Getting a driver license in Japan for a foreigner

[TheChatbour]

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.

[Tsuwabuki]

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.

[Nyororin]

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.

[TheChatbour]

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

[Tsuwabuki]

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*

[TheChatbour]

Thank you very much Tsuwabuki very helpful.

[Nyororin]

Originally Posted by Tsuwabuki

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.

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.

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.

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.

[RickOShay]

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.

[Nyororin]

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.

[Tsuwabuki]

Originally Posted by Nyororin

Furthest lane? You mean on a right turn? The rule isn`t the far lane, but the left lane.

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.