Driving in Japan is easy—at first. If you came to the country with an international driving permit, you are allowed to drive here for up to a year. However, once over, you must then convert your license into a Japanese license. If you count yourself among one of the unfortunate nationalities like folks from the US or South Africa, then you will need to take a “practical exam.” It is a driving exam, which is, in my experience, anything but practical. This article is meant to shed some light on what is known to be an exasperating process, and share some pointers along the way. The two months during which I underwent the license conversion process were among my worst in Japan. Nothing prepared me for the reality of converting my license in Nagasaki. There were guides, of course, and I followed their instructions to the letter. I gathered up all of the necessary documents and practiced for the test. Even so, the process was an absolute nightmare. Every situation is different, but with bureaucracy, unfortunately, some things never change.
The prefectural driving center is located in Omura. Dwelling inside the center’s drab, gray exterior is a cult of extremists Their main tenets are not believing in modern technology or forgiveness. You will learn this firsthand when faxing file after file into an abyss. You will come to grips with this after mailing countless documents addressed to a brick wall and waiting up to two weeks for a simple reply. And after waiting? More often than not there is a problem. Sometimes, the tax returns going back ten years without gaps aren’t enough to prove you lived in your home country. Sometimes, your passport scan couldn’t be printed from a 4K Ultra HD image, so the clerk can’t tell for sure that it wasn’t forged. In short, if the office wants to give you a hard time, they can and they will. Thus, what should be a simple process can take a month or more to complete. Start the process early. Following documentation is the written exam. This happens to be the easiest part. Review the rules of the road and you should be fine. The test consists of ten common sense questions in English, which you can finish in about ten minutes. The issue is waiting for up to an hour to hear your score. You will get very good at waiting at the center. Bring something to pass the time. In my personal experience, the time of day changes little about how long you will wait. Is the center busy with people? Are they packed into corners and climbing atop vending machines to find somewhere to sit? You’re looking at an hour. Is the place empty save for a few teens reading manga and an old man drooling in his sleep? Congratulations. You’re looking at two hours.
