Driver’s License Test

The driving test in Japan is an all day event. You take the written test in the morning, then if you pass, you get to take the driving test in the afternoon. There is only one license center in each state and ours is almost an hour away. So I have to take a full day off work for this. I leave at 8am and get home around 4pm.

This is the results show revealing if you’ve passed or not. Its honestly pretty epic. It reminds me of March Madness Selection Sunday. Everyone gets quiet, then the board displays everyone who passed and then it gets crazy. Its definitely worth a watch of the video below. People are so pumped about it because its such a grueling and expensive process. And unlike America, you don’t just automatically pass for going through the motions.

So I didn’t actually go through that process because I was in the foreigners group. It was me, a Sri Lankan, and 7 Indians. The success rate for a first time foreigner is basically zero. 50% of people pass on their second try. And 90% pass on their third try. But to even get to this point was difficult. I had to get the Ohio BMV to provide the previous 7 years of driving history and I had a face to face interview where they asked me super weird questions like, “was your first driver’s license vertical or horizontal?”. And “how many questions were on your driving exam in the US?” I didn’t know the answer to either of those questions.

So it takes a 70% to pass. I got a 40%. He said I positioned my car in the lane too late before making my turn. That was it! subtract 60% for being in the correct lane to make the turn, and positioning myself correctly in the lane, but apparently just doing that too late. It was kind of humorous to me because I could tell he wasn’t allowed to pass me on the first try, yet I basically did perfect so he had to make something up. One of the other guys in my group failed 6 times before and this was his 7th try. And he failed again. I really thought he did perfect. I don’t know what this instructor was looking for.

That kanji in the black next to the 40 (不合格 – pronounced fu-go-kaku) means “FAIL”. I’m becoming pretty familiar with that kanji.

I got to walk the course before hand and I took a video.