course because the driving courses have their own tests. When you pass the driving course test (which is also extremely strict - the longer you attend the more money they make so there is little incentive to be easy on you) you get a certificate that counts toward the driving center test. They still test you, but I understand that the number of things they test is lower.

Anyway - pedestrians always have the right of way. Bicycles are pedestrians if they`re on the sidewalk, and vehicles if they`re on the road. I believe that in this area the law puts them on the sidewalk (it`s a prefecture by prefecture thing) so in Aichi they`re almost always pedestrians.

There is only one set of circumstances in which the fault of an accident would lie partially in the pedestrian... It is sudden jaywalking when there is a crosswalk within so many meters. If there is a crosswalk but they leap out in front of your car with no warning, close enough to a crosswalk that you should be focusing on it to watch for people wanting to cross... The fault of the accident lies 20+% with the pedestrian.

On a four lane street, and I have never seen a six lane street, the far lane IS the left lane- in Japan. In America, of course, the furthest lane would be the right lane, and is a big no-no. So I say furthest, to cover the fact that we are crossing traffic, regardless of which side we are driving on.

In Texas, at least, because of some weirdly constructed intersections, you would be looking at a ticket for doing that. It's dangerous because it is possible in some situations the person crossing the intersection in the furthest lane may have a signal allowing them to do so while you are still allowed to turn into the closest lane.

Since I have a car in America, and drive there when I visit, I cannot think in terms of left vs right, but rather Japan, far, America close. Otherwise I confuse myself.

And I knew fully well what I was supposed to do. I didn't do it because my inner voice, after driving a decade, was shrieking at me saying "YOU GONNA GET HIT!" Much like your Aunt, it violated the basic principles drilled into me as a teenager, and it took my acceptance that the course was devoid of other traffic in order to allow me to come to terms with these differences.

Well I think this is kind of illogical. If part of having a drivers license is knowing everything about your car, then there should be a complete separate test for those things. A driving test is not a car maintenance test. It seems quite silly to me to throw such a thing in on a "driving" test. If car maintenance is such an issue then it needs to be giving separate special attention, not a half-assed strange check under your car that really has nothing to do with driving skill, but failing to do, will not allow you to have a "drivers" license. Therefore I still say it is silly.

I did not have to look under the car. I did have to walk around the car and look for obstructions, which is silly if you have been waiting in line for half an hour and have seen the car go around in circles several times. You can be pretty sure there are no imaginary obstructions. BUT... it's Japan.

So, part if it is doing everything you normally do, but doing in grandiose, over dramatic, look at me I'm a terrible actor way. When I checked mirrors and my blind spots, I looked worse than when I played MacBeth as a ninth grader. Anyone with half a brain should have noted that I was being positively ridiculous in a way no one would do in real life, and would probably be MORE distracting to a driver.

But... it's Japan. Often the appearance of correct is more important than the reality of correct.

A phrase I have said more times than I can count.

Don't fight it.

Just do it.

You don`t consider checking if your tires are flat a part of normal common sense knowledge? Because that is what they have you check. You walk around the car and check the tires, and then glance down to make sure there isn`t a kid or something just where you can`t see them. You`re not checking under the car, but the tires and to see if there is something/someone just out of your view while in the car.

It isn`t like they make you change a tire, change your oil, etc etc. I checked my oil and washer fluid in the driving school test because it was part of what they teach you to do at the driving school, but didn`t do it at the real test because it isn`t part of it. Still I don`t see how this is such a strange thing to know how to do...?

Is taking a glance at the tires to see if they`re flat or have anything stabbed into them all that weird? I would really hate to drive off and then notice that one is flat...
That is what a test is - to check your knowledge of what to do in a situation. They want to see if you know how to do the common sense sight check that should become second nature if you`re driving. It`s not safe to drive around with a flat or to pull out without taking a glance to see if there is a kid sitting down behind your back bumper.

MMM, indeed. It either becomes mantra for coping, or the reason you leave.

Now, I am no cultural relativist. I am not afraid to say clearly when I think a Japanese way of doing something is cockamamy crazy. But I can rant about it and still be productive because of my knowledge that... it's Japan.

No License Yet (But Want A Car)
 

May be moving out to Fukui soon from Osaka. And dropped by the Nissan dealership today.

I definately am saving up for the new 2010 Nissan Fuga 370GT (VIP model).

worth drooling over and costs 500 man yen.

Goal is to buy it in 2011 :cool:

Umm ok so you are telling me you honestly check the tires every time you get into your vehicle? No, I am sure you don't, nobody does (but am sure you stop at red lights, and let the person with the right of way go first).

