This isn’t a “how to pass the Japanese driver’s test in Hiroshima” guide specifically, but I’ll detail my experiences for those who are going through this journey themselves and would like every bit of advice they can find.
Getting a driver’s license is possibly one of the most challenging experiences you’ll have while living in Japan if you choose to take the challenge (and you probably will at some point if you consider staying for a while, if not the long term).
Even while I was living in the countryside, I was fine without a license. It wasn’t necessary for me to have a car to enjoy my daily life in my area. It wasn’t until I moved to the suburbs of Hatsukaichi, Hiroshima that I finally took the steps to get my license. And that was mainly because my U.S. license was going to expire soon. If you can, avoid putting yourself in such a stressful position like I did.
If you have an International Driver’s Permit, get your license converted while you can still drive yourself to the center. You’ll learn very quickly that the nearest (and sometimes only) driving center is located far off where you’ll need to take multiple forms of transportation (including a bus) to get there. Since you will need to make multiple trips to the driving center (and most of you will make MANY trips), the cost of transportation alone adds up quickly, not even counting the cost of all the necessary documents, driving school, and application fee.
How I Got My Driver’s License in Hiroshima
Not everyone follows the exact same process because it can differ based on prefecture and what country you came from. As an American getting my license in Hiroshima prefecture, I’ll let you in on exactly what steps I took to get my license. Between doing research ahead of time and having a Japanese partner that could call the driving center to confirm some details for me, I was really lucky that I could get my license in the short amount of time I did, considering all the horror stories I’ve heard of people getting turned away for having incomplete documents or taking anywhere from 4 to 12 tries to pass the practical test (and taking up to a year to do so because of lack of open reservations). I hope that by sharing my experience this helps some poor soul who needs it…
The first order of business is to order and obtain the official translation of your country’s driver’s license from JAF. The website says it can take up to two weeks to process the translation and have it sent back to you, so keep that in mind and order it as soon as possible. But also remember that the JAF translation is only valid for 6 months. Once that time limit is up, you’ll have to order a new translation if you still haven’t obtained your license within that time frame.
This is where my experience differs from most people who try to convert their driver’s license. If you’ve done research or asked around, you’ll find that most expats submit their documents to the Driving Center before taking classes at a driver’s school. In fact, some will even attempt to take the test without spending a dime on driving school lessons, and that’s where they tend to fail. (At least, I haven’t heard of a single person who’s successfully obtained their driver’s license without taking at least one lesson at a driver’s school. And if you did, congrats for winning the lottery!)
I’m here to advocate that driving school is VERY necessary if you want to pass the driving test. Some say the driving center and the driving schools are working in cahoots – driving centers fail test takers and recommend attending driving school to generate income for them.
Whether the above is true or not, the truth of the matter is the only way to learn how to pass the test is by attending driving school. Notice that I said “learn how to pass the test,” not “how to drive”? That’s because the driving test is nothing like real driving – it doesn’t test your ability to drive (nobody pumps their brakes on the street as they come to a stop) but tests your ability to follow the rules and expectations that the examiners set for everyone who earns a license. Although the driving process they prescribed for the test seems silly and overexaggerated at times, it is easy to remember and actually comes in handy when you do start driving. (It’s just really hard to break the old habits you’ve learned when you were driving back home.)
Now that I’ve hopefully convinced you to go to driving school, I’ll share a couple of schools that I attended. Two schools nearby offer 1 hour lessons for anyone looking to convert their foreign license into a Japanese license. Waseda Driving School is the cheapest and is often fully booked during the busy seasons. You can book a maximum of one 1hr lesson with them on any open day.
If you can’t manage to get a reservation in advance, you can call them at 8:40AM to check if there are any open spots for that day. You will want to get there 20 minutes early for your first appointment to fill out an application. For every subsequent appointment, you should come in at least 5 minutes before your scheduled appointment. If you’re late, you have to pay a late fee so be careful. The same applies if you don’t show up to your appointment.
I attended three lessons at Waseda. The first time I got an older instructor who knew it was my first time behind the wheel of a car in Japan, so he didn’t really give me much details and just helped me get used to operating a car with right hand drive (without hitting the wipers instead of the blinker and straying off into the right lane). His instruction was actually exactly what I needed at the time considering he really didn’t do as much as my other instructors. The second time I went I was still getting used to driving, but I had a little experience so my instructor started using technical driving terms in Japanese instead of simple Japanese like the first instructor used.
The third time I went after I failed my first practical test. My test examiner told me I needed more practice with pumping brakes and following the proper order for checking before turning and changing lanes. I agreed and expressed this need to my instructor, and he had me stop a few times before the signal to wait for the green light so I could practice the checking process for changing lanes while having to remember to check as I was crossing the intersection and signaling and checking again before turning right at the end of the track. He wanted me to perfect the technique and not get the checking process confused, so he was very strict but helpful.
