Complete Edition” of a driving school process: from admission to graduation test, and license acquisition

Dear Foreign nationals staying in Japan,
Have you ever had trouble understanding the entire process of a driving school?
It should be too complicated and confusing for foreigners
but if you read this article, describing a whole process of a driving school, you will be able to understand the process from admission to graduation.
You will no longer have to worry about your driving school life.
and hopefully you have a wonderful time at your driving school, which is something different from a high school or a college.

Table of Contents

• 1. Flow of a driving school program: from admission to graduation test, and license acquisition
  • (ア) Course style
    • ① Driving trainings are instructed individually
    • ② Academic classes are classroom style study
  • (イ) Flow of a Driving School Program
    • ① Enrollment Procedure
    • ② Aptitude test
    • ③ First stage
    • ④ Second stage and graduation
    • ⑤ Examination at Driver’s License Center (like DMV in the US) and License acquisition
  • (ウ) Important deadlines and periods
• 2．How long is the average duration to obtain a license?
  • (ア) How long is the shortest acquisition period?
  • (イ) How long is the longest acquisition period?
• ３．Summary

１. Flow of a driving school program: from admission to graduation test, and license acquisition

(ア) Course style

① Driving trainings are instructed individually
Driving trainings are genellary conducted individually on a one-on-one basis.
Each time your driving training is over, your weak points are logged and taken over to the next instructor. The following trainings will be customized and conducted individually based on your weak points.
Each time your driving training is over, your weak points are logged and taken over to the next instructor. The following trainings will be customized and conducted individually based on your weak points.
In addition, according to the logged information, instructors can grasp the level of student’s driving ability and flexibly adjust the training menu and time allocation.

② Academic classes are classroom style study
Academic classes are classroom style study. Each lesson is 50min long and first 10min of the lesson is video learning.
Therefore, you may fall asleep during the class. Sometimes it is hard for you to maintain your motivation.
Also, it might be difficult to ask questions and resolve them on the fly.

(イ) Flow of a Driving School Program

① 入校手続
 Enrollment Procedure
Necessary things to bring for admission
The following 3 items are required for your enrollment procedure.
Prepare them in advance.
・Resident’s card: You need an original, not a copy.
・Alien Registration Card: You need an original copy, not a copy.
・Name Stamp: Please prepare something that is not Shachihata.
 Payment method
・Lump-sum cash payment: Payment must be made by the day of entry.
・Installment payments: Foreigners can apply for a loan, too. To apply for a loan, in principle, you must complete the payment during your stay in Japan and have to have some incomes (part-time job accepted).
・Credit card: Usually not accepted.

② Aptitude test
 Vision test
・A vision of 0.7(20/28vision in US)＊ or more with both eyes is required to obtain a regular car license.
＊ Glasses and contact lenses are allowed to use for visual acuity test.

③ First stage
 10 academic classes. All the contents are about laws and regulation, including pedestrian protection and driving manners.
 Driving training consists of 12 classes for Automatic Transmission / 15 classes for Manual Transition to acquire basic driving skills.All the driving lessons will be held inside school, and the training car is equipped with the auxiliary brake. In case of danger, the instructor will assist you and hence there is almost no chance of an accident or injury.
 In the second half of the 1st stage, there is a class to practice driving at your own discretion with a wireless assistance instead of an instructor sitting next to you.
 After completing the first phase of training, you will take the driving exam and the academic exam to acquire a temporary driver’s license.　You need 70 or better out of 100 points for the driving exam and 45 or better out of 50 points for the academic exam to pass the test.

④ Second stage and graduation
 16 academic classes that focus on safe driving and first aid knowledge.
 19 driving training classes on the street including a freeway training.
 Classes are focused on safe driving, such as emergency braking experience, driving experience under adverse conditions, risk prediction at dangerous situation, etc. and some lessons use on-site course and a simulator
 After completing the second phase of training, you will receive a certificate of graduation if you pass the graduation test (70 or more out of 100 for Driving exam).

⑤ Examination at Driver’s License Center (like DMV in the US) and License acquisition
 After graduating from a driving school, you will take the exam at the Driver’s License Center located at the address shown on your resident card and if you pass this exam with 90 or more out of 100, the driver’s license will be issued on the same day.

The above is the basic process at a driving school from admission to graduation.

There are a number of important deadlines and period after you start your driving school program. You have to be very careful with these deadlines and period in the case you can not adjust the schedule as you planned, etc.

because if you do not proceed to the next step within a certain time, it is necessary to retake the same classes again. It may cause a major schedule delay of the graduation of the school or obtaining a license.

(ウ) Important deadlines and periods

① Expiration date of lessons: 9 months
Within nine months from the 1st day of the training, you must complete the entire course including both academic and driving classes.

② Academic exam to obtain temporally driver’s license expiration date: 3 months
After passing the driving exam for temporally driver’s license, you have to pass the written exam within 3 months. If you exceed 3 months, you will have to take the driving exam again.

③ Temporary driver’s license expiration date: 6 months
After passing the temporally driver’s license exams, you will receive the temporally license that expires at 6 month after the issued date. If the temporally driver’s license expires, you can not take the graduation test.

④ Eligibility to take graduation exam expiration date: 3 months
You have to pass the graduation exam within 3 months from the day you complete all the Driving and Academic trainings. Even if you are still within the deadline of any classes, once you complete all the classes, you must pass the graduation exam within 3 months.

⑤ Graduation certificate expiration date: 1 year
You should be extra careful because if you can not pass the examination at Driver’s License Center within one year, you must redo whole classes again.

The staff and instructors of the school will also check the progress of the classes, but you may want to take a picture and remind yourself just to be on safe side.

２.How long is the average duration to obtain a license?

Although you must complete the above steps one by one to obtain a driver’s license, generally a period of 2-3 months is the average.

(ア) How long is the shortest acquisition period?

If you want to acquire at the shortest, you can finish the classes and pass the graduation test in 13 days with the AT license, and it is possible to obtain the license in the 14th day if you pass the examination at Driver’s License Center.
Please note that the number of days varies depending on the prefecture and each school.

(イ) How long is the longest acquisition period?

You have 9 month in the school to take any classes. Also you have 3 months from the day you complete the driving and academic courses. Therefore you can be enrolled at a driving school for up to one year.
However, in this case, it is a minimum condition that the temporary license has an expiration date until graduation examination.

Summary

In addition, there is a one-year expiration date for graduation certificates issued at the school.
Hope this article clarifies some of your questions.
Also, I hope this article will help foreigners to acquire a driver’s license in Japan.
Enjoy your life in Japan as a safe driver!