... so you are saying they want to test to see if somebody knows how to check to see if a tire is flat.. I am sorry but unless you are blind, it is quite obvious, and I don't think it needs to be tested, nobody should be failed for failure to do so. And any normal driver would know the moment they start to move their car that their tire is flat.

So once again my point is that it seems really silly to me, and has nothing to do with a person's driving ability..

And come on.. check for obstructions or kids.. nobody does that either, that is what the mirrors are for, and in any case who is to say a kid would not run in front of your car in the time between you checking and driving away?
Once again, silly, unrealistic for a test, and nothing to do with driving ability.
If it is so important it should be on a different test.. like maybe the written part?? One that it makes sense to ask about hypothetical situations.. not this "playing make-believe" in a driving skills test.

What a drivers test should be about is.. do you understand traffic laws.. right of way.. can you control your vehicle... those are the things that matter... all this other stuff we have talked about, if it is so vital to being a good driver, should have it's place on the written test... having it as part of the drivers test is just nonsense.

I may not always check if my tires are low on air, but I do take a glance at both sides of my car... I`ve been scraped three times in parking lots and would have hated to have noticed once I got home instead of while in the parking lot (two with surveillance, by the way) and been able to file a police report right then and there. It makes a difference for insurance.

A normal driver. I would guess that at least 95% of the people taking the basic driving test are not normal drivers. They`re people who have little to no driving experience. For someone who HAS been driving for years, sure - that`s common sense. But for someone who may have only driven a total of 3 hours in their life on a closed driving course... I think that it IS a worthwhile test.

You walk around the car in a circle taking a glance at both sides and both sets of tires. You start on the passenger side and walk around to get into the driver`s side. It isn`t some special part to check for a child, it`s just common sense safety.

Have you ever taken any other test that requires physical participation? They want you to actually DO some of these things to test on it.
For example, if you take a first aid class, you will have to ask the dummy on the floor "Can you hear me?!" and check it`s breathing and pulse - of course it isn`t going to answer you and it`s obvious it`s not going to be breathing or have a pulse. What is important is going through the motions. It shows that you know what to do should you have to do it. Answering a multiple choice question is a lot different than actually displaying the ability. That is what a test is.

No matter if people think it is totally silly, my opinion still stands. If it is too much bother to do just once for the driving test - an event that is obviously not "real life" - then the testers have every right to doubt that you`ll do all the other truly necessary stuff in real life.

In Japan the license isn`t just to drive, it`s to own a vehicle too. (You can`t purchase one without a license even if you have a parking space and cash in your hand).

This is what makes me disagree with your argument.. to display their ability?? Oh you mean that thing called... "walking".. and using ones sense of "sight" to make an extremely common sense deduction.

"In case of that flat tire, have you mastered the art of walking around your car and using your eyes to see if it is flat?" Seriously.. there is nothing being tested here...

If it was the law to walk around and check your vehicle every time you got into it here I could understand having it on the test. But the fact that 99% of people 99% of the time do not do this.. and yet.. it is part of a "driving" test, and if you do not do it you fail..... nonsense.

The fact is this "preventative measure" or whatever you want to call it is completely pointless unless it is done 100% of the time. And really even what is it preventing.. pretty much nothing.. even if you are too dense to notice that you have a flat at worst it will probably just ruin your rims..

Instead of focusing on silly stuff like this, maybe they should test if people actually know how to drive the speed limit, stop for red lights and WATCH WHERE THEY ARE GOING! Because with the amount of times I have almost been creamed by negligent drivers, I would really be surprised if they focus on that stuff... (now, I'm sure they would not pass somebody for doing this stuff either, but my point is there are way more important things than checking your tires that should be address during a drivers test)

Why would somebody honestly have the right to doubt a person's ability to do "truly necessary stuff" because of their inability to take time out and do ridiculous nonsensical stuff?

It is a test. You know what they are going to test you on. You know they want you to walk around the car and check the tires and the back of the vehicle before getting in.

You think it is a stupid waste of time and refuse to do it... Even though you know they are watching and know they will be checking to see if you do it.

Yes, I do think they have that right. It falls in the same category of, say, passing the driving test itself perfectly but insulting the tester and acting like a total jerk the whole time. They won`t pass you then either.

If this were stealing valuable test time from the "truly necessary stuff" I would understand being against it. But it doesn`t. They still test you on all the important stuff too, and it is more heavily weighted than any of the preventative stuff.