Overall, even though Waseda is the cheapest, the instruction I received from all the instructors were exactly what I needed at each stage of my practice. If you have absolutely no idea what you need to improve on, or you don’t know what your weak points are when you’re driving, then don’t expect them to rigorously train you. They will, however, do their best to help you improve what you need work on if you tell them what you need.
The more expensive but “the school” you want to attend if you not only want the valuable experience but also the golden name to say to the test examiner (who will also have a pretty good idea of your level when they know who you practiced with). And here’s why:
Of all the driving schools you can attend, Ishida is the only one that offers special lessons every 2nd and 4th Sunday at the Hiroshima Driving Center course. Yes, that’s right. You can practice the course exactly like it is on the test with this school, but you have to reserve an appointment way in advance because they only have a limited number of spots each time! You can also practice up to three hours, but it also depends on how many other students are there and how long they want to practice. I’m not too sure on the exact details, but I ended up practicing for 2 hours and there was only one other student (but she drove with a different instructor in a different car).
I’ll admit that the instructor I had was a little bit rough to learn from. I felt like she shouted a lot (maybe it just felt that way because I felted panicked with all of her instructions she was throwing at me while I was trying to navigate the course and deciphering her Hiroshima-ben). Although I’m also at fault for not pumping the brakes properly, it got a little exhausting to have her constantly bring the car to a full stop when I made a mistake.
Now that doesn’t sound like a fun time, but I’m actually very thankful to have had her. She realized at some point that she had to change her approach because I probably looked like I wanted to quit, so she asked me if I wanted to observe her drive the course, to which I said I would appreciate that very much. And after getting a feel for what she was trying to tell me after watching her do it herself, I was l lot smoother when I tried the course again. She also made our stops very brief when we got to the end of the course where she gave feedback. She gave me the necessary feedback, but she hurried me back onto the course so I could get as much practice in as possible. So I would say it was well worth the high cost to take lessons from them. If the reservations hadn’t filled up before my test, I would’ve tried to take the special lesson a second time.
Hiroshima Driving Center – Submitting Documents
Some prefectures require a minimum of two visits to the driving center before getting your license. The first time is to handle documents while the second time is to take the practical test. If you are fortunate enough to handle your license conversion process at Hiroshima Driving Center, rejoice in knowing that you can submit your documents AND take the practical test in the same day. My partner scheduled an appointment with the center for me in advance for the afternoon. If you show up to the center without an appointment, I’m not sure if you can take the practical test in the same day.
Once you’ve arrived at the center, you will need to head to the 2nd floor to either window 22 or 23 (whichever window is open) for 外国免許切り替え (conversion of foreign license). This will be on the right side of the floor when you climb the stairs in the center of the room. You should have all the required documents with you and additional documents that you brought just in case it isn’t obvious you lived in your home country 6 months consistently before moving to Japan.
I originally lived in California and moved to Kansas for graduate school, so my newest driver’s license was from Kansas. And the problem was I had to return my California license when getting my Kansas license, so I didn’t have a copy of my California license. Plus, my Kansas driving record was a fake looking paper printed from the Internet (even though I paid for it) compared to my official looking California record with a stamp on it. I worried that it wouldn’t be enough for the center to bother processing my application, so here’s everything I brought with me just in case I was asked to prove something.
Required Documents ~
- Current Passport
- Residence Card
- U.S. Driver’s License
- JAF Translation of Driver’s License
- Driving History for Kansas and California
- Certificate of Residence ( 住民票 )
Additional Documents ~
- All of my expired passports*
- California University grades*
- Birth certificates (was born outside of the U.S. so I had my original and the other was proving my U.S. citizenship)
*These documents actually came in handy and helped prove that I lived in the U.S. the whole time before moving to Japan with the exception of taking one trip overseas for a short time. I didn’t even have to offer to show the other additional documents.
Basically, I left all of my documents with the examiner while I sat and waited for him to process them. I was called up a few times to clarify the details on my documents (the dates when my licenses were issued and expired to confirm that I consistently held a license the whole time I was in the U.S.). I also had to clarify the stamps on my passport – the time I went to the Philippines on a trip and the seals signaling my visa renewal attached to my newest passport.
Don’t take any of the questions personally as they have to document everything about your prior driver record before giving you the okay to start your license conversion. They want to make sure you meet the minimum requirements to drive in Japan, and even if it’s really obvious to you (and to them – the examiner easily proved that I was in the U.S. consistently for over a year and noted that out loud but continued to ask me questions), they still have to write down every little detail. Don’t fight it. Just help make their job easier by explaining everything you can. Cooperate. Having a good attitude will certainly work in your favor.
