Licensing Process

The driving licensing exam here in Okinawa. It has been an overwhelming task since we arrived on the island almost four years ago now. Finally, this year I decided to just do the work and get a license!

Every prefecture (similar to states) has different requirements. In Okinawa there are four tests in total…a written 50 question exam (T/F), driving exam on a closed course for a permit, a written 95 question exam (T/F) and an actual road test. After the permit is completed, you are also required to have five days of driving practice with a licensed Japanese driver who has been driving for more then three years. Each recorded day of driving must be more then 1 hour, has specific requirements for signage on the car and can not be running errands, etc... as the time is specific for driving. Then after the final road test, there is an all day driving course/CPR course that must be taken. The last step, is a thirty min lecture at the DMV.

Most Americans/foreigners take a shortened version of these tests, translating their countries licenses into Japanese, taking the 50 question exam and then the closed course driving test.

I could not take that route because for the last six years I have not worked outside of the home, thus there is no paperwork which proves that I’ve been in America for any length of time.

So I had to begin at the beginning.

Interestingly, most Japanese (more than 90% according to one website I read) also don’t follow the same process that I chose to because of the amount of time it takes to make it happen. Instead, they will pay $3,000-$4,000 to attend driving schools who will work with the student until he or she passes all the exams. 

We don’t have extra thousands lying around, so I rolled the dice and ended up paying roughly $800 for all of the steps involved.

Why is this important?

Because although legally I’m able to drive with the international driving permits we have acquired yearly, they are actually only supposed to be used once. Since there is no way to officially track the permits, there is no way to prove we have been getting multiple permits. It’s a loophole that we can not continue to chance. It has to be done if we are staying the country for any length of time.

Jon does have paperwork to prove that he has been in America, since he has W2’s and tax forms, etc… so he will be taking the shortened version of this process.

So I began.

I actually began the fall we arrived in Oct, 2016. I started the permit written exam and failed it. It took such a long time to get everything figured out, and a large chunk of a day to take the test, that even though I began the process then, I chose to wait until after our son, Owen, was born and finished nursing. I may actually have been able to take the tests with a nursing baby, I discovered just at the very end. But its too late now.

So this year, Owen wasn’t a baby anymore, Jon and I decided to get this process started and then I broke my leg, literally the day before Jon was going to begin.

That delayed everything by three months. 

I started in March.

 It took two more tries to pass the written permit exam, then three tries (by God’s grace alone) to pass the closed course driving test. (To put this into perspective, most people who take these tests fail an average of 5-6 times per driving test)

The English version of the driving book and my paperwork for the written tests

Then my friend, Satomi and I drove around for five days and I attempted to pass the 95 question exam. I failed that three times. 

We left for two and a half months for the summer, and that completely eliminated all the driving on the paperwork because that record expired after three months. So my friend and I did that again with our three kids in the back.

I passed on the fourth attempt of the written test because another friend had some practice questions in English that explained exactly what the questions were attempting to get at in broken English.

Then I began the driving road tests on the actual road. The paper above is the notification of which day I would be scheduled to take the test.  Within a week and a half, I had failed three times.

 I think what shook me so much in all of that was that it just seemed so daunting. I literally was ready to quit. 

This was at a nearby park where sometimes I ate lunch

With each test, I realized that its just a matter of time before something will click and I will eventually pass it. But with the driving test, it seemed to be so subjective to what I was doing, the driving instructors mood, the way the road was in the moment, and the interpretation of the rules of each instructor was so different. Some were exacting. Some were more lenient. 

Interestingly, the instructor who passed me for the permit exam and eventually the driving test was the same guy. He was calm and helpful each time. I felt like maybe he was a Christian but there was no way to ask that question during any of our conversations.

Holding the paper that proves I passed the last road test! 

Then I waited a month for the last steps. If I was a doctor or a nurse, I could have skipped this last part – the attendance of an all day driving school course. I waited a month because the person who spoke English was available then. 

But because that was a month away, the DMV people had to literally create a new permit for me, another almost $60 to extend it for another six months.

I waited. And breathed a sigh of relief at the break from emotional turmoil and constant leaving of my kids with others. 

The driving school

The day before my birthday came and I spent the entire day with a driving instructor and two other guys who were in the same course. We drove for most of the day, took several breaks, and then completed a CPR class. The first part with the driving was largely in English. The CPR course was entirely in Japanese. Thankfully, one of the other guys was able to translate a bit, and I’ve taken CPR multiple times before.

At the end of the day, 7:30 pm to be exact, I was able to hold two certificates in my hand and celebrate that the worst of the process was over. Five separate steps, a ridiculous amount of stress, and a crazy amount of upheaval in our family was done.

Three days later, Jon, the kids and I tumbled into the van and headed down to the DMV, a thirty min or so ride to Naha, our main city here, to turn in the paperwork. I initially thought the time given to turn in the paperwork at the DMV was 11:30-11:45. Apparently it was 11-11:30 AM. That’s literally all the time they give you!

We got there with five mins to spare and I rushed inside. Thankfully, all the paperwork was taken, I paid the last $20 and got my unsmiling picture taken. As I was leaving the picture place, the lady said all in Japanese to go to room C.  After getting that information translated, I realized I wasn’t done. I had to leave and come back in an hour for another lecture. There was to be a thirty minute lecture and then I would be given my license.

We went to find lunch at Lawsons, a convenience store here, and ran around for a few minutes with the kids. They dropped me back off at the DMV and I listened to a thirty min lecture entirely in Japanese. Thankfully, the instructor had a paper printed with all the necessary information in English regarding points on first year licensed drivers. Then we were invited to spend $10 on a license preservation book and a lady came in with our licenses!!!! All fifty or so people that were in the room together lined up and she handed us our licenses.

My first year driving sticker!

It was a surreal moment. Something was almost disappointed in me.

After all that time, I really had some enjoyable moments of mental break, had drawn close to God, had spent a lot of time in prayer over this…and nope, I wouldn’t miss it. I was really, really grateful to be done. And so were the kids. And so was Jon. And so were all the friends who graciously supported me but were probably sick of hearing about it. Its been literally a year.

Thank you, God that its over. And may you guide all those who are on their own through this long, long process to get your license. 

In the states, if you are a new driver, it does literally take six months or more. But there’s a much more definable process. Here I had the barrier of language, the complexity of being overseas, the frustration of not being able to understand what was required, the time, the money to make it happen, and the struggle of my own inability to do what was being asked. 

I’m grateful that even though it was hard that God gave me an abundance of help along the way, through Jonathan and through family and friends who loved, prayed, baby sat, walked through each step with me, didn’t give up, and told me to keep going. And its over. YES!