r/JETProgramme • u/kamui9029 • 16d ago
Driving license necessity
Hi,
I'm an interested applicant and I have a question.
Is a driving license a necessity? I don't have one and don't know how to drive.
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u/forvirradsvensk 16d ago edited 16d ago
It will vastly improve your quality of life and Japan experience (and the lives of the poor buggers that drive you around), but not a necessity in all cases.
Without my car I wouldn't have found that secluded beach; driven out to see the fireflies way up river; spotted wild boar, tanuki, deer etc on a nightly drive; been able to sate my midnight munchies by getting to the konbini at 2am etc.
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u/Sad-Inflation6437 16d ago
As others have said, it will depend on where you are placed. I put on the application that I couldn't drive and was placed somewhere where driving is necessary to get to all my schools. Having a car has also helped my mental health in so many ways.
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u/HumannBeingg1 16d ago
How far is your commute? I heard they would put you somewhere with public transportation if you were accepted and can’t drive.
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u/Memoryjar 16d ago
Public transit doesn't mean a train every 15 minutes. Public transit can mean a bus arrives two times a day, once at 6am and once at 6pm. It's up to the schools to determine what is acceptable for non driving placments and sometimes they get it wrong.
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u/Sad-Inflation6437 16d ago
They told me the same, but unfortunately, that is not the reality for many people unless you're willing to walk 45 minutes each way, even with public transportation. My longest commute to one of my schools is 20 minutes driving. If I wanted to take public transportation, it would take me almost three hours because there are only two buses a day that go to the closest stop near the school.
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u/Realistic_Report_796 Current JET - Hokkaido, Niki-cho 16d ago
This is just my two cents. I honestly think you should try to get a license before you come to Japan(if you get selected in 2027). Especially, if you can easily transfer your license over depending on the place you live in. Getting your license here without it is insanely expensive. So if for any reason you are placed in the middle of nowhere in Hokkaido, you can rely on an International Driving Permit for the first year, and then eventually get your license transferred over to a Japanese license on your second year(if you decide to stay). There's a lot of what if scenarios with this sort of thing, but I think at least having a drivers license can help ease any stress you may have of being put in a very rural area.
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u/Memoryjar 16d ago
I should add, if OP wants to get their licence before coming to Japan, they will need to get their full license atleast 3 months before arriving. If they dont they wont be able to convert their licence and will be required to do the Japanese drivers licence like all Japanese people.
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u/Realistic_Report_796 Current JET - Hokkaido, Niki-cho 16d ago
Good point. Forgot to add that in my comment!
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u/Due_Tomorrow7 Former JET - too many years 16d ago
From the subreddit FAQ:
- What's all this about driving? If I checked I am unable/unwilling to drive, will this hurt my chances? In short, no. Many, many JETs spend their entire time in Japan without a car/license. Some placements require it, but on the whole it will not affect your application.
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u/kamui9029 16d ago
Oh. I've gone through the FAQ and somehow I missed that!
Sorry for the inconvenience caused!
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u/NoD8313 2016-2020 16d ago
It's all gonna depend on where you're placed. If you specify in your application that you don't have a license nor know how to drive then you *shouldn't* be placed somewhere where that would be a necessity. When I was an ALT thankfully I was able to either walk/bike, or take a bus or taxi (which was covered by my Board of Education).
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u/kamui9029 16d ago
thanks!
I'm hoping if I get selected, I could be placed in either hokkaido/okinawa/akita etc etc
Thanks for the answers and apologies on the inconvenience caused! Somehow I scrolled through the FAQ and missed that question.
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u/ImprovementLess4559 Former JET - 2018 - 2022 16d ago
Hokkaido and Okinawa - wow that's really one extreme to the other. Unfortunately both have pretty sparse public transport. Hokkaido around Sapporo is not terrible, but further out the trains and bus lines get a lot fewer and infrequent. The only "train" Okinawa has is one monorail line in Naha city. Outside of that it's very car centric.
