Foreigners Driver’s license in Tokyo
I had a car driving license long before I actually learned to drive. The rules in India those days were lax, you could ride a bike to test site run by the Regional Transport Office, tell them you could drive a car and the license was yours.
My motorbike was my companion for many years, its 110cc power, seemed enough for the Indian roads. My bike didn’t fail me even on the rough Himalayan roads, driving through the night in a haze and the sharp feeling of fear when sobriety revealed the steep roads in the morning light.
The motorbike was ideal for navigating the city roads, slowly filling up with cars and by the time I bought my first car, a 15 minute motorbike ride to work turned into an hours journey through the crowded streets of Bangalore.
When I moved to Japan, Nagoya was my home for the first three years, there seemed little need for a car. The flat streets of Nagoya were easily traveled on a bicycle and public transport took care of travel out of town.
The process of converting an Indian license to one in Japan is simple and in hindsight I should have got it done during my early years when I remembered how to drive a car.
The years passed, a move to Tokyo made the car even less of a necessity. The efficient but crowded subway was the only means for travel to work, prohibitive parkings costs in downtown Tokyo made the car even less attractive.
When my Indian car license expired, I was resigned to never driving a car again.
The Covid pandemic came with a fear of crowded places. The once comfortable train ride felt like a game of Russian roulette. One didn’t know where the virus lurked or how it spread.
Each outing, bus or train ride, restaurant visit or even a shopping excursion came with the fear of contamination. The only option, or at least one which was comparatively safe seemed to have a car and which meant a driver’s license.
Owning a car in Tokyo has it’s disadvantages. My apartment complex does not have any available parking and I was told it might take 10 years for a slot to become available. There are a few parking areas close by, some of them already full, others close to capacity. Though the focus was on getting a license.
There was an irrational confidence in my ability to get a license fast and without much effort but the next few months would show how irrational the confidence was.
Driving schools in Japan are expensive, mainly due to the infrastructure they need to maintain to qualify as a recognised school. I chose the one closest to home, around a 10 minutes bike ride or a 30 minutes walk. My local sandwich shop had a flyer offering a discount at the driving school and after a bit of procrastination I made my way to the school to enrol.
The fact that I wasnt exactly young and had not driven a car for more than a decade, might create some obstacles didn’t cross my mind. I had a vague memory of learning driving in India 2 decades ago and the fact that it didn’t take too much time added to my confidence.
The driving school had a campaign allowing students to appear in the certification exams as many times as they wanted, without any additional fees.
‘Your age disqualifies you for this campaign’, the person enrolling me said. So that meant each time I failed the test, I would need to pay to take the next test.
I chose to take the license for Manual Transmission(MT) Car, which raised eyebrows.
‘You want to take the difficult option?’she asked.
The Manual Transmission license allows you to drive both manual and automatic(AT) cars, and I wanted to drive when I went to India, where the car was of a MT type.
The MT license requires 3 additional hours of training, compared to the AT one and costs a few hundred dollars more. Despite the lack in confidence on part of the lady enrolling me, I chose the MT option.
The first step is to get a learners permit, and that required me to take 10 hours of theory classes and 15 hours of driving practice. The theory classes do not require any particular order and I could check the class schedule and join them if seats are available. Also I could take a maximum of 2 classes(50 minutes each) in a single day.
The driving classes need to be reserved through an portal and depending on the type of class I could take a maximum of 2 classes each day(there are a few classes which have 1 per day limit)
The theory classes was the easy part, except the fact that I hadn’t taken classes in Japanese for more than a decade and the vocabulary used in driving(special words for left turn and right turn etc) took time to get use to. My school did not offer any other language options and after a few classes I was used to the terminology.
The driving classes on the other hand were hard to reserve. I had apparently enrolled in the peak season, when kids in the final year of high school start taking driving classes and book them weeks in advance.
So I finished my theory classes before I took my first driving lesson The first two hours of driving practice is on a simulator before one actually starts driving on the indoor driving course at the school.
This brings me back to my first driving lesson back in India, where I drove on a city street, early in the morning, and the teacher asked me to tip him before we started.
There was no such practice in my school, I had to tap my card(registered on the Suica train card) on a terminal, choose an instructor, and go to the assigned car number.
A few brief introductions and I was off. There is a great emphasis on safe driving, and each part of driving, how to turn the steering, pressing the clutch, brake, accelerator is practiced. If the instructor is not happy with any aspect of your driving , you have to repeat the class. I ended up repeating a few classes, getting praised and criticised by the instructors based on my performance and given lectures on my mistakes at the end of the class.
Once I had finished my required driving hours for the learners license, I had to take a mock theory test. The school does not allow you to take the learners test unless you have cleared the mock test.
The mock test is on a computer terminal in a room meant exclusively for tests . The computer gives you the option of taking the test in English and Vietnamese. I remember that at the time of enrolment I was told the classes would be in Japanese but I could take the tests in English. Either my recollection was wrong or something had changed because once I finished my test, the instructor berated me for taking the test in English.
‘We have never told you it can be taken in English’
‘You are not allowed to take tests in English’
‘You need to go to another school if you want to take it in English’
‘What should I do now’, I interrupted the instructor who seemed to have no intentions to end his speech.
‘You need to come back again and take the test’ he replied.
