Getting a Japanese licence at a 指定自動車教習所, a driving school designated by the prefectural Public Safety Commission, where passing the school’s own final test exempts you from the practical exam at the licence centre. What the course costs, how long the residential and commuting options take, and which schools teach in English.
No driving school is listed here yet. The register has not been loaded, and until it is this page holds no schools at all rather than a partial list. Designation is made prefecture by prefecture by each Public Safety Commission, and the national federation publishes an index of all 47 prefectural associations: 47都道府県協会一覧 (全指連). Checked 14 August 2026.
This page does not yet list the offices, forms, costs or step-by-step procedures for it. The Immigration Services Agency publishes the Daily Life Support Portal, which covers this ground officially, free, in 19 languages, and is written by the agency that administers the procedures.
Everything on Locals is sourced from the body that publishes it, with the date it was read. That is slower than writing it from memory, which is why this page is empty rather than wrong. Back to Locals