I’m thinking of getting a Japanese license as my current license is about to expire this year and it seems that I need to pass everything in one go as the driving test schedules in Tokyo is very congested.
I haven’t driven for about 3 years now and almost exclusively just drove manual before coming to Japan. from my research, I’m leaning on going to Koyama but just want to hear some other recommendations or opinions.
7 comments
>my current license is about to expire this year
Do you mean your **international driving permit** is about to expire or your **driver`s license from your home country** is about to expire? If it is the latter, you`re gonna need to hurry up because you can`t convert an expired foreign driver`s license.
Also, I went to Koyama for some refresher classes for my motorcycle conversion test. I had a great time there, the teachers were friendly and good, but it was a little on the costly side. I have also heard that their classes are absolutely swamped, and they might not be accepting conversion students. But that`s pretty old info, so I`m not sure if the backlog has cleared up.
After going through paper registration, you will get a learner’s card from the MPD. If you have a friend you can rent a car and the actual test track, have said friend bring car to track and practice for 1 hour
cars range from 2,500 to 7,000JPY per 12h
test track is 2,500 per 1 hour
the only catch is they only rent out AT cars
Depending on where your license is from, you may not need to go to any school or take any test to convert it.
Sorry if this was pretty obvious and you already checked, but just in case! And for people who will stumble onto this post in the future.
(I haven’t personally met any foreign nationals who needed to go to driving school here, except for the ones who had never driven a car before.)
Some recommendations in the weekend stupid question thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/comments/wh68cw/weekend_stupid_questions_thread_06_august_2022/ij50lv7/
I just got my license last month while in the same predicament.
I went to the Futamatagawa “DMV” and took the written test as well as set a date for the driving test. While I was there I saw a flyer for test driving the course with a instructor on the same course you will be taking the actual test. I signed up for the day before my test. The instructor was great and showed me everything the officer will be looking for when taking the test. If I wouldn’t have done that I would have failed badly. The result was I passed with a 90/100 on the first time. Being able to drive the exact course before you take the test is the only way to go, imho. The test is t about how good you are at driving but how much you prepared for the test. The cost was around 8000 yen and I felt saved me so much time having to go back and take the test again once I failed it. DM me if you want more info on the practice course
I had a license from Kentucky, USA. It was about to expire. I went an took a 10 question paper test in English at the driving center, then scheduled my driving test.
There is **no requirement** to go to a driving school. I did pay a school (Koyama) for four hours of driving practice on their course, which came to about 40,000 yen (around $400). I did this purely to learn and practice the specialized Japanese maneuvers that don’t exist in the US. The first 3 hours we did in English. I asked them to do the final hour in Japanese so I could learn the correct phrases that would be used on the real test.
I then went to my driving test and passed on the first try.
The driving test may be scheduled a month or two after the paper test, depending on how busy they are. If you don’t pass, you’d have to schedule just the driving portion again.
You’ll want to hurry and start this process if you don’t want to take a longer, more difficult paper test about driving rules and laws in addition to your driving test.
Even if your license expires, I don’t think you need to necessarily go to a driving school. There is no law that someone must go to driving school to get a license, even for Japanese people. They just do it because **1)** it’s what everyone else does, and **2)** it’s not normal for parents to teach their children to drive here like it is in other countries, so someone has to teach them. Even if you start from scratch without a foreign license, if you can pass the long paper test and the road test, you wouldn’t need to use a school.
Whoever you use, make sure they have you practicing on the track where you will take the test. A Saturday morning and 15,000 yen were well worth the zero issues when taking the actual driving test. From about 15 practice laps, I knew the course so well that I didn’t even have to worry about mixing up directions, just a “Hai” or Okay, turning left” after the direction was given.