Drew Hamilton wrote:

> Eric Takabayashi  <etakajp@yahoo.co.jp> wrote:
> >Speaking of road rules, it seems I am the person able to convert their
> >foreign driving license on the fewest attempts locally.
>
> Speaking of converting foreign driver's licenses,
>
> How does one get an MT license?
>
> I understand generally it means that you have to take your test in
> a car with a manual-shift transmission.

Yes, it sucked. I had not driven manual since about 1989, when I started
working summers at a car rental company, and both my parents stopped buying
manual transmission cars.

> Problem is, how do you practice for it?

Drive your friend's car off public roads, or do like I did, and spend a few
hours (preferably one at a time or you'll just be wasting money if you fail
the test) at Japanese driving school. Hate it as I might, I suggest driving
school because it is the easiest way for the average person to be told what
the anal examiners want. I credit the instructor during my final time at
the driving school for telling me what I needed to do. The other instructor
I had been with the previous two times was very nice, but not strict
enough. He gave me advice, but he was not telling me what to do.

Or drive illegally, like I see many foreigners do.

And if you can, walk the course to memorize it. That's about the only way
you'll be able to position yourself in the lanes to set up for the lane
changes and turns ahead of time. Those three seconds of signal before a
lane change, and keeping within 70 cm of the curb or 50 cm of the line for
a lane change or right turn for at least 30 meters before, can be a killer.

> I've not seen any manual-shift cars for rent in the
> rental agencies, and I don't think you can buy a car without being
> licenced.

Yes you can.

> I don't think the first time I ever drive a right-hand-drive MT
> car should be on the driving test (well, I guess then I'd have an
> excuse for failing the first couple of tests), so what have other
> people done about this?

I tried and failed, just like that, in my first time in a right hand drive,
and my first time in a manual car in about seven years.

> >I passed in three. The previous low I had heard of was four, by another
> >American who had also seemed to make mistakes.
>
> Do you get to take the tests on the same day, or do you have to
> keep coming back?

You have to keep coming back. I could have passed sooner (if not in fewer
attempts) if I had been allowed to try all day, which I would have been
willing to pay.

It's one of the things which burned me up, in addition to losing an entire
day and about 7,500 yen for the test. The examiner tells me that my "sousa"
was "daijoubu" but fails me anyway because I didn't keep close enough to
the curbs on the left and the center lines on the right, then back inside,
he opens up the book and asks if I'd like to come back the following week.
If I was so bad (and he said I wouldn't be practicing, as I had no
international permit), why ask if I wanted to come back the very next week?

Contrary to what I had been led to believe my first time at the examination
center, they didn't convert my motorcycle license along with the manual
transmission license. I had to go back for more testing, and only held two
days a week. More driving school. Well, I hadn't had experience picking up
fallen bikes or pushing them in figure eights since Motorcycle Safety
Foundation days, anyway.

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