‘However you need to wait for at least two hours before taking it again’, he was starting on another speech and I said
‘Fine’ and went to the enrolment area to reconfirm I couldn’t take the test in English.
So I came back a few days later and took a mock test, and failed. I came back a second time and again took the test and failed and failed a few more times.
After the fourth failure, I was beginning to despair. The tests are about the traffic rules but have trick questions which make you think. Is that a right turn prohibited sign, or a sign saying you need to turn left and go straight to get on the sidewalk …..
There are 50 questions and I needed to get 45 correct answers to pass. My first test score was 37, and the next few ones I crawled into the 40s but 45 seemed elusive.
Then on my 5th attempt I scored 45. The instructor gave me a stern look.
‘You have passed but barely, you need to study harder to make sure you pass the main test’.
I almost danced my way out of the classroom and registered for the learners driving test. I paid the fees, selected a date and was asked to reach the classroom well in advance.
I reached the classroom, the instructions took around an hour, there was a small break. Three students were assigned to a car, two sitting in the back while on took the test. And I failed!!
The test involves driving in the indoor course, stopping at the lights and signs navigating either the S or Crank shaped paths, going on an uphill course, stopping at the top with the hand brake activated , passing a railway track(simulated inside the course) and then parking with 10 cms of space between the sidewalk.
My biggest fear was missing the stop sign, I had done a few times in the past. I did it perfectly and then was navigating the crank shaped path well, until my rear wheel touched the sidewalk. I then fumbled taking down my handbrake while going downhill and then parked too close to the sidewalk.
I didn’t need the instructor to announce that I had failed to know the result. However he did so, in the class, the other two in my car having passed.
They made me take an additional hour of class, practicing the test course, the instructor remarking that I didn’t seem to have any problems, probably was nervous during the test.
So I took the driving test again, the next week and passed. One can take the written test only after passing the driving one, so after the driving test I went back to the class, took a written test(this time on a paper, not a terminal) and was told to enquire in two days time on the result.
So I enquired in two days over the phone and the person at the other end said in a singing voice’Congratulations, you have passed’.
I passed the learners license test before the Golden Week holidays and decided to start the next stage after the holidays. So I went back to the class after a break of ten days.
The next stage involves 16 hours of theory classes and 19 hours of mostly on-road driving. The 16 hours also includes first aid classes.
‘Do they do first aid classes in India’ the instructor asked me.
‘No’ I replied without thinking , but during the class remembered doing it in my 10th grade.
The Covid pandemic ensured that mouth-to-mouth training, even on a dummy, was out of question. So we practiced tying bandages on each others arms and legs.
Throughout my lessons I was almost always the oldest one in the class, it was a rare occasion if someone my age or my level of grey hair attended the classes at the same time.
The first aid class had a portion where we were required to give chest compressions to the dummy and to my surprise and pride, all of the younger folks, 18, 19 years old found it difficult to maintain the compressions beyond a minute. I one the other hand, having finally found something I was much superior at, finished the compressions and then looked around at the kids, showing them I wasn’t tired!
The on-road driving start off at a much higher level of strictness on behalf of the instructors, but gradually become more relaxed. My favourite instructor, around sixty years old, liked to talk about airlines in Japan.
I have a background in selling solutions to airlines, in Japan, so we found something in common to talk over the 50 minute rides. Since I could choose the instructor, I chose him, when possible, and enjoyed the leisurely drives talking about aircrafts, airlines, their leaders, the business situation etc.
The last few driving classes involved driving with a few others, each taking a 15 minute turn, going back to the classroom, analysing the dash-cam footage, critiquing each other. The instructor complemented me on my patience in watching for oncoming traffic before making a right turn. There was a simulator class for highways, one more class on the road and I was ready for my final driving test.
I had to take the mock theory test again, there were 95 questions and I needed to get 90 right to pass. I did that in the first attempt, applied for my driving test, passed it . The instructor who had evaluated the dash-cam footage was supervising my test and knowing that he liked watching out for oncoming traffic, even if it took time, before taking a right turn, I did exactly that.
‘Well done Partha San, you showed great patience’ he complemented me again. And I passed!
The last part was getting a certificate from the school and we waited in the class, received our certificates with advice on safe driving and an explanation of the process for getting a license.
The last step involves going to the driving license centre, run by the Metropolitan Police, taking a written test and getting a license.
I took time to read the online reviews and found a majority of negative reviews from foreigners. There were comments on how complex, unfriendly the whole process was. There were comments about specific staff who made things unfriendly for foreigners.
However the process worked like clockwork precision. There was Japanese efficiency in place at the driving license centre. I was directed to a window to handover my certificate, to another one to get an eye test and then to pay the fees.
There was another round of instructions on how to fill up the answer sheets, and one of the supervisors, noticing that I was a foreigner ,came over to me to explain again in case I didnt understand what was written.
Once the test got over, we were asked to come back in 15 minutes for the result. They announced the passing answer-sheet numbers and mine was there on it.
So we had to go out and come back in the afternoon to get our licenses. The next direct bus back home was in 5 minutes, so I came back home, went back into the license centre, waited in line, checked my license on the terminal for mistakes, frowned at my picture, my untrimmed beard showing clearly and in a few minutes had a license!
