00:00:00 John Daub: I'm about to do a live stream that's going to explain to you the tips and tricks to driving in Japan and getting your driver's license. Yeah, that's my intro music. So what happened was a few days ago I got my Japanese driver's license, which is one of the coolest feelings in the world because it took me months to do it. This is what the driver's license looks like. That's the only part that I can show you because I want to protect my own private information. But it looks like this. It's really in my hand. And I'm going to go over some things that I've learned along the way in this live stream and things that I think are going to help you. Some misinformation that I learned and some of the challenges that I experienced along the way. Because it can be a pretty frustrating experience to get your driver's license here in Japan.

00:00:49 John Daub: First of all, what I did was I did something called a gaimen kirikae (foreign license conversion). Gaimen kirikae, which is changing over your foreign license to a Japanese license. And gaimen kirikae is something that a lot of JETs will do. These are people who are coming here to teach English and living here because they need a car around the countryside. If you're moving to Tokyo, you probably don't need a car. You probably don't need to switch your license over to a Japanese driver's license. I did it because I want to add something to this show. Meaning I want to drive around and go to places that you can't ordinarily go to by train. I'm going to go by car now. So it took me about five months to do this. And it was kind of shocking because I had read on the net that some people can actually do this same day if they get lucky. That doesn't happen in Tokyo.

00:01:41 John Daub: So what I had to do first, and by the way, there's about four other live streams that explain this process in great detail while I was talking after the situations occurred. The first one is the gaimen kirikae, the application and the written test. The first thing you need to do is get the application and fill that out. And then you need to get your driver's license from your country, your home country. And you have to prove that you have been driving for 100 days. The reason for that is because they want to keep Japanese who go abroad to get their license more easily from just changing it over without having to go through the really strong Japanese driving classes and lessons that are required here in this country. So to do that they require 100 days of actual work. And the way that they do that is by looking at your passport and confirming the entry dates that you have to have while you had your license be in another country for those 100 days. They did that with my license. They're very strict. I've been living in Japan for 20 years and I had to go back 8 years to show that I had 100 days. So that means like, yeah, I had two passports and three driver's licenses. And they're confirming. It took them two hours to confirm that I had been abroad for over 100 days. In total I was abroad for 113 days which qualified. So I just passed. So unless you are 100 days driving, you can't do the gaimen kirikae.

00:03:11 John Daub: Now, getting to the information. After you've been accepted and you can apply, you take the written test usually the same day. There's ten questions. Two or three of them are meant to stump you. They're usually practical questions that you could practice online. I'm going to put a link in the description where you can go to take a look at those and practice yourself. I practiced online at some practice tests that helped big time because there were two or three questions that were meant to stump you like double negatives that meant a positive or something like that, like you're not allowed to not cross on a red light or something. I was like what, not not, that's a positive right but this is Japan do they know the grammar rules probably so I said yes and I got it right so they try to trick you. But I got nine out of ten right on the written test.

00:03:57 John Daub: All right after you've been accepted for a gaimen kirikae and you have the written test passed you're allowed to go to the practical test now if you're European, Canadian, English, Australian, New Zealand and a handful of European countries just you're over you can get your Japanese license right away these are the blessed okay and then there's the cursed that's most of the United States except for Washington State and the state of Maryland you have to go and do your practical exam and that's what I want to talk about the practical exam is hard it's really hard.

00:04:30 John Daub: The first thing that shocked me was when I went to schedule the practical exam they ask me to go from the third floor to the second floor this is in Isu and Shinagawa and on the second floor there's a computer they give you a first of all card a digital card that you can swipe with all of your information on passing and failing the exam and I swiped the card in and I decided to pick a time that was really soon because I wanted to get the license right away the soonest time was five weeks away all right so it took five weeks before I could take the test now if you're fresh out of your country and you can't drive for five weeks that's really hard because you start to forget some of the basic rules and the reason for this test yeah it's not to test your ability to drive. It's to test your ability to survive the course. It's about the course. It's an obstacle course.

00:05:37 John Daub: On the line, there's a lot of assets that you can go to. One of them being this one by Melissa Fedak, who was a Hiroshima Ken ALT between 2003 and 2005. This was super helpful. There's the link at the bottom. I'll put a link in the description. Supermail.com slash Japan slash a jet driving book. This was helpful. It was extremely... Thank you for the super chats, by the way. I appreciate that. None business. Get a drink after all that hard work. None business. I have it right here. In about five minutes, I'm going to take a drink for Jim, who was kind enough to give me a super chat to buy a bottle of sake to celebrate this. All right. Let me get back at it. If you're watching this, this is going to be long format. Just sit back. Open up a drink. Sit back and watch this and enjoy a guy talking about the driving test.

00:06:31 John Daub: Now, I knew this test is notorious. I knew that this was not going to be an easy test. I knew that if you got cocky and you thought that you knew the skills to get the Japanese driver's license, that you would fail. And I was right. But before I did that, I went to a driving school. I got so many papers here. I went to a driving school, and this is the handbook that they gave me. It's most of it's meaningless here. And the reason was so that I could get into a car and to practice driving a car because I hadn't done that for years living in Japan without actually driving. I needed to practice it. I was doing a manual, meaning the one with the stick, the cars with the stick, because that's all I drive in the United States. I don't drive automatic. And I wanted to get back and practice shifting with my left hand instead of my right hand. The hardest thing with that is that the blinker in Japanese cars, the signal changer is on the opposite side of the car. So if you're using this hand for the blinker in the US, it's this hand in the blinker. It's this hand in Japan. So when you go left and right, it's this hand. And that confused me. Most beginning drivers who come to Japan for the first time from the United States, they will do the windshield wipers for the blinker many times before they get it right.

