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Japanese driver licence from scrap.

Davey

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I have been in Japan for about 5 years now, and I have decided that it is about time for me to start getting my driver licence. I don't have a licence from the Netherlands so I have to start from scrap... Yes, I am planning on taking Japanese driving lessons (would love to go to Koyama but that's in Tokyo, so way too far), although the school I am going to has English text books for the written test (in English) that I can take at the prefectural testing center.

I do have to do a small Kanji test before I enter the school (anyone has an idea what kind of kanji there will be in the test besides ﾅｽ~窶堙懌?堙ｨ?) . The driving test and the schools written test will be in Japanese but those should be alright (I hope).

Anyone with experience getting a driving licence from scrap?

I will probably to to Port Island Driving school upcoming Saturday, so I will keep you up to date.
 
Good luck Davey!

I will be interested in hearing about the process and how things went.
 
Memories of my test in Japan.

Since I had a license in the US and the test was in English right on our base , I figured it would be easy to pass. I did fine on the written test and the examiner took me outside for the actual driving test. There stood a "GIANT" 3 axel 10 wheel Army truck. The fact that it was also standard shift with a clutch that took about 30 pounds of pressure to use was not bad enough ; it also had no power steering. The first corner I came to to turn was impossible for me to make the steering wheel turn at slow speed and so came the end of the test , I failed it.
Lucky for me , my Navy supervisor convinced them I would never drive anything bigger than a pick-up truck and when I re-took the test in an Navy pick-up , I passed.
I still remember my fear of driving on an 8 lane highway in heavy Fukuoka(Kyushu) traffic. There was nothing back home in Maine that large.

Uncle Frank

 
I have never bothered to get one, but expect to give up your whole day, and expect to do it at least twice. I have only known one person who passed on the first try, and many many who have not.
 
Chidoriashi said:
I have never bothered to get one, but expect to give up your whole day, and expect to do it at least twice. I have only known one person who passed on the first try, and many many who have not.
Click to expand...

That is generally the people who are attempting to convert a pre-existing license to a Japanese license. Davey is in an entirely different circumstance. He is looking at spending several weeks on this.
 
Chidoriashi said:
I have never bothered to get one, but expect to give up your whole day, and expect to do it at least twice. I have only known one person who passed on the first try, and many many who have not.
Click to expand...
Unless that one person was me, you now know 2! It's really not as hard as many make out. There is so much literature and firsthand experience available online that I am constantly amazed at how often people say they have had to take it more than once, sometimes 6-10 times! Those people are doing something seriously wrong!
 
I went to the driving school today and signed up... the Kanji test was quite difficult but they told me I can do it anyway.

I will start my first lessons next week
 
Started classes a couple a days ago. First there was an entrance ceremony where they explained us everything about the school and the process, after that I had to do a personality test where I had to find the same numbers, draw as many crosses within 30 seconds and in the end I had to answer 50 Japanese written questions.

I though that I could do the last part by myself but the instructor just started reading the 50 questions out loud and everyone had to answer them immediately... That went way to fast for me, so I could only fill in half of them but as it wasn't part of the actual driving test it didn't really matter that much (although he did scare me a bit with that.)

After this I had my first lesson from the book, wich I understood 50% (the rest I was able to read at home and I can double check it from next week when I will receive the English textbooks).

Tomorrow will be my first time to sit in the car and to drive around a little bit I guess. I am quit excited about that and I can't wait until I can actually drive around town .
 
Good luck on the driving Davey!
 
Driving lessons are doing great besides the engine stops and I can't wait to get my karimenkyo (temporary licence) so that I can drive on the real road.

The only negative thing about this driving school is that it is too popular! It is really hard to make reservations. So I am nog sure when I can start with the second stage.
 
After failing the karimenkyo test 3 times I finally passed it, and I can start with the second fase!

The test has 50 questions (all in Japanese with lots of tricky questions) and I needed to have 45 good! Today I finally had 48 good!
 
Way to go Dave !!

Best of luck on the rest !

Uncle Frank

 
I am so glad I never had to go through it, it isn't cheap either. In reality there is no requirement to go to a driving school to get one's license, all they have to do is go to the licensing station, take the paper test, which is available in English, then take the practical test on site.

Not too many people pass the practical on their first time through, but it is still a heck of a lot cheaper than going through the driving school.

The driving school folks, my father-in-law used to be a principal of one btw, told me that some schools fail folks on their temp license exam (practical) to get more money too. Shady places there are it seems, and picking a reputable school is important. I'll bet Dave is paying over 300,000 yen for the school. A guy I know told me that in mainland the easiest way to figure cost was to multiply one's age by 10,000 yen to get a rough idea of the cost.

Good luck Dave.
 
:122: Congratulations and good luck in phase 2! :122:
 
 
Kind of a shame that you never had a license from the Netherlands seeing as how people from there do not need to go through the testing process here in Japan and can easily transfer their license to a Japanese one and save all the trouble and money too.
 
おもでとございます、Davey!

Good luck on the next steps!
 
I wish you the best of luck, Davey.

I am taking driving lessons now, so I sort of know how you feel, however I am doing mine in English... in England... so I can only imagine the trouble you must be facing taking them in Japanese!
 
Kirie_Maiden said:
I wish you the best of luck, Davey.

I am taking driving lessons now, so I sort of know how you feel, however I am doing mine in English... in England... so I can only imagine the trouble you must be facing taking them in Japanese!
Click to expand...

Cheers!

So how does that go, getting your driver licence in the UK?
 
It was easy to get my provisional. I filled in a form at Website of the UK government : Directgov and they sent me a letter requesting a photo. I sent it back and they sent me the provisional licence. Once I pass the tests, I assume I can fill in another form to upgrade, but I am not sure about that yet.
 


Well the last Monday I finally got my Japanese Driver licence! Yippie!!!


I took the test in English for 4 times and I failed(I had scores of 74, 81, 84, and 89) all of them due to crapy English sentences that didn't make sense at all, so instead of taking it in English again I decided to take it in Japanese (the tests and lessons at the driving school were in japanese as well) and I passed that test the first time with 91 points

I am really looking forward to driving the car during GW, and want to drive to Shikoku when I have more experience in driving.
 
Congratulations Davey! I hope you'll be coming by car next time.
 
Trying to "enjoy" driving during Golden Week is something like trying to enjoy having your fingernails pulled out with pliers.

Congratulations on passing the test, and on doing the written test in Japanese! I'm proud of you!

The first time I tried to drive in this country it took me about fifteen seconds to say to myself "I'll NEVER be able to drive here!"
 
Thanks Thomas, although Tokyo is a bit too far I am looking forward to going to Tokyo again!

Haha, I mean just drive around the neighborhood. I haven't driven for about 2 months so I have to get used to driving first. What happened, you drove on the other side of the road?
 
It was my first time driving on the left side of the road and from the right side of the car.
 
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