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My First Driver’s License Center Experience in Japan

Moving to Nagoya, Japan came with a lot of surprises, but one of the funniest had to be my trip to the driver’s license center to convert my Australian driver’s license into a Japanese one.

I thought I was prepared.

I had done eye tests before. You know the kind. Stand back from a wall, squint slightly, pretend you definitely know the letters, and somehow pass. Simple.

But the eye test at the Japanese driver’s license center was completely different.

Instead of reading letters off a board, I had to look into one of those machines with the little circles inside. Suddenly I saw a big letter “C” shape. The official asked me a question in Japanese, and naturally, I answered:

“See.”

Because... it was a C.

Unfortunately, the official thought I was saying “see” as in “I can see it.” So he repeated the question. I answered again. “See.” At this point, things were getting awkward. The official started speaking slower and louder like I was struggling with my eyesight, while I was standing there confidently identifying the world's easiest letter.

What I didn’t understand was that in Japan, the test is not about naming the shape. You have to say which direction the gap is pointing. Up, down, left, or right. Nobody told me that.

Apparently this is completely normal in Japan, and most people grow up doing this kind of eye test from childhood. For foreigners though, especially if you come from somewhere like Australia, it can be a pretty confusing moment.

Looking back now, it’s hilarious, but at the time I honestly thought I might fail the eye test because of the letter C.

Living in Japan is full of moments like this. Tiny cultural differences that nobody thinks to explain because they are so normal to everyone else. And honestly, those moments usually become the best stories later.

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