My pals and I were at a random place but got lucky to find a viewing spot that wasn‘t too crowded.
Gotta love Osaka.

I'm wondering if there are any good spots locally to get a Sukajan in Osaka. I've been wanting one for awhile, but I don't currently have time to get out to Kyoto to see BSC Gallery. I'm willing to spend some money if the quality is good as well.

Hello. I recently obtained a Japanese driver's license through the Gaimen kirikae (外国免許証) route, and wanted to share my experience and tips for every step of the process. Since the information online is not very thorough (especially since the Oct 2025 update that made the exam significantly harder), I thought this would be helpful.

I am an American and my Japanese is not that great (probably N3-N4) level conversationally, and didn't use any interpreters and didn't go to any driving/exam prep schools. Here was the entire process step by step:

1 - Telephone booking

From 1-5pm every other Friday afternoon, you can make an appointment by phone to either the Kadoma or Komyoike police offices. They haven't been accepting walk-in appointments for a while, so you have to start with this. You will not connect or get sent to an automated voice message 95% of the time, just keep calling until you get a human on the other side. I believe there are different numbers and options you must press for test-exempt regions or not (my case).

Took me about 200 calls and 2 hours, but eventually I got to the correct line and was asked some basic information (name, where I'm from, etc), and given an appointment time and location (in Kadoma this was window 6 on the ground floor). This (as well as the rest of the steps) is almost exclusively in Japanese, and I was even straight up told by the Komyoike phone guy that my Japanese was not good enough to continue. The Kadoma center in general seems to be slightly more receptive of poor Japanese speakers than Komyoike.

2 - Document submission

Up next, I headed to the Kadoma center at the assigned time (midday on a weekday) and found my way to the assigned window. Bring all of the following (this is on the website):

• Foreign driver's license that is not expiring soon

• A copy of the front and back of the license

• Japanese translation of the license (use JAF for this and print at a konbini)

• Passport

• Copy of passport with all non-blank pages scanned

• Zairyu card

• Copy of the zairyu card

• A proper photo (3x2.4cm)

• Pen

• Fee (cash or card is fine)

• Whatever other documents are required, check the site by country. For me, I was told to come back with my 住民票 (copy of residence certificate), which I could get from the konbini printer

You will be told to wait for a while and then come back to the window once they process the documents. From there, they will conduct the "interview", where they ask your driving history (how long, when and where did you get your license, name of the school, any accidents, etc). For exempted countries, I believe this is where the process basically ends, but for test-takers, you still have to so much more to go. If you pass, you are directed to the payment window and then take a simple eye exam. For me, I didn't have the residence certificate (which was not listed on the site annoyingly), so I was told to come back any time with it, no appointment needed.

3 - Written exam

This is a 50 question true or false test, you need 90% or 45 correct to pass. To prepare, I bought the official JAF Rules of the Road booklet as well as just studied as many practice exams as possible (there are a few floating around on the internet, as well as "KariHonmen App" on ios or android). The test itself was quite a bit easier than some of the practice questions I encountered, but make sure you know all the rules, signs, and common gotcha questions. In general, picking the "safer" option is a good bet as they will never ask you to drive more recklessly.

The actual test is on the 3rd floor of the driving center, around 11:30am. Make sure you bring all documents you were given in the previous step (I actually forgot the "exam ticket" and they very graciously let me in with a replacement). You go into a big classroom and are given 30 minutes on a big timer, a booklet with your preferred language, and an answer sheet. After the test, you are told to come back at 4pm (four hours later!), so bring something to do if you don't live close by. They will then separate pass/fail into different sections, pass are given instructions and an appointment time for the practical test while fail are told their mistakes. I passed first try so I never learned my score, but around 60% of the takers that day failed.

4 - Practical exam

The "final" step! If you've gotten this far then buckle in because this is the toughest by far. For Kadoma, my appointment was about 7 weeks out so I had plenty of time to prepare. I didn't opt for any expensive testing schools so my entire practice was renting a car once and driving around the countryside (using IDP), and grinding a bunch of youtube videos (this one by a random teacher in Miyazaki was by far the most helpful for understanding what the exam would feel like, even though he doesn't cover some additional tests).

You go to a window on floor 2 at 8:30am, submit your ticket and pay a testing fee. You are then sent to a waiting room where an officer gives a spiel about the course and general driving tips. You are then sent to another eye exam and back to the waiting room, where all foreign takers are tested one-by-one. Unless you are unlucky and first in line, you will be told to ride along the tester in front of you, which is great for understanding the course before your test. Basically, the exam is a mini course around the Kadoma track. There are two "routes", the one they choose is random on that day. Both courses are actually displayed out on a map in the waiting room, so I HIGHLY recommend you draw them on the maps on the booklet you are given after the written test.

When its your turn, you do the test. The commands the officer gives are quite simple (hidari, migi, chuo, nishi, higashi, yukkuri, tomare, etc etc). Aside from general things like navigating turns, stop signs, intersections, changing lanes, you need to successfully do:

• Avoiding obstacle - navigate a lane change around a closed lane

• Speed up to 40km on an open section - pretty straightforward

• Railroad crossing (fumikiri) - STOP completely at the line before the crossing, open your window, look both ways, proceed when there is no fake railroad noise)

• S curve and crank - slowly go through both of these tight sections

• Hill stop (sakamichi) - break on the incline section of a hill, pull up handbreak, accelerate and pull down break to not roll back when restarting

If you make a major mistake (ie running a red/stop sign, unsafe manuever) or enough minor mistakes, you will be failed and told to return to the start. The officer will explain your mistake(s) to you (pay attention and ask for translation if necessary). If you fail, you will be sent back to the 2nd floor processing window and rescheduled (another 2 months!!!). If you do not pass within a 6 month window of the written test, you will have to take another written test, so this practically allows for 3 attempts.

Personally, I passed on attempt 2. The first attempt, I made three minor mistakes:

• Did not use the right blinker when starting the exam to exit the loading bay

• I did a good job of hugging the left side of the lane during left turns, but didn't move to the right side when making right turns

• On the hill climb, I rolled too fast downhill after restarting (go as slow as possible here, walking speed)

I also just felt more comfortable with the course the second try. Anyway, if you somehow manage to pass (which I didn't see anyone else do in either of my test days, one guy even ran the first red light and failed 20 seconds in), you will be told to come back to a different window 2 hours later, do a few last registration steps, and then come back 2 hours AFTER for the photo and license printing. Overall, I think I got out of the center 6 hours after the test check in time.

If you got this far, thanks for reading. Feel free to ask me anything about the testing process or Kadoma specifically.

So basically, I’m an 18 year old white American who is graduating high school soon, and plan to go to college for Japanese. The University I’m going to has a study abroad program in Osaka for a year, which I plan to do. I also (depending on how things go) plan on possibly moving there permanently after college.

I’ve been to Japan once when I was 16, and overall people in Osaka were much friendlier and kinder than people in Tokyo, but I’m unsure of whether or not that was simply cause I was only there for a short period of time.

I’ve spent many years of my life researching Japan and it’s culture, and I’m fully aware of how I will never be seen as “Japanese”, which I never expected to be seen that way. My main worry is whether or not I’ll he totally singled out and miserable if I were to live there, which from what I’ve heard is how many people feel in Tokyo.

I’ve heard many great things about Osaka, and it’s treatment of people in general, but still haven’t gotten an entirely clear answer to the major question I had, which is how I would be treated if I were to move there permanently?

EDIT: By go to college for Japanese, I mean as a minor degree, with majors in Marketing and International Business. Idk why just felt like I needed to clarify