> I would like to teach my friend how to drive a car. The driving
> schools here are very expensive.

Does your friend have driving license in his home country?

If yes, he will take Japanese license by passing examination at your
prefecture's driving licence center. If his license is of some 'advanced'
countries (about 20 counrties), he can take it with no examination.

If he/she needs to pass exam, he will need some lessons at a driving
school to pass the exam.

> Somebody told me that in Japan, if you want to teach somebody how to
> drive, you can do so only inside a driving range. And for this you
> should have had a Japanese driving license for a minimum of 3 years.

In a driving range, the owner of the range rules it -- it depends on
each range who can teach whom.

And if he has learner's license (kari-menkyo), he can drive in public
streets.

Assume he has no license yet, then the story to get license is:
        - first he must get learner's license by passing written test
          (only in Japanese) and skill test in the driving range
        - then he must lesson in the public streets with a superviser
          with at least 3 years of driving career.
        - he must pass written test again and skill test in the street.
        - at last, he attends to compulsory lectures (highway driving and
          recsue lesson) at a driving school.

In 'authorized' driving schools, everything except written test is included
in the curriculum.

========================================================================
(Mr.) IIJIMA Hiromitsu,                  mailto:delmonta@ht.sakura.ne.jp
           aka Delmonta            http://www.ht.sakura.ne.jp/~delmonta/