00:07:50 John Daub: So I practiced for three hours, believe it or not. And the first time I practiced, I was like, I'm going to get this. It was kind of scary. I just wasn't used to driving on the left side of the road. The second hour was a lot smoother, but I had problems with the blinker and some of the Japanese laws. This is where you need to take practice. OK, there is so many rules in Japanese driving that is just different enough to make it this test challenging. It's just different enough to make this meaning that you have to sort of reprogram your brain. You have to reprogram the way you think. Some examples of that is this thing called anshin kakunin (safety confirmation). Anshin kakunin is a safety check. And this is the most essential part of the driving test and something you should always do when you practice. You're always checking. You're always turning your head left and right. You're looking at the mirror. There's a way to do it. This is so Japanese. There's a way to do it. And you have to practice that way a thousand times. So it's just natural. That's why they make this test so hard.

00:09:10 John Daub: You have to do like when Japanese when you go to Benihana or Japanese restaurant abroad. Those chefs are practicing the same motion over and over and over again. A thousand times. If you watched Karate Kid, you know, Daniel wax on wax off like a thousand times. And he painted that fence till his arm hurt. You got to do that with your anshin kakunin in order to pass this test. Literally, when you turn left, you're looking here, here, here, here, turn left. Right? Signal. Here, here, here, here, turn left. Okay. You're turning right. Turn right. You're doing this every time. It has to be almost mechanical. Because once you don't do it, you get points off in the test. That's why you need to practice at a driving school. The cost for the driving school, I had to pay $100 to enter the school. This is called nyūkin (entrance fee). Nyūkin is normal for Japanese schools. Just an entrance fee. And 5,000 yen per lesson, which is cheap because they have a nyūkin. They just charge a cheaper price for the lesson. So you can take as many lessons as you want. I took three. They said, why not? Just take three. So I did two hours in one day and then one hour the next day right before the test. It helped a lot.

00:10:16 John Daub: All right. But I failed the first test. I failed the first test. And I'll tell you why. It's because the car that they give you for the test. It's not the car that you were driving or practicing on. It's a different kind of car. The car that I was driving with the stick with my left hand. Sorry for the wind, guys. The car that they gave me was totally different from the one that I practiced on and the one that I've driven. The shift was different. This shift, it didn't seem to have grooves in it. It didn't have grooves where I could shift cleanly. Going from first to second or from neutral to first was easy. First to second was easy. But second to third, I had such a hard time finding it. It seemed like the grooves were so thin to get the gear in that you could go first to fifth or second to fifth or second to first. And it was the most frustrating feeling.

00:11:19 John Daub: So what I did was on this test, and this is where the misunderstanding or the problems with SuperMelf's guide come into play. By the way, SuperMelf's guide, oh my word, it's awesome. There's illustrations on it. I'm going to go through this one by one, some of the things that you need to know. But first I want to explain about the first test, why it failed. It was that, it was the clutch. I would have passed it if it wasn't for that clutch. And there's a, and the misinformation. In this, they say that you have to reach 40 or 45 kilometers an hour and climb. And you have to get into third gear. That's for the countryside. In Tokyo, in Shinjuku and in Shinagawa, you don't have to go to that speed. Because the course is smaller and you don't really get to high speed in central Tokyo. They want you just to show that you can control the car. You could almost stay in second gear and you'll be just fine. If you get to third gear, that's great. But you don't have to push it. Because those straightaways are only like 300, 200 meters, I think. 300 meters. It's not that long. You can't get up to the speed that requires you to get to third almost. So just take your time and relax. This is especially true for Tokyo.

00:12:35 John Daub: I failed. Because I scared the heck out of the driver. Because I'm trying to get to 45 kilometers per hour. And I'm revving the, I'm trying to get in, I'm like, I can't, I'm going to third gear. Why can't I get into third gear? I put it into fifth gear and then I pulled it down and back into second gear. And the guy's like, no, you don't know how to drive. I wanted to turn to this guy, the examiner, and say, man, this car, do you understand how bad this clutch is? And I didn't do that. Because SuperMelf told me to take your time and be respectful and never show your emotion. Which is a Japanese trait. You know this from living here for a long time. Just nod your head and say yes. Agree, listen, thank them and get out. So I failed. He asked me, I knew I failed because he didn't ask me to continue the course. I took a right instead of a left and I pulled in and then he said, he told me to go and practice. I said, I practiced for three hours. All right. I went to go schedule the next test five weeks later. They didn't have anything earlier. So the next test date that I could take was a long time away.

00:13:44 John Daub: Now, I couldn't go back to the same school that taught me because I figured if I didn't get it after three hours of learning from them, I needed to go to a specialist. So I called them. I contacted a driving school called Kiki's Driving School. Kiki's Driving School is small but effective. They're small because they don't actually have a physical location. It's an internet site that has professionals. A lot of them used to be examiners themselves that allow you to go onto the course at Shinagawa after hours or another driving school course after hours where you can practice. So I was just specializing in the license I wanted, gaimen kirikae. And that was very, very helpful because at the driving school, there's about 60 people driving this miniature course. Okay. It's actually dangerous. After hours, you have a lot more attention and it's a lot more relaxed and they can laser focus in on your weak points. So after one hour of Kiki's Driving School, I was a lot more comfortable with knowing where my weak points were and what I can do to overcome them.

00:14:51 John Daub: So the second time I took the test was two days after Kiki's Driving School. And I did a live stream on this as well, why I failed. This was a… I was going great. Anshin kakunin, left, right. I pulled in. I did the entrance of the car. I did everything according to the steps because I'd done it a thousand times in my head. And I did the crank and the S curve. These S curves are like this. Or the crank is a 90 degree turn. And I came out of the crank and I made a right turn. But when you go on the course, I can show you the course. There's a trick. Well, it's not really a trick. But there's a trick on the course that got me. Here's the course. So I came out of the crank here. And then I went to take a left. Okay. But I went to the left. I went into the middle lane because my next turn was a right. So I thought from the middle lane you could turn right. But you couldn't. The middle lane was the other way traffic. But because there was no traffic coming, I didn't really notice this. Instant fail. So I pulled into the wrong lane. I should have pulled into the far left lane instead of the middle left lane, which was actually a lane going the other way. Okay. So I admitted it. It was fun. I said, oh, yeah, you got me. I knew I failed when he told me to take a left instead of a right. And I went in and I said, okay. So I went to go reserve for the third time. And, yeah, five weeks later, again, the earliest time was January 23rd. And, you know, I wasn't upset. I just said, okay, yeah. It gives me time to practice. I went home to the United States for Christmas and I could practice driving a car, which was great help for a week. And then I came back to Tokyo. And I started to lose those skills. At least I felt like I was.

