Friday, October 01, 2010

Driving Schools in Japan

As a follow-on to my Getting a Japanese driving licence post, here are some details of English-speaking driving schools:

School options
I used Koyama driving school in Nerima, Tokyo. Koyama has four or five schools in Tokyo, all with very polite and friendly English instructors. I was able to complete the course in 18 days, although there was a wait of an extra three days between stage one and stage two for the provisional licence paperwork to be processed. I paid a grand total of just under 400,000yen for the privilege, plus accommodation. Lesson hours for stage one were limited to four or five a day, while stage two allows you to take up to nine.

Another somewhat cheaper option is Chubu Nippon Driver's School in Nagoya area. It's about 50,000yen less, but a lot smaller than Koyama and doesn't actually do the testing on site - rather, someone will come with you (from the school) and sit in the back of the test car at the test centre.

Because of the size, it can be hard to do the whole course intensely (which is why I chose not to go with them), especially at a busy time of year (holidays).
  • All the schools I've seen also offer motorcycle, truck and industrial machinery qualifications.
  • A licence from one of the basic car courses will qualify you to drive a moped/scooter.
If you know of any other schools, post them in the comments and I'll add them.

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