Jason Cormier wrote:

> On 12/15/03 12:05, in article 3FDDE9E0.BCEDB728@yahoo.co.jp, "Eric
> Takabayashi" <etakajp@yahoo.co.jp> wrote:
>
> > I passed in three. The previous low I had heard of was four, by another
> > American who had also seemed to make mistakes.
>
> Is this the norm a most testing centres? I passed my first time in Mie
> (along with a number of other friends) and two of my friends passed the
> first time in Aichi.

I'm told Okayama is not difficult.

Hiroshima is strict. I've seen and heard of them fail people for not being
70 cm from the curb during left turns, or not 50 cm from the center line
during right turns, for at least 30 m before the turn. I was failed twice
for it myself. Three seconds of turn signal is also required before a lane
change. It would not be possible for someone who had not experienced the
test before or memorized the course to set themselves up properly to do
those things in time. The examiner (I had the same man for all three
attempts) said he would tell me what maneuvers to take, but in fact if
someone had to be told to do something like turn left, it was already too
late.

The examiners tell people if they hit anything (like a curb), that they
should stop immediately, back up (even if on the "road" part of the course
with other cars) and try it over. They do not deduct points and allow up to
three chances to do it, the examiner claimed. Yet he failed a Brazilian
woman on her fourth attempt at the driving test who seemed to drive
perfectly (I was riding in back and impressed by her ability to shift
smoothly and really keep the car to the inside of a turn) for simply
hesitating (I saw no such thing, nor did she even stop) during the S curve.
And the center also lied about giving me my motorcycle license along with
converting the automobile license.

Did you go to driving school first? Did they care that you were Canadian
back then?

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