00:17:03 John Daub: So I went into the test. I knew what to do now. I knew where the pitfalls were. And at Shinagawa, know the course, people. At Shinagawa, there are three courses, okay, A, B, and C. All right. You should know exactly this course, not your driving school, this driving school course, A, B, and C. The first two times I took it, I took the A course, which you can see the lines on there. This tells you the direction you go, starting from here and ending there. Or ending back here. So you can see the course that you go. When I got in on the third time, the course changed from A to C. So I had to remember in my mind, I'm closing my eyes, picturing the course in my head. And that was really, really helpful. I start, you start, now this test is, this explanation of the test is all over the place. I apologize in advance. But we're going to get through this. I got to do this. The course is important to know because you have to be able to navigate without listening to the driver, the examiner. The examiner tells you the left and right, but it's much easier if you know where you're going. What I did, you might like this. What I did was I took a picture using Google Maps from the satellite of the course going down into the Shinagawa Isuzu course. Let me see if I can pull it up on my iPhone. Oh, the iPhone died. And then I could trace with my finger the course necessary. If you look at the thumbnail of one of the previous live streams I did for it, you'll find that I fingered, I traced around the course so I could remember the left and rights in my head. Super helpful.

00:18:54 John Daub: When you come in before you take the exam, there's about 20 people in there. Most people for the manual test or the automatic car test, I was in there for the manual. There was nine people in my test. I was the only one doing this. Like why would other people not do this? Were they cocky or what? Most people are from China. Some people from Korea. Very few from the West. So maybe because it's just Americans that need to take this test. So there was that. And yeah, I was the only one really practicing or closing my eyes and visualizing the course. So this is the third time I'm taking the test. I know the course. I know it. And I get into the car. And this is something you have to be prepared for. If you're not the first driver in the queue, the first time you get into the car is in the back seat. And the person in front of you is the one who's driving. So you get a chance to look at the course. That's good. The bad thing is that if the driver before you stinks, then you get a bad feeling in your mouth. And you get almost scared and feel his anxiety. And that hurts you. You need to feel confident when you do a driving test. And the first two times, the drivers were so bad. I can't even explain to you. They did not go to a school. I don't think they could even drive in their home country. These people were awful. They couldn't do a stick. They didn't know how to do the turns. They forgot to signal what a guy was going like this. It's like they didn't study at all, which blew my mind. And when you see that in the backseat, it freaks you out. Like, how could that guy be so stupid? And you say, oh, well, if he failed and it's so easy, then I'm going to fail too.

00:20:40 John Daub: Now, I closed my eyes when Riken was the YouTuber who was taking the test before me on the third time. I was closing my eyes because he didn't go to a school and he didn't really know the rules. I mean, he knows how to drive, but he didn't know the rules well. And I didn't want to mess up. So what I did was I kind of closed my eyes and tried to blank it out like, no, I didn't make a mistake there. No, he didn't do that. No, he didn't do this. And when I went in to take the test, I kind of still had that confidence of knowing the course. That helped big time. So I got into the front seat and he asked me... Now, I'm going to go through... And in the description, I'm going to bookmark this so you know where I am. I, in my head, knew exactly what to do. The first thing they do is to teach you is to look in the front and look in the back in case there's a cat or a ball under the seat. You don't have to do this. I asked the examiner, do you have to do this? He said, no. That doesn't mean you shouldn't do this. So I did that to show that I know the rules. I looked in the front and I looked in the back. Before I went to the driver's side, I stopped at the back of the car and I looked left and right. I made sure that the examiner saw me. He was looking at me from inside the car. And before I went in, then I went to the door and I looked left and right again. And then I opened the door and I closed the door. So far, so good.

00:22:01 John Daub: That's hard. Because you don't do this when you're normally driving, right? You just walk into the car. You kind of sense the traffic. Anshin kakunin. I got into the car. The first thing you do, alright, probably lock the door. You don't have to do it in this exact order, I was told. But this is the way I learned it, right? I lock the door. Alright. I adjust the seat. Always adjust the seat first. Because the third step is, I adjust the seat. I put on the seatbelt. I put on the seatbelt. And then the third thing you do is adjust the mirror with two hands. The reason why you adjust the seat first is because if you adjust the mirror and then adjust the seat, your viewpoint will change because you adjusted the seat. So you need to have a very, you don't want to move your viewpoint when you adjust the mirror. Move your seat. Put the seatbelt on. Adjust the mirror. Alright. So I got the mirror adjusted. And now it's time to start the car. So the first thing you do is, the car is in neutral. I put it into first. I started the car. And I pushed the hand brake down. I signaled to go to the right. I did a blind spot check. No one was coming and I pulled in. If you can get the start right, you're on a good path to succeeding. Because if you get off on the right, you're on the right path. If you get off on the wrong foot, you're stumbling and it's hard to stay upright.

00:23:38 John Daub: Next, I'm driving and I'm feeling pretty good about it because I got my 2 in. I'm doing left and right. I'm checking the mirror. I'm exaggerating the motions so the examiner knows that I'm actually doing the anshin kakunin. They might miss it. They're human after all. The first thing you do is you go around the course. I tried to go as fast as I could. Control. It's all about control. Now, this is what I'm doing. This is why the Super Melf is bad. The Super Melf is this guy. It's outdated and it's made for the countryside. In Tokyo, you don't want to be all the way to the left or you can be right in the center. Because in Tokyo, the roads are more narrow. According to the examiner, this is another thing. I asked the examiner questions before the test. The examiner told me that in Tokyo, you don't want to be too left. You want to be in the center because the roads are narrower. If you're too left, you'll fail here. But if you're in the countryside, you should be too left because that's the way they drive out there because the roads are wider. It's something that you should consider. It's cold out here. I should have done this inside.