Tests are not real life. They are tests. The normal flow of getting a license in Japan is driving school then test as "graduation". Think of it as school, not just a random test. I have never taken a test that only tested the "truly necessary stuff". In school, for verifications, etc etc. I`ve had to give fake presentations on things I couldn`t care less about and that would never serve any purpose in real life... But it was a test, so I did them, as it tests the level of effort you put into the course. If all tests were only the truly necessary and important stuff - then you could pick up a page of test points and be ready.

Despite that, I STILL feel that it isn`t pointless or silly. You are getting into a car you have never driven, you have never seen before that day... It is common sense to actually look at it and check things before just hopping in and driving away. If you get a rental car, don`t you check to see if there is any damage to it before driving? Don`t you check to see where all the buttons and levers are? That is an important skill, and one that should be tested on inexperienced drivers.

When you take your test, you will have to inspect the car. You will have to look at the front, back, both sides, and underneath. You will also have to look over shoulder before opening and closing the door. Whether you do this in real life or not is irrelevant, it must be done when you take the test.

All instructions from the proctor are given in Japanese, so you'll need to know at least enough Japanese to get through the test.

Rarely do foreigners who convert their foreign licenses to a Japanese license pass on the first try. At some license centers foreigners are never allowed to pass after the first try. It takes an average of 3 tries for a foreigner to pass.

This policy may be due to the fact that you must pay 2500 yen or so each time you take the driving test, the more times it takes you to pass, the more money the license center makes. I felt very fortunate to pass on my second attempt, of the 12 or so people who were testing with me that day, only 2 others passed, and the other 2 were Japanese who were converting American licenses. Both of them were failed on their first attempt as well.

I never said that I would not do it. Of course I would do it. You do what you have to do to pass. My point is that it is silly and should not be on the test or at least you should not be failed for neglecting to do something that has nothing to do with driving skill or following the rules of the road.

Really? Because I thought they just straight up fail you for not looking around your car.

You cannot really compare this to a formal education..All that pointless stuff you did in school improved your overall skill at writing, reading, getting along in the real world, becoming a disciplined adult etc. Taking time out to go through the motions of something like this does not prove anything and is in fact pointless. This is not a skill that one needs to learn because if you have not mastered the art of common sense by the time you are 20, then you probably should never even leave your house. So if looking around your car is so vital to traffic safety here in Japan then it should be a LAW. It is ridiculous to make somebody do something just one time that they will probably never do again, and even if they do look around their car every time they get in they are only avoiding minimal damage to anything at best.

Once again this is all hypothetical common sense stuff that people should do, it is not a skill. Would you think it was ok if there was a test to see if you know how to not jump in front of a train? or if you know how to lock your house before you leave it? Or how about hang up your laundry when it is sunny outside?? Because checking to see if you know how to walk around your car and look at your tires, is pretty much in the same category with this stuff.

Let me give you my theory on the REAL reason something like this on a test. Around where I am from (in my home country) there always seems to be lots of road construction going on, and it just so happens that the fine for speeding around these road construction areas doubles (also the speed limit is usually lowered suddenly and significantly in these areas). Ok that makes sense right, its dangerous to speed and even more dangerous to do so in a construction zone. But yet, 95% of the time the actually construction area.. is probably about 100 meters long where the official "construction zone" is usually about 3 kilometers long for that little 100 meter area. Then another 95% of the time nobody is even out there working on anything. So yes, you guessed it, cops have a field day issuing people tickets in these areas.. why? because of safety??? oh maybe you could BS your way into calling it that, but the real reason is REVENUE.

So I ask myself, isn't it peculiar that they would have such ridiculous tasks compiled with such strict guidelines to allow somebody to pass? and add to that the fact the police department gets all, or at least a cut of the money that people throw into trying to get a drivers license??... All in the name of safety right?? ...haha, yeah they almost got me believing that one..

It is sooo all about the money.. foreigners did not bother to fork over that outrageous 300,000 yen, so they gotta get something more out of them. So ironic that those people who have paid big bucks to go to driving school get a pretty smooth ride when it comes to issuing a license... ..I don't smell a form of bribery, scheming and manipulation anywhere here... ;)

Bullcrap. It's a major investment of both time and money. The written test on the Japanese side is ridiculous. I haven't seen so much cheering when the numbers came up than the last time I went with friends to check if they had passed their entrance exams to a university.

It is anything but a smooth ride.

Thank you.

