US driver's licenseﾂ?徽apanese driver's license

Ironically, they require Americans to take the practical test because all 50 states have different laws, but it seems that license testing situations (albeit not the actual laws) vary widely by prefecture.

In my prefecture most people have reported having a pretty easy time passing. We had to drive around an empty course and pretend the lanes were a lot wider than they were (when they say "move over to the right side of the lane" it means move over 3 inches). The most hairy part was navigating some tight S and Z curves (tapping the curb is automatic failure) which weren't even that bad. The testing guys explained the course in redundant detail and gave us a copy of the map to take home and study after the initial paperwork was done.
The written test is simple, but it's in horrible English, so if you can read the Japanese on it, that's a leg up.
Remember to bring your passport and American license to the center. They copied every page of my passport and asked me questions about everywhere I've gone in the last 10 years.

I'm fairly certain that the deal with international driving permits is the following:
You can drive with an IDP for up to one year following your entry into Japan (or until the expiration date, whichever is sooner). The only way to start using another IDP is to leave Japan for more than 3 months and come back. So this means that if you will be in Japan for more than a year, and won't be leaving for 3 months or more at a time, you must convert your license sometime within the first year. I converted mine about 11 months after I got here. You might want to get the ball rolling about 2 months in advance because the process is a bit tedious.

One last thing:
You must have had a valid license in the US for at least 3 months (and spent 3 months in the US since getting your license) to be eligible to convert your license to a Japanese one, and if you have been in the US for less than a year since you got your license (or got your license less than a year ago), you have to drive around with one of these learner's magnets on the front and back of your car

for one year following your license conversion.

Jimmy Seal has pretty much hit things dead on. As for all of those links to police web sites, why not just go here?
http://www.japandriverslicense.com/

GaijinPot
Read what "bland" wrote here: GaijinPot
http://www.alientimes.org/Main/DriversLicensesWhatYouNeedToKnow

JimmySeal said:

Ironically, they require Americans to take the practical test because all 50 states have different laws, but it seems that license testing situations (albeit not the actual laws) vary widely by prefecture.

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I recall something about this. However, this test is apparently cake compared to the test you take when getting a new license... the written portion part you must pass w/ 90%.

I'm referring to the practical test. I've heard of areas where everyone who attempted it failed 2 or 3 times before passing (at great monetary expense) and has led a lot of people to drive around without a license (or insurance).
Meanwhile, I've never heard of someone having a hard time with the test in this prefecture.

I don't know about you folks but my test was as hard as any Japanese citizens test. I watched the course a couple times while researching and the course you do is basically the luck of the draw.

If you don't do your research and practice you will fail a couple times.

If you have gone through the road test (as part of the foreign license conversion to the Japanese one), how did you prepare for it?
Based on some comments, I see the followings are recommended methods
Go see and take a walk over the road course
Take a practice test before the actual road test

I am planning to do both while I practice with an international license permit (I am going to get it at AAA in USA).

By the way, when you take the step for the license conversion, do you have to surrender your foreign license? I know the int'l license is only effective as long as it is with the original foreign license. Or, do you surrender it after you pass the road test?

I passed on the first trial. I studied the Rules of the Road a little, and considered what sort of questions might be asked. (Last time I took the written test was 20 years ago.)

I spent 500 yen to take a practice drive on the course half an hour before the exam. When the test monitor drove me around the course moments before the test, I asked questions.

When I drove the course, I exaggerated my movements and spoke a little to suggest to the monitor what I was thinking as I did things.

No, you do not have to surrender your foreign license.

I drove on the international license for the first year and toward the end they were changing the rules so I decided to get my license.

*I drove every single day (City, Country, neighborhoods, Mtns.)
*Look for those super narrow roads with lots of truns
*crazy intersections
*practice the "moped cut off" before making turns
*Not signaling too early (Which "they" say a lot of Americans do but irritates the hell out of me!!)
*Parking "Japanese Style"

ET_Fukuoka said:

*Not signaling too early (Which "they" say a lot of Americans do but irritates the hell out of me!!)
*Parking "Japanese Style"

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Would you care to elaborate on those 2 points? In USA, my timing of using a blinker is based on the road condition. If I am driving on a heavy multi-lane highway in NY metro area, I use a blinker right at the same time I cut off the other driver (so that I don't give out a hint I am getting in; otherwise, he/she will speed up to block my move). I use a blinker earlier (as the traffic law says) when I see a police cruiser nearby or the road I am on is not crowded.