00:24:58 John Daub: Next. I got in there and I turned around and I did all of the things right. Three things that I want to emphasize. I want to emphasize that you need to know. They're going to teach you this at the driving school. But before you start, you need to know this. In Japanese roads, there's a triangle in the middle of an intersection. These triangles are like God. These are sacred. Never ever touch with your wheel the triangle. It's meant to be a safe buffer zone. When you turn, you turn without touching it. Every single person that took the test before me, just went right over the triangle like they were aiming for it. They didn't understand the Japanese driving laws. Never ever ever touch the triangle. At stop signs, always stop for three seconds. Count in your head. Three seconds. Whenever you go through an intersection, whether it's a green light or a stop sign or a red light, whatever, look left and right and then go. Left and right and go. Always do a left and right or right and left. Always. Or else they will kill you with that. Always look, when you take a right turn, always one, two, three and then the blind spot. One, two, three and then the blind spot. If there's an obstacle in the middle of the road, signal. Right? Check out, make sure no one's coming. Turn, signal again, check, turn. They have to see your neck move, your chin move. If they don't, points off. If your right turns are not wide enough, if your left turns are not narrow enough, they take points off. They just want to see that you are confirming, doing safety checks, that you know how to drive, doing safety checks, you can drive safely and you can control the car. That's it. Alright? And that you know the course. If you do that, then you're probably going to be assured that you practiced a thousand times. And can drive on the road. I hope this helps. This is sort of just the exam. The practical exam. This is what the license looks like. Japanese driver's license.

00:27:21 John Daub: It's good for two years. If you're living in Japan for one year and have an international driver's license, at the end of one year, you have to get a Japanese driver's license. You cannot drive on an international driver's license after living here for one year. It's illegal. Don't try it. You'll be fined. You might even be deported. They're very strict on driving on an international driver's license within a designated period of time. They want you to know the Japanese laws and the rules, which is why they have really strict laws. What else is there to tell you? Not much. Don't be cocky. When you go into this test, be really... Be nervous. You should be. You have to do the test perfectly to pass. Because they slash points off instantly. I mean, just to put things into perspective, there are nine people who took the manual test. Two people passed. The last time I took... The second time I took the test, no manual applicant passed. So it was about 5% of the test takers passed the manual transmission test in Tokyo. And of the automatic, I'd say like 25% to 30% pass. Why? People are cocky. They think they know how to drive. They've been driving for years and years and bring the bad habits. They don't study. They don't know how the Japanese traffic laws are. This causes failure, like big time. And you can't be cocky. You can't be cocky when you are driving in Japan.

00:28:58 John Daub: You don't need to know Japanese to know how to do a driving test to do this. You can do it without knowing any Japanese, but you should know hidari (left), migi (right). Masugu (straight). Magaru kudasai (please turn). You should be able to understand some basic Japanese. I mean, you're driving in Japan. You should probably learn some of the basics, but you don't have to. Most people who are from England, Canada, New Zealand, the blessed, they don't need to take the practical exam, the driving test. So they can get through with it without knowing anything. They don't need to know any Japanese. So Americans have a harder time. That's why we're better drivers, maybe. Know the course. I'll put links in the descriptions for all of this. This is for Jim. Jim is someone who's been watching this channel for a long time. He's turning into a good virtual friend. I know him. I know where he lives. I know usually when he's up. And I'm opening this sake. I'm going to have a shot of sake. Because this is what you do when you celebrate. You're not supposed to pour it yourself. So Jim, you're pouring it for me, my friend. There you go. This is Tsurukame. Oh, it smells so good. Tsurukame is my favorite Japanese sake. To me, it smells and tastes like the countryside. It has that cedar taste to the sake. It's really good. Don't drink and drive. Kanpai. Oh, this is so good. It's really good.

00:30:40 John Daub: Now, do you have any questions about driving in Japan? For the next couple of minutes, I'm going to look at the chat and then answer anybody who has some questions about the Japanese driving test. I just came from a Patreon. Oh, thank you. So I'm looking at some of the questions. Do I have a car? Not yet. But in Tokyo, it can cost as much as $300 to $400 a month for parking. So I'm not sure I have that kind of money. I might get a car in the future. If you want a motorcycle license, do you have to attend a driving school? Yes. I highly recommend it because the laws for driving a motorbike in Japan are pretty strict. And it's a very crowded country. I think you need to sort of understand the laws because... And a driving school helps that because the Japanese drivers won't understand your driving skills. If you're driving a motorbike, you're at a higher risk of an accident if you don't understand how the Japanese drivers are driving. You should know what Japanese drivers are thinking, I think. Especially if you're going to weave between the traffic like a lot of people do.

00:31:46 John Daub: Did I pass? I did pass. Wayne Zhang, I passed. Do you have to take the whole test again in two years? No. I just can renew the license. It's two years and one month. So I renew the license two years and one month from the day that I get the license. So I will be back to renew. Which is good. I don't want to take that test again. Enzo, cheers, kanpai. Alright, this is for Enzo for the super chat. Thank you very much, Enzo. Is there a school to get a boating license? I'm not sure about that, but I'm sure that there's a school for everything in Japan. There's a school for everything here. How much money should I have as a budget to practice driving and get the license? If you go to a driving school in your... Okay, this is what I did was called a gaimen kirikae. It's easy for foreigners. This is from Magome. Magome Ikegami. It's easier for foreigners, but it's not easy for foreigners. But Ikegami-san, it's not easier for foreigners because Japanese are used to the way that the test is. They're used to the Japanese ways. Foreigners are not used to the ways that Japanese do things. And I think they're cocky. They're not humble for the examiner and think that they know their driving skills. And to reset the way that you think is hard for some people, not so much for Japanese because they're used to that system. So in that way, it's harder.