After they scrutinize your driving history, they’ll call you back to interview you about your home country’s driving test and driving school. Now you’ll think it’s absurd that you have to be quizzed on something that happened so long ago when possessing a driver’s license should be more than enough proof that you deserve a license in another country… but every country has different rules for earning a license, so they want to know that your country sets similar expectations for their country’s drivers. If you really don’t remember everything from the time you got your license, do a quick Google search for general answers. They don’t need to be exact. Just give them something to write down. Here are some questions I remember them asking me:
- How old were you when you got your first license?
- Did you take a test when you got your Kansas license?
- How much was the conversion fee when you got your Kansas license?
- What city did you get your license(s)?
- Did you take an eye test and listening test before getting your license? Where were the tests held (ex: at the driving center)?
- How long did you spend in driving school? (a quick Google search gives you the average hours for studying for the written test and how much time behind the wheel, so I quoted those hours but I was asked to specify the amount of days/weeks, so I guesstimated)
- How many questions were on your written test? What score did you need to pass? (hint: same as Japan)
Written Test
After you ace the interview (in Japanese of course), they’ll give you the map of the course to study while you wait. Then they’ll call you around the corner to take the written test when it’s ready. It’s 10 questions in English (but Japanese translation is also provided as well as an illustration). You have 10 minutes to answer, but you should let them know if you finish early. If you have to think about the answer too hard, then it’s actually an easy answer. Just use common sense – go with your instinct. Make sure you review the signs and what they mean. You’ll probably see at least two questions about them. If you want some practice, just Google Japanese driving test questions, and there’s a website that offers three sets of questions. It’s a good benchmark for what you will be tested on.
Eye Test
You’ll know you’ve passed when the examiner starts walking towards another room and calls you over. He’ll confirm you passed by telling you, but it’s just an expected thing so he’s going to act very casual about it because he’s in a hurry to move you along so you can take the practical test if you’re scheduled to take it in the same day. There’s not much to say about the eye test. He asked me how bad my eyesight was without my glasses and I said I couldn’t see far away, so he had me take the test without my glasses first. Then I took the test while wearing glasses and passed. He reminded me I should always wear glasses while driving since I could only pass the test with them on, and I agreed. Back to waiting.
Practical Test
**After being patient for a while, they called me again to the window and directed me down the corridor to the area to take the practical test. Once you get there, you’ll probably see a few people watching the track area to try to memorize the route you need to take for the test.
Now you’re probably wondering, do you need to memorize the route or will the instructor give you directions? The answer is yes and no. And you’ll see in my examples.
I went downstairs to confirm that I’m ready, and I was told to wait to the side for my turn. It’s good to show up early, but you should know that if you’ve lived in Japan for a while. The instructor that did my written test was the one supervising my practical test. (This won’t always happen.) You’ll run into two kinds of instructors, the forgiving and the unforgiving. This guy was thankfully very forgiving. It also helped that I did all my research ahead of time and was fully prepared for all the interview questions in Japanese because it looked like I was taking the test seriously and not just aimlessly wandering in expecting to get a license just because I have a license in my home country already.
(I think showing you respect the system will definitely earn you brownie points if not actual driving points on the test. If you’re very close to passing save for a few errors that stem mostly from nervousness vs. your lack of understanding of navigating Japanese roads, those brownie points might just come in handy.)
When it was my turn, I followed the steps that I was taught at Ishida, but the instructor was very chillax about that whole part basically waving off all my extra efforts to look super safe because he already knew from my file that I studied under Ishida. (They teach you step by step what the instructor wants to see such as checking under, in front of, behind the vehicle before getting into the driver’s seat, adjusting everything and checking with the passenger before taking off, etc. Apparently one of the areas where the unforgiving instructor could dock you if they wanted to be super strict is if you didn’t follow the exact order in the beginning, but I got the forgiving instructor so I was good).
I checked my mirrors, over my shoulder, signaled, checked again, and merged onto the track following the instructor’s directions on where to turn. (So yes, in this case, the forgiving instructor told me how to navigate the track so even if I couldn’t remember everything from the lesson, I was in luck.)
Long story short, my first attempt wasn’t bad but not perfect. It was my first time, and I was noticeably nervous and still not hugging the left curb close enough when I turn left and not turning my head far enough when I’m checking before turning. I got a high score the first time, but unless you’re perfect, there’s kind of an expectation not to pass people on their first try. They tell you the areas you could use improvement before they have you return to the waiting area upstairs to schedule for your next appointment. I chose the earliest time which was noon a little over a week later.
My second attempt went a lot worse due to my own misunderstanding. During my first attempt, my appointment was scheduled for the morning, and I had to take care of paperwork and take the written test before being called in to take the practical test. I didn’t realize I had to fill out more paperwork (you have to pay to take the practical each time, so there’s a window where you pay beforehand). I waited in line there and just barely finished in time to check in for my appointment for my practical. I was told to wait, but they didn’t direct me down the corridor where you take the practical test, so I thought I was supposed to wait in the lounge area to take care of more paperwork.
