How to get a Japanese Drivers License - From Start to Finish

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Up until June 2002, it was okay for foreigners to drive in Japan by continuously renewing their International Drivers Permits. Unfortunately now…

1. You cannot simply keep on renewing your International Drivers Permit and more importantly...

1. Your international driver’s license is ONLY VALID FOR A PERIOD OF 12 MONTHS AFTER YOU INITIALLY LAND IN JAPAN (regardless of what it says on your international drivers license).
   

This means that after being in Japan for 12 months, you will have to get a Japanese drivers license if you want to drive. AND depending on your country, you may have to take the practical exam. EEEEK! But don’t worry, here’s how to do it...

Get your license translated

The first thing you need to do is get an official translation of your current driver’s license. You can't just have anybody do it: only the JAF (Japan Automobile Federation) or your country's embassy can do it for you.

In order to get an official translation from JAF:

1. Photocopy the front and back of your license

1. Print and fill out this application form: http://www.jaf.or.jp/inter/translation/pdf/pdf_apli_english.pdf
2. Mail both #1 and #2 along with ￥3380 yen (￥3000 yen application fee + ￥380 return postage) in a 現金書留　(genkin kakitome) envelope from the post office to: Nihon Jidousha Remei, Kanazawa-shi Kobu 1-56, 920-0362 (Japanese: 日本自動車連盟、金沢市古府町1-56、〒920-0362).
3. Eventually (usually 2-3 days) you will get your license "translation" back. Time for the next step!

Make an appointment at the Licensing Center

Now you need to actually make an appointment at the 運転免許' 'センター(Unten Menkyo Center) to get your license converted.

Call the Center at 076-238-5901 and explain you want to convert your Drivers License into Japanese. If you don't speak Japanese get a fluent Japanese speaker to call for you. The Center will schedule you an appointment. Please note, it can sometimes take up to a month to get an appointment so please keep this in mind.

Your first appointment

For your first appointment at the Center you need to bring:

1. Your passport
2. Any previous, expired passports
3. Alien Registration (Gaijin) Card
4. Home country's drivers license
5. Previous, expired home country's drivers licenses (if possible)
6. Your International Driver's Permit
7. The awesome translation you got from JAF
8. A 3x2.4 (standard) photo of yourself. You can get them taken at the photo machine at the Unten Menkyo Center on the 1st floor if needed.
9. Money - you pay for the written and practical exams separately. It adds up to about ￥4000　in total
10. Someone who speaks Japanese (if you don't)

Getting there:

運転免許センター'

'金沢市東蚊爪町２丁目１番地' '〒９２０－０２０９

Google map link

The center is in Uchinada, so basically if you don't have a car, what I recommend doing is taking the hokutetsu (the private line train) from Kanazawa station all the way to the terminus station of Uchinada, then jumping off and taking a taxi (just say "unten menkyo center"). You can do the bus thing too, but I don't know which one you take for certain. While you're in the taxi, make sure to grab the taxi's dispatch phone number, since you CAN get stranded at the center if your run late (meaning like past 4pm) and it's a very long walk back.

What to expect:

Make sure to arrive early. They will give you a very specific time slot, so don’t miss it! You will go inside and up the stairs to the second floor. There’s a big open area with chairs and windows numbered 41-46 (strangely not in order). Go to window 45 and check in. They will take everything they asked you to bring. Then you will wait. They will call you back and ask you some questions.

Do I need to take the Practical Exam?

If you are from one of the following countries, you DO NOT HAVE TO take practical and written exams:

United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Austria, Belguim, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, South Korea.

Congratulations! Please skip to The Eye Test section.

If you are from one of the following countries you HAVE TO schedule your practical and written exams:

United States of America, South Africa, China, Brazil, Jamaica (also Africa, Asia, South America, Eastern Europe, Russia, Singapore and any other country not listed above).

Now the fun starts!

Practice

It is highly highly recommended that you take a lesson for at least 1 hour (2 hours ideally) before you take the exam because they will show you exactly how to pass the test.

Many JETs have taken 1 or 2 hours of practice right before taking their exam so they can actually practice the test course of that day.

There is a practice center conveniently located right next to the unten menkyou center in Uchinada. It's called the Anzen Unten Center ('安全運転センター' ).

Phone: 076-237-2735

Google map link

The Exams

What to bring

On the day of your exam, DO NOT FORGET ALL OF YOUR DOCUMENTS AND ID. They already have copies of everything, but you still need to bring the originals again. You can't take the exam without your paperwork present.