00:33:15 John Daub: If you're an absolute beginner, whether you're American or French or whatever, you have to take... Go to a driving school. All right? If you're an absolute beginner, you have to take a driving school. That means it's really hard. And it's expensive. It's about $3,000 US. $2,000 to $3,000 US depending on the school that you go to. If you have a gaimen kirikae and you have a license already with 100 days, it costs... Oh. So I think I said this at the beginning. It's $100 for the school entrance. It's $100 for the entrance fee and 5,000 yen or about $45 per hour of practice. Kiki's driving school costs about... It costs about $150 for one lesson. And I think they rent the car. And there's also a lesson fee. And I did a manual car, so I had to get a manual car which costed more. But it was worth it. It was worth it because I passed the test. What he told me was really great advice. I'm going to take another shot here. How much gas in Japan right now? Down the street is a gas station. It's about 111 yen per liter, which is like $3.5 per gallon. It's kind of... It's about double of what the US is. I think it's usually about double.

00:34:42 John Daub: Is it expensive or easy to rent cars? It's not difficult to rent a car. It's just about as easy as the US. What are the scooter laws in Japan? You need to have a driver's license in order to drive a scooter. 50cc engines you can ride with a Japanese driver's license. Anything bigger than 50cc, you need to get a motorcycle license. Good question. So basically the price of gas here is the same as California. I think that's what we're saying, Tam. Car rental is cheap as $25 a day. Leopold, you're absolutely right. If you get a micro car or a mini car, the car rentals can be ridiculously cheap. I don't know if that includes insurance. That does not include the highway, which is expensive in Japan. It does not include gasoline. So keep that in mind. Can over 6 feet tall fit okay in a K car? It's a tight fit, but the seat goes back. So, I mean, it's a tight fit. I'm 5'11". It's okay. I missed the start of the stream. You can go back and see this afterwards. By the way, Japan is like expensive to maintain a car. It is. I was having this discussion with a friend of mine. He said don't get a foreign car in Japan because the repair costs are very expensive. Don't get a BMW or an Audi or something because the parts are like three times more. Get a Toyota or Nissan. Kanpai. And it's a lot cheaper to fix. Once again, this is Tsurukame. This is my favorite sake. It's so good. I made a live stream on this about two days ago that showed where I got it.

00:36:39 John Daub: Where will you drive? I'm not sure. I'm not sure yet. Jim, none in business. Thanks for the super chat. Thank you. It's easier to get a license. Yeah, thank you. Sometimes I miss it. Jim's looking out for me. Thanks, brother. He's looking out for me. Thank you for the super chat, none in business. John, I like the sake video. Very good. Is car insurance more expensive? It is, but it's not ridiculously expensive, but it's not cheap. It's a little bit more than the US, I think. But it's not. It's because it's pretty crowded here. But Japanese are actually not bad drivers. And I know there's going to be people who are going to disagree with me on this. But from all the bikes and motorbikes weaving around the traffic here, I'm surprised how few accidents there actually are. There are accidents, but I'm surprised at how few there actually are. I'm actually going to move right now because it's getting dark in this area. I pay a total of $150 a year in Japan. That's pretty reasonable. That's actually a pretty good price.

00:38:00 John Daub: I'm going to keep this going because I want to answer more of your questions. This is what my tripod looked like. Thanks, everybody. Hang in there. I will be doing road trips now for the Only in Japan channel. Edrick, hey John, how come you never learned how to ski before? Edrick, this is about driving. But I didn't learn how to ski because I... You know, I don't know. I'm not a winter person. I kind of like summer. And I'll be honest with you. I mean, I grew up in places where there weren't mountains. And I didn't have a lot of money. You know, when I was younger, skiing, people who went skiing usually were really rich. I mean, it took a lot of money to go to the ski resorts back then. And my... I don't think my parents had the money for that kind of a holiday, to be honest with you. I had a pretty normal middle class childhood. So skiing was something that was like upper class in the 1980s. Now more people can go and do it. The prices have come down a lot. So I just never learned as a kid.

00:39:44 John Daub: Shuichi Takumi, what made you decide on getting a driver's license? That's an awesome question. Once again, this is the driver's license. I can't... I don't want to show the whole thing. I feel good holding it too. I wanted to do something more with the show, Only in Japan. And I wanted to show another area. And outside of Tokyo, you really need a car to get to those really interesting places. And the driver's license will allow me to do that. It'll allow me to go to those areas that I can't go to if I just use the train. So a driver's license is like... It's like a passport to freedom. I mean, it's freedom. It allows me to go to new places. And second, I've been here for 20 years now. This is the 20th year living in Japan. And I don't have a driver's license. And I'm 40... I'll be 44 this year. You gotta get a driver's license, you know? I mean, I just felt like it was time. I need to drive more. And it was an easy decision to go ahead and get the driver's license.

00:41:00 John Daub: Hey, John, I'm going to Japan for a month. Will I be fine with public transportation? Yes! Japan, especially Tokyo, has amazing public transportation. Nagoya, Osaka, Fukuoka, Sapporo, Sendai even. Awesome public transportation across the country. The thing that you have to keep in mind is that outside of the cities, you're gonna have to do Uber or taxis or rent a bike because sometimes the buses are like once an hour. So the public transportation, because there's not a lot of population in the towns, it's not as good. If you're just sticking to, you know, Hiroshima and Tokyo and Osaka and these kinds of places, then it's going to be pretty... You're gonna be okay. Most people coming to travel to Japan are gonna be okay without... I'm going inside. It's cold. It's nice.

