I’m currently a truck driver in the us and looking into the process of moving to Japan. I’m just curious if it’s possible to get a job driving as a foreigner. You really only have work experience and certificates (at best) of showing companies.
Also, anyone have experience driving professionally in Japan? I would think it would be nerve racking with how tight the cities are built, but I could be wrong.
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**What’s the process to get a truck driving job?**
I’m currently a truck driver in the us and looking into the process of moving to Japan. I’m just curious if it’s possible to get a job driving as a foreigner. You really only have work experience and certificates (at best) of showing companies.
Also, anyone have experience driving professionally in Japan? I would think it would be nerve racking with how tight the cities are built, but I could be wrong.
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You would need to provide your own visa (generally spouse or PR), or be a Japanese national. You can’t get a work visa for basic blue collar jobs.
Assuming you have a visa or are a Japanese national, you need an appropriate driving license. Old bastards like me have standard licenses that are good for GVW up to 8000kg (17,600lbs) but any standard license issued today is limited to GVW of 2000kg. You need to do additional schooling and pass further tests to get a license that allows you to drive larger vehicles.
Probably possible if you had a spouse visa or PR and you spoke Japanese fluently. Like u/kansaikinki mentioned, you can’t get a visa for blue collar work.
[https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20230913/p2a/00m/0na/021000c](https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20230913/p2a/00m/0na/021000c)
^ This article here is about an Italian dude who lived in Japan for 16 years and became a taxi driver. It’s not trucking, but maybe you’ll find it interesting. Japanese fluency will be super important.
Honestly, there probably won’t be an easy way to get a truck driving job, besides getting a degree and going over to japan (probably english teaching) and doing that for however long to get PR or get married & get the spouse visa and then switch over to truck driving.
You may be interested in this recent announcement:
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2023/09/14/japan/society/taxi-truck-drivers-visa/
Of course, this category of visa is aimed at developing southeast asian countries, so if you’re from a western country it may be difficult for you to arrange the required tests.
There was an old fart who used to frequent this sub who drove a truck here after he left the US military (he had a Japanese wife). He said the hard part was being able to get directions over the phone and provide good time estimates. These days with gps maps and tracking in every vehicle though I doubt that it’s much of a concern.