Motorcycle License in Japan

[Zeth3D]

So Ive poked around looking for any information on motorcycles, and it seems that a good number of you have achieved the ability to drive a motorcycle here in japan. The only thing I havent really be able to find is easy to understand procedure for doing so.

So, from my understanding insurance in japan has this tiered system based on engine size and dimensions. Thats fine. What I really need to know is how does one buy a motorcycle and get the license, or can an international license actually work? If not, what is needed to obtain a japanese license?

Does one need a license first to buy? And how easy or what pros and cons are there buying from a shop verses out of like the classifieds in japan? Ive read something about in order to buy you have to have proof of the ability to park it somewhere.

Is it different here such that you have to absolutely drive the vehicle thats under your name? Or is it somewhat OK to drive a vehicle owned by some one else?

I am in the Hirakata area, so if anyone has a bike, once i get mine we should meet up. Or if you got one to sell in this area, i might buy it, depending on what it is.

[omae mona]

Zeth, I can answer one small part of your question. International licenses are not valid for any driving in Japan unless you are a tourist or a resident with less than 1 year in Japan. After that you need a Japanese license. And I am just guessing, but it is very likely that due to the temporary nature of an international license, a dealer might refuse to sell to you even if you are under the 1 year limit.

[kusai Jijii]

If you already have an overseas bike license, take it down to the license center in Kadoma and do a 'gaimen-kirikae'. its relatively cheep and will take you about half a day. If you want to get a japanese bike license from scratch, the driving school next to the Kadoma center is pretty good (thats what I did). I had to do about 15 lessons, and including the test, the whole thing cost me about 8 man.That was for a chugata license, which allows you to ride bikes up to 400 cc.

[Zeth3D]

15 lessons? Does it take 15 days plus a test day? If I were to have already an overseas license, do they give me the gaimen kirikae to apply only to bikes under 400cc?

(I am also assuming the overseas bike license you are referring to is the one you can get by doing the whole AAA thing if you're from the US right?)

[Marked Trail]

[gkanai]

This is the wrong forum to discuss this as only a handful of people here have motorcycle licenses. The right place to discuss this is here:

http://www.gaijinriders.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=3919

[Behan]

It took me nine tries to finally pass the chu-gata license test in Makuhari.

Some things I remember about the test were that you had to pretend to give the bike a once over safety check even if you couldn't tell a spark plug from a nose plug. And you had to pretend to adjust the mirrors even if they were at the perfect angle. Just touch them. And whenever you move from a stop or move from one side to the other in your lane you have to look back. I guess the reasoning is that the test judges can't tell if you really checked for traffic behind you if only use the mirrors.

You have to keep your knees hugging the gas tank and it looks bad if they are out.

They let the test takers walk the course before the tests start. This is good the first time or so to help you remember which way to go. There were two routes through the course and they post which one would be used that day before the test started.

I think most safe riders wear gloves but it probably looks really bad if you show up for the test without them. They might even be mandatory.

[kusai Jijii]

This is the wrong forum to discuss this as only a handful of people here have motorcycle licenses. The right place to discuss this is here:

http://www.gaijinriders.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=3919

Its a thread, the title of which is 'Motorcycle licenses in Japan'. Go fuck yourself.

[kusai Jijii]

It took me nine tries to finally pass the chu-gata license test in Makuhari.

Jesus B, thats fucked! Got mine first go. have to say though, the lessons were painful. The first one was 'how to correctly put a helmet on a table'. Dont feel too bad though. I knew a guy who had riden from london to capetown. After that trip, he wound up in J-pan. He went to get his license changed over, and they failed him!

[Behan]

I didn't go to driving school and was mostly self-taught. I think the test and train fare was about about 7000 yen or something and I figured I could take the test fifteen times or so and it would still be cheaper than the course.

Plus, I am a klutz.

[omae mona]

Its a thread, the title of which is 'Motorcycle licenses in Japan'. Go fuck yourself.

kj, I think gkanai was just trying to be helpful and point Zeth to a place where there might be some more expertise. That being said, I don't think we are doing too bad here in this thread so far!

[Behan]

I don't know if it's (still?) true or not but the riders I knew back in the early 90s said that the test center people would almost automatically fail the ogata test takers to keep too many people from getting the license and to award to only serious people. I think it was kind of an ego slap, too, in that no matter how well you could ride you had to eat some humble pie.
I heard that six tries or so wasn't unusual for the ogata, but nine for the chugata was probably close to a record!:p
Back in that day you couldn't get an ogata license at a driving school now but I heard some years later that they started offering them. The ogata course had different and more obstacles so I guess those schools might have needed to add them.
Almost nobody was doing the kogata test. I guess there was not much point because the cc range was so small between the 50cc and chugata, which includes 250cc.
And speaking of 250cc, the good thing about that size was that you didn't need to get a shaken but it was big enough to take on the highway, barely.

[kusai Jijii]

[omae mona]

[kusai Jijii]

Let me offer an alternative theory. Perhaps she is an avid motorcyclist, has blogged on the topic quite a bit, and is a moderator of the forum and participant in the thread she linked to, which answers Zeth3D's questions and also provides links back to gkanai's own blog. And she is a he. That is just a wild guess, though. I wouldn't want to go to the trouble of clicking through on the link to check!

If that indeed be the case, I owe you and her - er, him - a beer. My bad.

[omae mona]

If that indeed be the case, I owe you and her - er, him - a beer. My bad.

[Zeth3D]

Thanks for the info guys.

(I posed the question at this board, as I felt more familure with the community, but of course being pointed to a place where the information would be more on focus is always welcome, as it was )

[Mulboyne]

...I posed the question at this board, as I felt more familure with the community, but of course being pointed to a place where the information would be more on focus is always welcome, as it was...

That's really the point of FG. If no-one has a good answer to a query then at least we can sometimes steer people to a place which might be able to help. As it is, gkanai has written on motorcycles fairly frequently on FG but there aren't too many bikers here compared with the dedicated forums so most of his up-to-date stuff is elsewhere.

[Behan]

I just remembered another thing, or two. I think you were supposed to have a chugata license for at least a year before you could get an ogata license. You could skip over kogata, which almost nobody bothered with.
And I was told that you couldn't take a passenger on your bike until you had your license for a year.
The Metropolitan Highway (Shutoko) and highways didn't used to allow you to take a passenger but I think you can now. But it might be good to check before you use any toll road or highway.