00:42:21 John Daub: Alright, keep it coming here. Raspol Rihal. Thank you, Jim. Ah, good job on getting the license. Thank you. Thank you. Oh, this is a nice warm area. Okay, I'm gonna take a couple more questions about driving before I end this livestream. Will you pick up Japanese hitchhikers? Absolutely. It's the code of the hitchhiker. Hitchhiker code. The code is when you see another person in distress or somebody who needs a ride and they don't look like a serial killer, you're gonna pick them up, I think. And I will pick up hitchhikers because when you receive something, you give back. And I think you learn how to do this in your life when good things come to you and you see somebody who needs something, you want to give back. And that's... Yeah, that'll always be with me. Get your international driver's permit first. Yes. It's a must. Broad. Is Peter gonna be on your trips? You know, BS Fatboy? You know what? Okay, come over here, okay? All right. All right, I'm sitting next to this cherry blossom. It's plastic. You know what? Peter... I just saw another Super Chat. Nick R for margarine-free bread. Jesus. How do you remember that? How do you remember that? All right, Peter and I... Peter and I are talking about doing a motorcycle, like get on a motorbike and then ride up to Hokkaido or do something like this. That would be cool. Peter's got a motorcycle license. I'd have to get a motorcycle license or do like a 50cc motorbike which doesn't have much power to it. That would be pretty cool, right? Like if we got... Instead of doing, you know, like the normal in a car or something, bikes, like motorcycles, right? So we were just talking about it. But yeah, it might be in the summer or something like this.

00:44:20 John Daub: When Toby come Japan, will you pick up Toby? What is this? Yeah, you know what? All right. Toby, if you're watching this, I will pick you up, my friend. Okay? I'll pick you up if you come to Japan. I'll pick you up in my car. Will you break for manhole covers? Thanks for the super chat. I will not break for them, but I might pull over and look at them. I might pull over and look at them. Miss Mischief, thank you for the super chat. Is it easy to hire a bike to get around Tokyo? Is it more efficient to take the train? This is an awesome question. Like say you want to go from Harajuku to Shimokitazawa. Wow. Renting a bicycle. I don't want to miss any of the questions, but renting a bicycle is really awesome way to get around Tokyo. But I want to point this out to you. Tokyo is not a bicycle-friendly city. It's a car-first city. And I'll tell you why. It's getting there. The bicycles are not technically allowed to be on the sidewalk. Okay? All right. You have to be on the road with the car. And the shoulder is like this narrow sometimes. So it can be a little bit scary to ride a bicycle. And if you're unfamiliar with the area, it can be more dangerous because, you know, you don't know the roads, right? And you only have this much space. So I don't think it's the best for some places. However, there's areas of Tokyo which are great for riding bicycles. And I think that that's good. But in general, I think, you know, either if you're more than one person, Uber or a taxi is actually cheaper now. And because it takes so much time to get to the subway, get on the subway, wait for the train, and then go to the location, get out of the station. And by that time, you probably would save two times the amount of time if you took a taxi, which got cheaper in Tokyo to start off with. I mean, the fees are like it starts at about $3 now. So taking a taxi with more than one person might actually save you time and be more efficient. However, bicycle rentals, they're increasing, but the roads are not getting safer. This is sort of the problem. It's a car city. It's a car country. Tokyo. Or Japan. Yeah.

00:47:01 John Daub: I wonder if Toby has a driver's license. I'm pretty sure Toby has a driver's license. Toby (crow)'s the kind of guy who'd probably drive with one hand on the wheel, you know, at 12 o'clock. That's Toby. He's the kind of guy who breaks for crows and runs over all the other animals. I thought Uber was not allowed in Japan. They are. You know who took Uber? I'm friends with a YouTuber called What's Inside. They cut stuff open, okay? And What's Inside, they were the first people I met that took an Uber. This is two years ago. They were here in Japan in March. And Dan and Lincoln, we finished shooting in Akihabara, and Dan and Lincoln had to go to Narita right away. And Dan, who's the father, he showed me on his smartphone the app for Uber. I'm like, Uber? What's that? And he called an Uber, and five minutes later, a really beautiful black car pulled in, and they got driven to Narita Airport. It cost them like $200, which is more than a taxi. Uber is more expensive than a taxi in Japan. Something I should point out to you. But Uber, usually they know where they're going. They're usually better drivers. And younger. But Uber is here in Japan.

00:48:20 John Daub: Where do you, what do you do if you hit a car? I don't know. I've never hit a car, Gavin. I have no intentions of hitting a car. You pull over and wait for the police to come. And you exchange insurance. It's pretty much like the US, I believe. Pink, yellow, black? Yes. Thank you, Jim. Simon, we are going to Kyushu in the coming May. Is driving easy and safe over there? Yes. Driving is easy on the highways. It's so smooth. The highways are beautiful. This is one of the countries in the world with amazing highways. They're not cheap. But if you want the freedom, then a car is an awesome way to get around Japan. Sam, get a motorcycle license. I'd watch motorcycle videos. Alright, Sam, you know what? You're on. I'm actually, will get a motorcycle. I really want to get a motorcycle license. But first I want to drive on the road and do some videos driving a car. A lot of people, a lot of people have a driver's license for cars, but not a lot of people have a motorcycle license. So I think for the show, I want to do more car stuff. But motorcycle is super cool. And while I'm still young, I want to be able to, you know, I think you ride motorcycles in your 70s, can't you? But while I'm young, I want to be able to, you know, I think you ride motorcycles in your 70s, can't you? But while I'm young, I want to be able to ride around the motorcycle. It's called a midlife crisis. And yeah, I try to rush everything while you still can.

00:49:46 John Daub: What is a typical toll cost? It depends on distance. This is trickerous. This is a great, great question. I think it's about like 800 yen. If you get on the Tokyo Expressway, the Tokyo highways, I think it's seven, like six dollars. And then you can go anywhere in Tokyo. It's one, it's expensive. But the time you save, you think of it like economics. Time you save going on the highway is so much that it almost economically makes sense to take the highway and to pay more because of the time that you save. If you're making $15 an hour and it costs you $6 and you will save two hours, then it sort of economically makes sense, right? Now you can go crazy at car... Shelly, yes! Now I can take back stuff. Yes! I can actually buy stuff at Costco that has weight to it. I've been carrying stuff on my shoulder for the longest time. Oh my God, this has changed my life. Josh Gaither, thank you very much. I really enjoy your content. Studying Japanese now, but only first year. Looking into a Honda S660 K car. Yes! You know, I was at the Honda... They have a Honda Welcome Plaza in Aoyama-itchome Station in central Tokyo. That's really awesome. I have a video on it. Asimo has a performance three times a day there. And they show the cars in the lobby. And you can get a chance to get into the car. And the K cars are pretty cool. I'd love to do a video on that this year. I want to see if Honda would sponsor it. You know, I think... Yeah, you know what? I'm going to call Honda. See if we can get some sponsored videos for this. This is going to be cool. Oh my gosh, we'd have so much fun.