Out of the 16 or 17 people in my group that day, only 3 of us passed on the first try - that included me, the sole foreigner in the group. There was one girl there who was on her 12th(14th? I forget) try and did not pass. I am guessing she is a serious exception - it seemed that most people were passing on their 3rd or 4th try. All Japanese, by the way, so I`m going to guess that it takes an average of 3 tries for ANYONE to pass - not just foreigners.

But hey, if you want to pull a racial discrimination card, feel free to do that.

As for the revenue, etc, etc conspiracies... Why not just NOT SPEED IN THE CONSTRUCTION AREA??? You can avoid all of it by simply doing that one thing.
Same with the test - there is no conspiracy. Just do what is required and pass the thing and they won`t have the opportunity to get any extra money out of you.

What are you talking about??? I am talking about a how overpriced drivers school is in Japan and how the public duped into paying for it... Not university exams...

I never said racial discrimination... if anything it is still cheaper for foreigners who do not pay for driving school to get a license, and that is a good thing. Even if it is true that most Japanese who have gone through drivers school still take a few times to pass it does not cover the fact that the system is set up to make money, more so than it is to test skills as driver (as shown by the wonderful test).

Think of it this way.

The test is extremely difficult. Very hard to pass without extensive studying and practice. In Japan, you cannot practice on public roads - only in vehicles with specific markings and override controls, and with a specially licensed driving instructor. Smaller streets, less room for error - it`s a safety issue.

Driving school isn`t a few hours and a wad of cash to bribe people. It`s an actual school. There are extensive classes, and they actually test you on close to ALL the laws (Not just a handful sample of important ones) on the paper test.
You actually need to spend a huge amount of time studying to pass it. A lot easier with a teacher diagramming things out, etc.

I thought it was way overpriced too, until I actually enrolled and went. 30 something hours of classroom time, and 30 something hours of one on one driving practice - more than half on public roads with the insurance surcharge that must be paid in order to do so. Oh, and a 6 hour scooter/motorbike course... And a 4 hour first aid certification course... A 2 hour car insurance seminar thing (how to choose your insurance, and how to exchange insurance information, with discussion of how "fault" is decided) On top of that, provided lunches and all the gasoline and expressway fees included. Oh, and the bus to come and pick the students up all over town.

There is a need for classes to pass the test - so someone fills that need.

ETA; I am just going to end this and say that I do not agree that the test and the like is pointless. I am of the belief that it SHOULD be hard to get a license, and that you shouldn`t be able to get one if you can`t put in the time and effort to learn the things necessary. In the US, having a car is linked directly to the ability to have an income as it is a car based society - so I suppose that the ease in getting a license in those circumstances can sort of be forgiven... But Japan is not. There are terrible drivers everywhere, but at least you can weed some of them out with strict testing.

In Kyoto, there are almost a hundred people each day trying to pass. And there is a giant scoreboard where numbers flash at the end of the day showing who passed.

It is very much like the way university exam results are posted.

I do agree with you on these points. I do not think it should be easy either. The majority of the test maybe very good and necessary, but I still say it has its over the top, ridiculous points. That being said, this is Japan and things are done the Japanese way. I know this and fully accept this, but this is an forum, and people debate on forums and I am simply calling it how I see it. So on the point of the necessity of walking around your car and checking the tires being on the test, I guess we can just do the old agree to disagree.

Coming from the UK it was a simple matter of filling in paper work, getting translations of my UK licence and waiting 3 hours.
No test no questions asked.

I do agree that for test purposes that you should inspect your car before driving it away.

Japan loves to issue licences for almost anything. You will need to take a different test if you want to tow a trailer ect.

Also in the UK it is your right to sail a boat, but in Japan you need a licence to take any craft on the water!

well, we still need to do an eye check, right?
and i guess u didn't go to the centre with a arm in a cast. took me a good 45 min to persuade a lady that it would not impair my driving ability once the cast was off. it seemed she was set in having that on my driving license. but, yes, apart from that it was most likely easier than having to do the real thing.

I wish all countries were as strict as Japan when it comes to issuing drivers licenses, it would keep a lot of people who should not be driving off of the roads. In America you need only pay $10 or so, take a one-page written test, and a 5 minute driving test; as a result, you end up with streets full of incompetent drivers. I'm not saying that Japanese drivers are all that skillful, but at least the driving schools and licensing system in Japan encourage one to be serious and safe when behind the wheel.

I had no driving test at all to get my TX license...

Instead I spent the entire summer of my 15th year, three months, going to driving school. I had to present proof at least 90 hours under instruction, as well as about twice that in classroom instruction.

I earned my license, thanks. :P