School, or do-it-yourself?
If you are an experienced driver, you may want to skip the time-consuming and costly lessons at a certified driver's training school. The lessons cost about $3,000 but, for someone who doesn't speak much Japanese, they have the advantage of letting you deal with people who can speak English (depending on the school you choose), they take care of the paperwork for you and, best of all, they give you the final driver's test themselves. They are much more lenient than the testers at the government run licensing centers since it isn't good for business to fail too many folks after they've gone through the classes. But for those intrepid individuals who know enough Japanese to understand what your evaluator is telling you to do, the faster/cheaper option is to skip the school and just do the exam at the licensing center. That is what I did, and my total costs were about 50,000 yen.
If you decide to skip the driving school, you need to understand the mindset of the evaluators at the licensing centers. Think of the driving test here as similar to the tea ceremony or kabuki. It isn't enough to know how to do it, it is important that you do the test in the highly stylized way they want it done. If you can embrace that concept, you'll be well ahead of the game. And if you are an experienced driver in the US, be especially cautious of being overconfident.
I took my test at the Kanagawa center in Futamtagawa, which is renowned for being pretty strict. From what I read, it seemed that it was rare for people to get their license on the first try, and some stories I read said they'd tried it between 5 and 10 times. I managed to get it on my first try but I spent a lot of time preparing before the exam (reading Internet materials and watching YouTube posts), I am a pretty good driver with lots of experience, and I took a one hour practice session with an instructor on the actual course. With all that, I wonder if I didn't get a bit lucky to have a pretty reasonable guy as my evaluator. I actually thought I'd failed, and it probably could have gone either way, but this guy knew I was prepared and he knew I knew what he wanted me to do. He didn't even have to give me any instructions since I knew the course so well, but of course I took care to acknowledge his instructions during the test. It took a lot of time to get that prepared, but I think it was worth the effort so I didn't have to waste several days returning to the bureaucratic, time and money wasting nightmare at the licensing center. I hope the following information helps others who are thinking of converting their license to save time and money as well.
A general note about 'strictness'
I think that is true that the evaluators are strict to the point of being very 'picky', but if you know what they are looking for and don’t tense up, they seem reasonable/fair enough. My tester was pleasant and not at all the gruff person I’d been lead to expect. Frankly, having been an avid cyclist with years of experience riding in traffic, the stuff they are sticklers about really are important. There are lots of cyclists on the road and if you are in the habit of turning left without looking over your shoulder for cyclists or scooters on your left first, you’ll probably end up causing an accident. One sure way to fail the test is to get an attitude and act like the rules are bogus. You can argue all you like or have a fit, but if you do, I suspect you'll become very familiar with the waiting lounge at the License Center.
In my case, the tester was pleasant, professional, strict, but reasonable. When I took the test, the testers spent two or three minutes with each of us explaining our errors. In my case, I took a turn a bit too wide so that the front of car came close to/crossed the white line dividing lanes. I was told this could cause a big accident and agreed with the tester that this was not good. Also, my tester wanted me to slow down on the curve just before #4, which he said I took too fast and too wide. I told him I’d normally go slower but was trying to follow my instructor’s advice about being ‘genki’ about accelerating. Anyway, despite the issues, I did pass. Was it because my tester was a nice guy and a bit 'yasashii'? I have no way of knowing. Perhaps I was lucky. But I'm pretty sure it helped that he knew I took the test seriously and had known the rules and course well.
Bottom line if you decide to skip the school….Prepare well for the test. Take a practice lesson on the actual course. Be pleasant but have your game face on. Take the test seriously, and when you’re being critiqued, don’t argue or give excuses. Accept what they tell you as good advice (because it probably is) and/or acknowledge that you made a mistake (which you probably did… at least by the rules they go by). The testers know what they want and they expect you to know it too. There may be places where there is little correlation between this course and reality, but if you don’t want to retake the test many times, you’d best get comfortable with giving the testers what they want, no matter how trivial it may seem to you.