00:51:33 John Daub: Midlife Adventure. 1973 Washu. You better believe it. Oh yeah, we're going to have some epic Costco trips with the car. How should I title it? Japan Costco by car. Yeah, because you can buy twice as much. The stream would probably be three hours long though. What car do you think about getting? You know, when I was a kid, I don't know why. Maybe because I wasn't super rich. But I always wanted a Mercedes convertible or BMW convertible. I don't know why. Because they had this crazy green color called British Racing Green. And it was just the coolest color to me. And I didn't see British Racing Green on any other cars except for the BMW and the Mercedes-Benz. And they're not even British cars, which is weird. But they're both German cars. But I always wanted one of those convertibles. Am I going to get one? Probably not. But this is like if I had a choice. Just because, yeah, I've never owned a car in 43 years. A Mustang would be cool too. It's harder to get those here. Fords are not really popular in Japan. American cars are very hard to find here. German cars are too expensive to fix. But you know, the thing is cyber zoning. German cars aren't supposed to break because they're German cars. So what are you supposed to fix about it? It's very confusing to me. Foreign cars are very expensive. That's why I might probably end up with a Toyota or a Honda. British Green is also available in minis. Okay. Thank you.

00:53:06 John Daub: What is the parking like? RDDCMATS. This is an awesome question. You know, the weirdest thing about parking in Japan is that in the United States, everybody parks head first into the parking garage. Okay? Into the parking lot. What was Yvonne's question, Jim? Yvonne, will you be doing road trips with Peter, Kevin, or Jennifer? Okay, I'm going to get to that. Parking. Everybody goes head first. In Japan, everybody backs into the parking spot. Nobody goes head first. It's totally opposite. It blows my mind. Everybody backs in. So, you know, the parking is like this. And it's expensive. Everywhere is parking. You have to pay. Certain companies own the parking lots. And it's like in Tokyo, it's like $3 for 30 minutes or something. And it goes up. Will I do road trips? Oh, you better believe it. You better believe it. Like Jennifer, I was chatting with Jennifer yesterday. And she's, Jennifer's already talking about like places that we could go in the car. Jennifer used to have a driver's license. She let it expire. How dare she? And now, yeah, we're thinking about trips to go to other places. Peter's talking about motorcycling. He's talking about motorcycle trips. Kevin, he's been really busy with his show, Kuma's Kitchen. But yeah, I believe we would take a road trip down and see Kevin maybe. Pretty good idea, huh, Vaughn? That'd be pretty cool. Peter's a motorcycle guy. I don't think he would ever get in a, I don't think he would ever be a passenger in my car. Can you see Peter as a passenger? Peter's a driver. You know, and just to piss him off, I'd make him sit in the back seat. And he probably would enjoy it like I was his chauffeur. That's not cool. But that's okay. That's Peter.

00:55:38 John Daub: Alejandro, that's awesome, John. I can't wait to see the road trips. This is cool. You have 500 yen for 20 minutes of parking. Kip Anderson, yes, I've seen those. 20-minute parking. I've seen 15 minutes for parking at like two, 300 yen. It's crazy. Get a Mini Cooper S. Caroline, I love the style of his cars. Are they cheap to fix, though? I expect my car to be like, to just break down. I don't know. Everyone tells me cars have bad track records. They always need repairs. Yeah, Peter's too cool for cars. That's why he wears leather pants. Hello, Jim. Message from one of the moderators. Thanks for keeping this livestream clean. Over 500 people. Still a few problems. Over 55 minutes. Yeah. All right, 55 minutes. So we're going to end this really soon. Thank you, Jim, for the update. Jim's one of the moderators. Kelsey, why do you want my last dot, dot, dot? Been a fan for a while now. I almost never catch you live, but here's something to help out. Thank you very much. That helps a lot. That helps too much. Thank you. I appreciate that. Go Mazda. That looks good. Shekhar Naik, thank you very much. Have a great day. Jim, thank you for pointing out the Super Chats, Jim, so I don't miss anybody. Yeah, Jennifer was livestreaming today as well.

00:56:19 John Daub: All right. So just to sum up now, because Jim reminded me we were going close to an hour. This livestream on driving is like all over the place. It's worth having your driver's license in Japan because as a resident of Japan, if you're going to be here long term, this solidifies one piece of identification that's asked for everywhere in Japan. If you have a driver's license just as an ID, it's sort of a big deal. It's better than you getting out your residence card, which I have a Japanese residence card. It's better than getting out your passport, definitely. It means that you're situated here in Japan. As a person who owns a small business in Japan, I own a business here for 13 years now. The fact that I have a driver's license is sort of important to clients in this way. It says that I'm not here to leave. I'm here in Japan for the long haul. And you don't invest in somebody who is not going to be here next year. You invest in people who are going to be here for 20 years. This is one of the reasons why I've been able to have success in Japan. It's because I understand that you need to have roots in Japan. You need to build strong roots in order to be accepted by any culture, really. I think you need to speak the language. I think you need to be settled in. And getting a driver's license is, for me, one of those steps. It's also a path to freedom and a way to see the country that I haven't seen a lot of yet. I think that you, if you're a fan of the show, are really going to like the videos coming this spring and summer and fall. Because I'm going to add in some cars into it. And this is going to be really, really, really cool.

