About Us
To own and drive a car in Japan, if you live in a big city such as Tokyo, it may sound luxurious but in a small town with limited means of transportation, a car is a must to mobilize from one place to another. For the most part, having or driving a car provides more convenience than using public transportation services. The same applies to some foreign residents and many of them highly consider obtaining a Japanese driver's license. Prior to 2014, there had been an abrupt increasing population of foreign migrant workers in Hamamatsu city. A Filipino own driving school AT-1 Universal Driving Academy, led by Miss Marie Nagata was established to mainly support Filipino residents who have had difficulty acquiring a Japanese driver’s license. There has been a total of about 1500 successful students as of 2020, who made their dreams come to a reality! Now more Filipinos and other foreign residents could legally drive in Japan. Manila, Philippines, a student was scouted and came to Japan to work as an overseas performing artist in Osaka city in 1999. One year later, she has had moved to Hamamatsu city and met her Japanese husband. Soon after, they got married and settled down.
To obtain a driver's license in Japan, a student must pass an aptitude test, a driving skill test, and a written test.
The methods are:
(1) self-study and take all tests at a licensed center (also called "by-chance test"),
(2) officially finished from a designated driving school and obtain a partial exemption of the text, and
(3) switching foreign license to the local one, with the partial exemption of the text (Gaimen-Kirikae)
Among these, two may be common. Driver's license is under the jurisdiction of prefectural public safety commissions, and some prefectures that have written tests conducted in foreign languages. In Shizuoka prefecture, you can take the exams in English, Portuguese, Chinese, and Vietnamese. However, since a Japanese driving school is unable to teach the course in a foreign language, a driving school run by a foreigner undertakes this part.
The Brazilian manager of the driving school where Ms. Nagata initially worked decided to return to Brazil. Another manager stepped in and it was difficult in the workplace. So she decided to leave the school. It was truly hard for her to leave the driving school and she still believed that her mission wasn’t completely fulfilled until she decided to put up her own driving school. Her popularity at her old school became her biggest advantage to expand her network, especially within the Filipino community. Also, a word of mouth plays an important role to increase her school’s number of enrollees. It had even caught the attention of a Japanese-owned local driving school and make a partnership where she could facilitate technical training of her students and the rest is history.
Approximately 50 students have enrolled at AT-1 as of August 2020. The driving school’s instructors are nine Filipinos who were actually her former students. These instructors came from different backgrounds and ethnicities, which are beneficial to cater to different enrollees that speak other languages than Filipino. Usually, a new student will first study at AT-1 for 3-4 days for an English academic test, then take a test at the license center and secure a driver's license test transcript, and pass it to an affiliate driving school or a driving school near the students’ home. Then a student will do technical training, take a temporary license and receive training on the street. When a student receives a completion certificate, the student returns to AT-1 to study for the main examination at the license center. When a student passes the main examination, the student will be issued a driver’s license on that day. A quick learner will possibly get the license within three weeks. Students all come by word-of-mouth. There are many people from Shizuoka and Aichi, but some people come from Osaka, Okayama, Ibaraki, and they take lessons while staying at an apartment or hotel provided by a partner driving school. This is like a “Gasshuku (stay-in) type” of driving school in Japan. Most of the students are Filipinos who are married to Japanese or Filipino Nikkei. Each student’s level of proficiency is different, thus some will find it easy to learn and pass the test others will have difficulty reading and writing in English. However, some students don’t learn fast. If you do your best, you can do it. If you are motivated, you can do it. Even if it takes a lot of time, all the hard work and effort will pay off. When students pass the mandatory written test, they will gain confidence and will be more motivated to do skill training, and studying for the final exam will be easier.
Providing instructions for the written tests, assisting the students to license centers in various parts of prefectures, and sponsoring a basketball league on holidays become an annual routine. It's a tough job, but it's a rewarding job especially when students pass the test as such. In the past, there were many Filipino talents but nowadays there are many Filipino residents, so they need a car for everyday life such as shopping, going to hospitals, work, etc. If you can drive, you can freely choose the type of work you like. You can work in better condition. You can obtain a car license with your own efforts. After passing the driver’s license exam, students become more confident of themselves and look brighter every time they pass the hurdle.
“Reminiscing my younger years in Hamamatsu city, it was tough for foreign residents to get a Japanese driver’s license. There were two options to acquire the license. These are Japanese license conversion aka “Kirikae” or enrolling in an expensive driving school. I was considering taking the first option but unfortunately, my Philippines driver’s license was expired. So I ended up enrolling myself in a driving school. I found the driving lessons quite challenging. Luckily, the medium of instruction was in English. This helped me a lot to understand and learn the driving system, rules, and regulations, precautions to name a few. The right motivation to learn brought me to another milestone of passing the written test with only one take. Not to mention, I took the test with a cohort of other fourteen Filipinos and I was the only one who successfully made it. I couldn’t imagine how these fellow Filipinos approached me and began to ask if I could share with them the knowledge I learned from my driving school. I love working with people so this was the turning point for me to help and support others in my own little way. It was also notable that one foreign driving school instructor who is actually a Brazilian offered me to work part-time at their school that lasted for eight years.”
“For me, interacting with various students has changed my way of thinking to widely open my heart and mind. They did their best. And beyond that, the student will have more life chances. I'm extremely happy with that and I’ll continue to inspire and support others and that everything’s possible at AT-1 Universal Driving Academy.”
~Marie Nagata
Visit Us
HAMAMATSU
〒430-0926 Shizuoka Ken Hamamatsu Shi
Naka ku Sunayama Cho 358-1 Atsumi Bldg. 2F
Hours
Monday/Wednesday/Friday
10:00am – 04:00pm
Saturday / Sunday
10:00am – 04:00pm
Phone
(090) 9175-1321
AICHI
〒474-0025 Aichi Ken Obu Shi
3 Chome 88 Chuo-cho Okada Bldg. 2F
Hours
Friday/Saturday/Sunday
10:00am – 04:00pm
SHIZUOKA
〒420-0034 Shizuoka
3 Chome 3-15 Tokiwa Cho Aoi Ward Tokiwa Shizuoka 302
Hours
Monday/Wednesday/Friday
10:00am – 04:00pm
Saturday / Sunday
10:00am – 04:00pm
Phone
(090) 9175-1321
NUMAZU
〒410-0056 Numazu Shi
Takashima Cho 6-11 Kotobuki Bldg. 3f (JR North Exit)
Hours
Monday / Wednesday / Friday
11:00am – 04:00pm
Saturday / Sunday
10:00am – 04:00pm
Phone
(090) 9175-1321
“We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.”
AT-1 UNIVERSAL DRIVING ACADEMY