Other sources:
http://www.supermelf.com/japan/ajetdrivingbook/DrivinginJapanandPassingtheDriversTest.pdf
*This might also have some good tips but is also a bit dated and although it purports to be the Kanagawa testing center, the course described is not at all like the current course. Just be aware of that. The tips might be useful though. http://www.globalcompassion.com/driving.htm
If you decide to skip the driving school, you need to understand the mindset of the evaluators at the licensing centers. Think of the driving test here as similar to the tea ceremony or kabuki. It isn't enough to know how to do it, it is important that you do the test in the highly stylized way they want it done. If you can embrace that concept, you'll be well ahead of the game. And if you are an experienced driver in the US, be especially cautious of being overconfident.
I took my test at the Kanagawa center in Futamtagawa, which is renowned for being pretty strict. From what I read, it seemed that it was rare for people to get their license on the first try, and some stories I read said they'd tried it between 5 and 10 times. I managed to get it on my first try but I spent a lot of time preparing before the exam (reading Internet materials and watching YouTube posts), I am a pretty good driver with lots of experience, and I took a one hour practice session with an instructor on the actual course. With all that, I wonder if I didn't get a bit lucky to have a pretty reasonable guy as my evaluator. I actually thought I'd failed, and it probably could have gone either way, but this guy knew I was prepared and he knew I knew what he wanted me to do. He didn't even have to give me any instructions since I knew the course so well, but of course I took care to acknowledge his instructions during the test. It took a lot of time to get that prepared, but I think it was worth the effort so I didn't have to waste several days returning to the bureaucratic, time and money wasting nightmare at the licensing center. I hope the following information helps others who are thinking of converting their license to save time and money as well.
A general note about 'strictness'
I think that is true that the evaluators are strict to the point of being very 'picky', but if you know what they are looking for and don’t tense up, they seem reasonable/fair enough. My tester was pleasant and not at all the gruff person I’d been lead to expect. Frankly, having been an avid cyclist with years of experience riding in traffic, the stuff they are sticklers about really are important. There are lots of cyclists on the road and if you are in the habit of turning left without looking over your shoulder for cyclists or scooters on your left first, you’ll probably end up causing an accident. One sure way to fail the test is to get an attitude and act like the rules are bogus. You can argue all you like or have a fit, but if you do, I suspect you'll become very familiar with the waiting lounge at the License Center.
In my case, the tester was pleasant, professional, strict, but reasonable. When I took the test, the testers spent two or three minutes with each of us explaining our errors. In my case, I took a turn a bit too wide so that the front of car came close to/crossed the white line dividing lanes. I was told this could cause a big accident and agreed with the tester that this was not good. Also, my tester wanted me to slow down on the curve just before #4, which he said I took too fast and too wide. I told him I’d normally go slower but was trying to follow my instructor’s advice about being ‘genki’ about accelerating. Anyway, despite the issues, I did pass. Was it because my tester was a nice guy and a bit 'yasashii'? I have no way of knowing. Perhaps I was lucky. But I'm pretty sure it helped that he knew I took the test seriously and had known the rules and course well.
Bottom line if you decide to skip the school….Prepare well for the test. Take a practice lesson on the actual course. Be pleasant but have your game face on. Take the test seriously, and when you’re being critiqued, don’t argue or give excuses. Accept what they tell you as good advice (because it probably is) and/or acknowledge that you made a mistake (which you probably did… at least by the rules they go by). The testers know what they want and they expect you to know it too. There may be places where there is little correlation between this course and reality, but if you don’t want to retake the test many times, you’d best get comfortable with giving the testers what they want, no matter how trivial it may seem to you.
Other sources:
http://www.supermelf.com/japan/ajetdrivingbook/DrivinginJapanandPassingtheDriversTest.pdf
*This might also have some good tips but is also a bit dated and although it purports to be the Kanagawa testing center, the course described is not at all like the current course. Just be aware of that. The tips might be useful though. http://www.globalcompassion.com/driving.htm