REMEMBER:

1. Your passport
2. Previous, expired passports
3. Alien Registration (Gaijin) Card
4. Home country's drivers license
5. Previous, expired home country's drivers licenses (if possible)
6. Your International Driver's Permit
7. Translation of your license
8. International license
9. A 3x2.4 (standard) photo of yourself
10. Money - you pay for the written and practical exams separately. It adds up to about ￥4000　in total
11. Someone who speaks Japanese (helpful but not mandatory)

The Written Exam

The written exam is made up of ten True / False (O/X) questions. It's in English and Japanese. The English is a little funny, but there are always pictures too. Don't get hung up on the bad English. Most of the questions are common sense. Review street signs and road lines from your JET Diary before if you are nervous. It is not common for anyone to fail this exam.

The Practical Exam

This information applies to AUTOMATIC license tests. Some of the information can be applied to MANUAL/SHIFT.
How to pass the Kanazawa driving test from a former JET in 2004...
1) Read and practice the following information until you are doing it naturally.

2) This is Japan. The driving test is not so much about skills, but about appearance and memorization of procedures and the course.
3) Dress nicely. Wearing business dress might help.
4) If you can understand and speak some Japanese, be polite and bow a lot. Use onegaishimasu a lot.
5) Memorize the course well.
6) Be prepared to have your picture taken after passing the test.
You will be given a map of the course after you pass the written section of the test. If you fail, you will get a new map with a new course the next time you take the test. There are extra maps/handouts nearby. Take one and draw the course on it. Practice in your mind how you will do the course. (I wrote out what I was going to do.) Look at the course outside.
The inspector will sit in the car with you, but he won't say much to you. You are supposed to know the course. Sometimes you are allowed to walk the course before you drive it. You are allowed to ask the inspector when to turn right or left if you forget the course, but nothing else. He/She will tell you when to go to 50 kph.
You will be allowed to do one small loop on the test course as a practice. It is a very small loop and not enough to get used to the car. All the cars are the same.
BE PARANOID! DO EVERYTHING OBVIOUSLY! STOP OBVIOUSLY, No California rolls or stops.
Turn your head to make your mirror and bike area checks. Make it VERY OBVIOUS that you are Turning your head. Turn your head unnaturally so far to look, and look again. If you have to, say, Check, or Yoshi when you check each mirror. Obviously, slow, check both ways before crossing over a crosswalk. There will be a yellow flashing light. Slow down before it, and look both ways before crossing over it.
A little before curves, slow down, and PUMP the brakes at least two times, then enter the curve at a safe speed. Do not speed up in a curve. You should travel/coast at 25-30 kph in the curve. Do not touch the brake or accelerator

Before getting in the car 1. Check around the car in the front and the passenger side and the back, around and under the car to make sure that a small creature is not located anywhere
near the car. BE OBVIOUS!
2. Walk to the driver's side, but before opening the door check OBVIOUSLY left and right.
3. Open the door.
How to start up the car

1. After you get in the car, move the chair up two notches so that you are basically uncomfortable, especially if you are a very tall person.
2. Lock the car door.
3. Put on your seatbelt.
4. Check mirrors and adjust the rearview mirror. The other two mirrors are on the hood of the car, and you won't be adjusting them. Look at the bottom half of
the two mirrors. The top two are for the inspector.
5. Put foot on brake.
6. Check all the mirrors again, and the bike area which is located on the left side middle back.
7. Start engine.
8. Change Park to drive, but look at the dash not the panel on the floor.
9. Take off the emergency brake.
10. Check again all mirrors and the bike area.
11. Put the blinker on and go.
12. Check again all mirrors and the bike area.
Making a left turn 1. Keep left within 1 meter of the curb. Your car needs to be within one meter of the curb, but no more. Do not go over the white line.
2. Slow down.
3. Turn left blinker on about 30 meters before the turn.
4. Keep left. Angle wheels to the left.
5. Look to the right.
6. Look in the rear view mirror.
7. Look at the left mirror.
8. Look at the bike area.
9. Look to the right and go.
10. Keep to the left.
Making a lane change - even if there isn't a new lane. (A lane change here is if you are on the left and you need to make a right turn, then you must move over to the right hand side.) The right hand turn is a separate action.)
1. Remember you are on the left to start.
2. Put on your right blinker.
3. Staying in the same lane, count 3 seconds, out loud if you have to, because you need to be OBVIOUS.
4. Do a safety check. Right mirror, right check back, rear view mirror, left mirror, review mirror. No bike check necessary because bikes/mopeds can't make right hand turns like cars/motorcycles.
5. Move to within 50cm, not more and not on the white line, and turn off your blinker.
Now, if you like, you are READY to make a RIGHT turn, but are not going to make another immediate RIGHT
Making a right turn not followed by another right TURN 6. Turn your blinker on again to make the right turn. Remember 30 meters before, so if you just came out of a lane change, then do put the blinker on right after you turned it off.
7. Stay straight in the lane, close to the right hand side line.
8. Check straight ahead, left, and then right. Move slowly.
9. Move the car into the far left lane, and KEEP LEFT.
Making a right turn followed by another right TURN If you are going to make an Immediate RIGHTÅ turn, turn into the right turn lane. Turn off your blinker, or it hasn't turned off, and then turn it on again to make the next right turn, following, of course, the steps on how to make a right turn.
Passing a stopped or parked car 1. Put blinker on 30 meters moving the car to the right.
2. Staying in the same lane, count 3 seconds, out loud if you have to, because you need to be OBVIOUS.
3. Do a safety check. Right mirror, left mirror, rear view mirror.
4. You can move into the next lane, straddle both lanes, but keep a distance of 9 feet between you and the parked/stopped car. The 9 feet is about the same width of the test. car.
5. Immediately, put on the left turn signal.
6. Staying in the same lane, count 3 seconds, out loud if you have to, because you need to be OBVIOUS.
7. Do a safety check. Right, rear, left mirrors, and BIKE area.
8. Then, move back into the left lane.