00:58:07 John Daub: So that's my summary. I see some more questions coming in. Alejandro, I'm definitely getting a convertible. Because it's just too nice not to... I want to have the top down. Why not get a Japanese citizenship? Jennifer says, Jennifer, I'm very proud to be an American citizen. And I don't think I need to be... My value to Japan is to be different. Is to understand Japanese culture and be different. I don't need to be a citizen to do that. And I'm very proud of my citizenship as an American. And, yeah, I would never give up that. That's very valuable to me. But, you know, to be a resident of Japan is a big honor, too. That's the safe answer. But I wouldn't give up my American citizenship. That's craziness. I think you're more Japanese now. You know, if you asked me where my heart is, I would say a good deal of that is here in Japan. Just because I've been here for a long time. But there's always going to be... I mean, I grew up in the United States. My parents are in America. My family's in America. I watch American TV. I watch American football. I watch basketball. I'm a fan of Americans. I know a lot of American servicemen that work in Yokosuka or the Air Force Base. They're down in Iwakuni and Hiroshima. The Marines down there. I have friends in Okinawa that are American. I mean, I have a lot of respect for my country that I could not give up my citizenship.

00:59:41 John Daub: Will you retire in the U.S.? I don't know. I take it year by year, honestly. Pink Yoko. Yellow Black. Have you ever heard or bumped into Abroad in Japan? Yeah, I met him at Simon & Martina's Halloween party two years ago. Very nice guy. He works pretty hard, just like me. He seemed like an authentic person. I just don't know him well. He seems like a very authentic person. He really loves Japan. That means a lot to me, too, because I also really love this country. And, yeah. He hasn't been here as long as me. I can tell you. He knows about Japan, but he doesn't... I'm happy about his success, but... Yeah, you know. I've been here a little bit longer. So, I have to always kind of take my content to another level. Whereas he's more of a vlog, I think. Mine is more of a program. So, we're different people. But he seems really, really a genuine person. And I think that's... Yeah, I'm glad that he does YouTube videos about Japan. Japan needs him. Japan needs more people like him. Somebody who really loves Japan and makes interesting content. It's a good thing.

01:01:04 John Daub: Wow, a lot of questions. I'm going to take a couple of more and then that's it. What car are you thinking of buying? I'm not sure. Probably a Japanese car. But, you know, I dream of sports cars. But probably a Japanese car. Will you... Will you go to the crazy car auction or dealership, maybe? You know? I don't know. I don't know. I'm keeping my options open. My options... You know what? Sven, I have a manual driver's license. In Japan, you have to get a driver's license for manual, special. But I'm a manual car driver, so I would want a manual car. But it's very hard to find in Japan. Almost all of them are automatics now. Eric, awesome car... Video car culture. You know... You better believe... Eric, man, I will be doing car culture videos like up the wazoo now. Will you marry with Jennifer? I don't know. Why don't you ask her? Drive-thru restaurant video. BSFatboy. Yes. You're going to see... You know what? I might just drive around and do a video just driving around. Just driving around. Drive-thru, highways, intersections. Just show everything about Japan. Japanese car culture. So, you're going to see some amazing stuff.

01:02:24 John Daub: All right. Thank you everybody for this wonderful, wonderful super chats. Wow. Thank you very much for that. And thank you so much for following the Only in Japan Go channel. Thank you for following also this challenge of getting a Japanese driver's license. Now that I'm in possession of a... I can't even show you. Now I'm in possession of a Japanese driver's license. I have a license to drive on the roads. I'm on equal footing of other people who drive past me now. Although, they told me that I should put a beginner's sticker on my car. I'm a little shy about that, but I don't mind as long as... It doesn't mean that I have any less rights. Zordak Kobayashi. John, I admire your determination. Yes. Never give up and respect the Japanese way of life. Where would you go on your first car trip? These are really great questions. The longer that the live stream goes... Oh, Enzo Brenda Lee. I love you, Enzo Brenda Lee. You're so kind. She gives me a super chat to say goodbye. That's so sweet. I'm going to answer Zordak Kobayashi's question, then I'm going to go.

01:03:40 John Daub: You know what? Japan is a country that is made... You just have to respect people around you. It's a country of respect. It's a country of humility. I think when you start to realize this, it changes your life forever. I didn't do it in the first few years. It took a long time. In Japan, you have to be humble. You respect the people around you. You show a great deal of respect. Even when you're rushing, you maybe stop and think of the people around you. You think of other people instead of yourself. You think of the team. You think of the group. You think of everyone around you before yourself sometimes. That was a hard concept even now still to wrap my head around. As a driver, I think it's important also to know that too. You're always looking around at other people. Before you pour your own sake, you pour the sake into other people's glasses. That sort of respect, it's another level of humility. It's being humble and knowing that... You're not the center. That comes the longer you live here in Japan. If you ever want to be a part of this country, I think it's an important lesson to learn. If I went back to the United States, I would definitely be a better person as a result of my time here in Japan and the things I learned here being a part of this culture, this society for so long. I'm proud to have lived here for 20 years and become the kind of person that I am because of it. It's an emotional thing because I wonder sometimes what kind of person I'd be if I had not come to Japan. Would I be different? Would I be more selfish? Would I be louder? Would I be dumber? Would I be smarter? Would I be more successful? I think about that sometimes. After I think about it for a few minutes, I say, Yeah, you know what? I'm happy with what my choice is and I'd be fatter. Actually, I'm not doing too good right now because I went to the U.S. for a few weeks. But in general, Japan has made me a better person. I think by taking the positive points that I learned as an American citizen, because there are so many positives with the United States, people are friendlier there, I think people are easier to talk to. If you take some of the really positive things with that culture, and you fuse it with the positive things in this culture, it's such a great mix. I'm really proud to be a citizen of the U.S. People have been asking this. I'm proud to be a citizen of the U.S. and proud to be a resident of Japan and to live here for 20 years and to be sort of a bridge between the two countries, a bridge between Japan and the rest of the world. That's a huge responsibility because I know how many people watch this show. I want to thank all of you once again for supporting the channel. And being a part of this series, Only in Japan. And I did this license, you know, a part of it for me, but a lot of it for you. So, we're gonna have some fun. Have some fun. Alright, thank you very much. No more Super Chats, please. Enzo, I'm talking to you. Alright, bye everybody.