After some time passed, I checked and realized I had been waiting too long and finally approached the window to check where I was supposed to be. I was told I was supposed to be taking the test now, and that’s when I realized I messed up. The final tests were being issued for the afternoon, but they somehow managed to squeeze me in even though I was technically late. That’s when I met the unforgiving instructor…
He was cold in every sense in the word. His voice. His face. (He was wearing a mask so no one can identify him maybe? And this was the summer of 2019 so there’s no reason to wear masks unless you’re sick.) He exchanged very few words. Just confirmed with me that I had taken the test before and said if I made just one mistake, the test would end at that moment. Not really helpful on the nerves when you already know you f***ed up and showed up to your test late.
So I made careful preparations checking everything to be on the safe side because I knew if I missed a single thing, the test would end. I was off to a good start, but I’m ashamed to say I didn’t memorize the track completely and forgot a turn that you had to make immediately after the first turn. I realized my mistake quickly after and asked him if the test was over now. He nodded and told me to pull over to end the exam. It was really frustrating to say the least, but I scheduled my next appointment to try again.
The third time was a charm, and I don’t want to sound full of myself, but when you’re about to pass, you just know you’re going to pass. Like, there’s just signs. In my case, I got a really early appointment for right when the driving center opened, so I had to take the taxi to get there on time. I had a very pleasant conversation with the driver who was very interested in foreign countries and had traveled to over 20 of them himself. We talked about a lot of things during our short trip. It was like encountering the wise character piece in a game that helps you win. He wished me luck and said I could do it because I’ve been able to do so many things on my own in a foreign country already. I was relaxed, and I just wanted to enjoy driving this time around. But when I got there, I realized I miscalculated the time again.
Except I wasn’t late but absurdly early, like an hour early before opening time. But while I was waiting outside, I ran into the forgiving instructor I met during my first attempt. He made it sound like he was impressed that I was so serious about my test to arrive an hour early, but in his head, he probably just thought I was a very silly foreigner. Still, he let me in (even though they still weren’t officially open), and I sat in the waiting room doing image training until it was time to try again.
I paid for my practical test ticket and confirmed where I was supposed to wait until it was time to take the practical test. (Yes, you should go directly to the testing area. Don’t wait in the lounge like I did before.) This time it was a lady that was administering the test. So I did everything that I knew they wanted to see. I tried to get as close to the curb as possible while turning left without running over it (that’s an instant fail). I leaned out to check both sides when coming to a blind intersection (after coming to a complete stop first). Maybe some things I did could have been done a little more smoothly, but I wasn’t technically making any real mistakes. When I finished the course and parked, I was told the good news that I passed.
I went back upstairs to wait in the lounge and saw the forgiving instructor meeting up with the lady instructor as I was gathering my paperwork and getting ready for the photo for my license. He seemed pleased to know that I passed but not at all surprised and made a comment to the lady about how “she had come here an hour early to study you know!” I couldn’t help but think he had a little say in my final results…
I waited for a little bit in the lounge before I was directed to get my picture taken. Once you’re done, you’ll do more waiting while they make your card on the spot (after you pay a fee). They’ll hand it over to you and confirm that the details are correct as well as tell you whether you need to put the beginner driver sticker on your car for a year or two or not. I guess I got enough experience driving in the states that I wasn’t classified as a beginner driver, but I don’t know exactly how they determine those rules.
**I came back to writing this part over a year later, so unfortunately I can’t recall every single detail. But this is a summary of what I can remember.
Total Cost
Hiroshima Driving Center (Driving Test Attempt) 2,550 yen x 3 = 7,650 yen
Hiroshima Driving Center (Getting the License) 2,050 yen
Waseda Driving Lessons – 5,400 yen x 3 = 16,200 yen
Ishida Driving Lesson – 22,000 yen
Transportation – 7,000 yen (2,000 yen round trip by Hiroden but the 3rd time I took a taxi one way)
JAF Translation of Driver’s License – 3,000 yen + 500 yen return postage = 3,500 yen
I spent a total of around 58,400 yen and took 36 days from my first driving lesson to the time I got my license. That might sound unheard of in other countries, but considering I expected to spend twice that amount and perhaps 3-6 months to get my license (after all the stories I heard), I actually got really lucky. If there’s any valuable advice I can offer, it’s to do your research (which you are doing or you wouldn’t have found this article) and have a good attitude and be as humble in your demeanor as possible, even if you get a little frustrated with the system. Just because the process seems pointless to you doesn’t mean you should have a bad attitude about being forced to jump through hoops so you can drive. If you’re at the stage of wanting a driver’s license so you can have a little more freedom in Japan, that isn’t going to come without some effort. But don’t let that discourage you from trying! Save up and do the research, and you’ll get your license in no time!
Daily Vacation Stay Miyajima 