Blind intersection 1. Stop at the stop sign or just stop if there isn't a stop sign.
2. Check left and right mirrors.
3. Move forward slowly to an invisible line in front of the white line. Check left and right.
4. For a left turn, turn car in an angle to the left. For the right, stay straight.
5. Follow general guidelines for the different turns.
6. Make sure you go very slowly.
Blind curve 1. Slow down before entering the curve.
2. Provide space in the left area in case there is a bicycle there.
3. Then, resume lane and keep to the left.
S curve and obstacle poles road If you are about to hit one of the poles, use REVERSE. It is better to REVERSE, then hit a pole. ( I reversed twice, and still passed the FIRST time.) You will fail if you hit a pole or go into a ditch.
If you do go into a ditch, STOP. Then, reverse (LOOK in MIRRORS). If you go forward in the ditch, you will fail.
If you did not memorize the course well and you realize that you drove down the wrong road, then pull over safely and stop. ASK the inspector what you should do. You will not lose points if you lose your way.
There is a ramp in the test (which you may or may not have to go on). When you are on the main road, and before the two paths of the streets meet, LOOK to the left and bike area to make sure that the driver on the ramp doesn't come crashing down to kill you because they forgot to YIELD.
S curve- drive very very very very slowly around the curve. Keep to the far left, then far right, and so on. When you drive into the curve, hug the left or right side of the curve to make sure that you do not go into the ditch.
Obstacle course

Go very very very clowly to avoid hitting the hanging bars.
How to get out of the car 1. Park the car.
2. Push on the foot brake.
3. Set the emergency brake by pushing down. The floor pedal is in the left hand corner of the driver's space.
4. Put in Park.
5. Turn off the engine.
6. Take off seatbelt.
7. Check mirrors again.
8. Look to the right and the right back before opening
the car door.
9. Get out, and pray that you passed.
Vocabulary Japanese English
kosaten or jyujiro = intersection
mitoshi ga warui kosaten = blind intersection
kotai = reverse
shupatsu = start (begin)
migi = right
hidari = left
masagu = straight
cado = corner/curve
tomare = stop
kakunin = check
shinro henko = lane change
shingo = signal
hayaku = speed up
yukari = slow down/slowly
owari = finished
ushiro o miru koto ga dekimasen = I can't see the back/behind.
mira o kaeru koto ga dekismasuka = Can I change the mirror?

Measurement equivalents 30 meters 98 feet
2.7 meters 9 feet or width of car to pass a stopped car
50 centimeters 1.6 feet for space between you and the right hand side line to make a right turn
1 meter 3.2 feet to leave a space between you and the left side (Keep left rule)
40kph 24.85 miles per hour for usual straight roads
50 kph 31 miles per hour - for long straight road before a curve on drivers course in Kanazawa
On the practice course
There are white lines on the course. There are five of these white lines. Between each line is about 10 meters. Remember to turn on your blinker at the first white line meaning that it is about 30 meters. This visual will help you to remember what 30 meters looks like.
**Disclaimer: This is by no means comprehensive and if you fail, sorry. This information has been written and shared to help others in the same situation.

The Eye Test

Everyone has to sit the Eye Test, regardless of whether or not you are sitting the Practical Exam.

You will get shown a bunch of "C" shaped figures and you have to say which way the opening is pointing:

Up - "Ue"

Down - "Shita"

Right - "Migi"

Left - "Hidari" ("ue/migi/hidari/shita").

Next you'll do the color test. Are you part of the 0.5% of women or 5% of the men in the world who are colorblind? No? Then you should be fine. Remember that "green" is actually "blue" in Japanese (seriously).