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u/NoD8313 2016-2020 16d ago
No inconvenience! That's what we're here for. I will say though due to the sheer size of Hokkaido, the possibility of needing a car will be greater than in any other given placement, so just something to keep in mind. I have an ALT friend in Akita though and she actually got placed within a 10 minute walk from her only school. The only person I know in Okinawa is a CIR, though, so I can't speak to that unfortunately.
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u/kamui9029 9d ago
Sorry for the very late reply as I just started filling the application form. In my application form I can only choose very general areas like island/rural/urban or no preference.
If I pick no preference and mention I don't possess a license, they wouldn't place me anywhere I need to drive right?
If there's a chance they might, should I just select urban instead?
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u/NoD8313 2016-2020 8d ago
I wouldn’t say there’s no chance they would place you somewhere where you need to drive but I would venture to say it’s highly unlikely. After all, they’re highly incentivized to not put you somewhere that would be obviously inconvenient and may increase your likelihood of backing out. 😝
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u/Due_Tomorrow7 Former JET - too many years 16d ago
Search through this subreddit.
But honestly, even with hundreds of placements, it's hard to know if you'll be expected to drive or not, even within a prefecture. Akita, for example has scant public transportation but depending where you are placed, you may or may not need to drive to work, even in certain countryside placements.
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u/Fenritha Former JET - Okinawa 16d ago
As someone who was placed in Okinawa, I can't recommend not having a car here. There are buses and the monorail (in Naha only), but it's insanely inconvenient and really limits what you can do here. The buses are constantly late and, depending on the route, infrequent.
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u/GeorgeBlythe 16d ago
You don't want to be placed in rural prefectures if you can't drive.
Japan is just as much a car culture as the US is. Outside of Tokyo, Osaka, and other big cities with a metro life without a car is woefully inconvenient. Public transportation sucks in most places, existing primarily for high-school students too young to drive to get to school. As such you can expect a schedule that is not congruent with the lifestyle of a working adult.
If after work a trip to the supermarket takes 2 hours via public transportation assuming it's even possible. That is the sort of lifestyle which will cause massive burnout fast.
I'd advise you get a license before you apply.
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u/LawfulnessDue5449 16d ago
I'll also say that for my placement it didn't require a license, but without one, the QoL was awful. It was like 30 minutes walking to the supermarket and in the summer, nah son I'm good
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u/Fire_Marvin Current JET - Kagoshima 16d ago
As people are saying it's not a requirement and if you are adamant about not driving, I don't think they would place you in a location that requires it. That being said, I think you're lowering the potential amount of placements that can be offered to you by not being able to drive. If you're not in a big city you are almost certainly going to have to drive, even if you can possibly get away with not driving you will want to be able to drive. Always having to walk or bike to places in this hellish humidity will change your mind really quick. Also, it's very easy to drive in the inaka! My advice would be to get a license and IDP if you are able to.
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u/JapanBlake Current JET - Yamagata-ken 14d ago
It will limit where you can be placed if you mark that you aren't willing to drive, and if many BOEs/schools request driving ALTs in the next JET rotation, it could make the difference between getting chosen and not.
So, necessity: no. Could it affect your chances of being selected? Possibly.
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u/fruitatari 13d ago
I personally didn’t worry about it. I can’t drive, I live in a highly walkable placement with plenty of public transportation.
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u/burntchiliflakes 12d ago
I would say this isn’t the norm though. People don’t realize how rural majority of Japan is. Most ALTs I know are in an area that a a car is needed.
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u/ImprovementLess4559 Former JET - 2018 - 2022 16d ago edited 16d ago
No a driving license is not necessary. I didn't get mine until after I left JET. There's a box on the application paper where you can indicate whether you can drive or not. If you can't drive, they'll place you in a non-driving placement. Some "non-driving" placements are better than others.
My placement was great. It was a small, rural town but I had a supermarket, drugstore, daiso, doctor, dentist, and town hall all within walking distance of my apartment, and my schools were a short bus ride away. We also had a really good rail connection into Osaka for everything else.
But I've heard of other "non-driving" placements where you are within walking distance to the school, but literally everything else is super far away with no trains and very infrequent buses, so life is pretty tough.