Guus,

I am Dutch too and changed my Dutch drivers licence into a Japanese one.
I had to do an eye test and some other real easy sort of (medical) test and 
then received the Japanese dirvers license.
This is 15 years ago but I cannot imagine this has changed as at that time 
they told me that Dutch drivers licences can be changed into a Japanese 
license with very little trouble.

If you get confusing info why don't you call  the Ducth Embassy.
They get these questions almost daily and they will know certainly what you 
should do!!

vriendelijke groeten en succes!

Giny
(nu wonend in Amsterdam)


"himtkitk" <himtkitk@insat.rnu.tn> schreef in bericht 
news:423c33ff$0$762$44c9b20d@news3.asahi-net.or.jp...
> Michael Cash <mikecash@buggerallspammers.com> wrote
> in message <u76o311g8frhdg3nh6eu14qs05qv7m5k56@4ax.com>:
>> On Sat, 19 Mar 2005 11:33:26 +0100, "Guus Veldhuis" <guus@dse.nl>
>> brought down from the Mount tablets inscribed:
>>>Kadoma Unten Shikenjo
>>>23-16 Ichiban-cho
>>>Kadoma City, Osaka 571-8555
>>>Tel: (06) 6908 9121
>
> Well, this is the right place, if you are living in Osaka, the other
> place you can go is;
> 5-13-1 Izumi-shi, Fuseya-cho
> Osaka-Fu 594-0031
> Tel: 0725-56-1881 or 0725-57-0041
>
>>>She wants to know where you got the different information from and
>>>where we shoulde call and go to change my Dutch driver licence.
>
> In Japan, there is some difference in testing condition by prefecture,
> big cities having lots of trafic accidents are difficult, like Tokyo,
> Kanagawa, Aichi or Osaka maybe difficult, however you have to go to
> your residential prefecture.
>
>> Your original post made it sound like she called a driving school.
>> Especially the part about spending six hours driving.
>
> But, it never takes 6 hours, just 15 to 20 minutes driving on the test
> course, also they have some very easy paper test like; Do you have to
> stop at red signal(Yes/No).
>
>> from: http://www.japandriverslicense.com/lic.htm
>> ======================================================================
>> Q. Which Nationalities are required to take a written and road test?
>>
>> A. Requirements for a road test is not based on your Nationality but
>> rather which country your licensed was issued in. The easiest way for
>> us to answer this question is to let you know in which countries
>> ofissue licenses are not required to take a written or road test.
>> People with licenses issued from the following countries are not
>> required to take a written or road test to convert their home country
>> issued driver`s license into Japanese driver`s licenses:  Austria,
>> Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland,
>> Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The
>> Netherlands, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and South
>> Korea.
>> =======================================================================
>
> Yes, japan only accept above 22 countries, there are lots of countries
> giving drivers lisence without any test, sometimes only money.
> To prevent trafic accindent in Japan, Japanese police prepared driving
> test even for the people from the above 22 contries in these days,
> the only exceptions are Frence, Germany and Switzerland, the Japanese
> police recognizes their driving test levels are equivalent as in Japan.
>
> Paper test is very very easy, however driving test is not very easy.
> I recommend that you once try the driving test and if you failed, then
> you sould go to the driving school and have a short course maybe two or
> three hours, then you will pass. Still it is less than six hours.
>
> If you are still in the Netherlands, don't forget the international
> drivers permit, then you can drive in Japan for one year and after two,
> three month driving experience in Japan(oposit side driving), then ask
> to rewrite your lisence into Japanese one, which is easier to pass.