Got my liscense when I was 15 and a half...
Took drivers ed the day I turned 14 and a half, got my permet about 1 week later. And you have to have the permit for 12 months in order to turn it into a drivers liscense.

I heard Japanese was one of the hardest countries to get your drivers liscense, and hella expensive. If I heard correctly, about 150000円 is this true? Or does the price vary from location to location?

It only cost me about 13 bucks here in NC.

Did you see my and Nyororin's answers?

Oh thank you MMM and Nyororin :]

Yep, I don't envy Japanese going for their licence.

It's one hell of a job and what a hassle are those driving licence places..

Not suprised so many young Japanese get their licence in Australia and change it over when returned to JP.

MMM: Sometimes posts crosss in-between typing

Driving alone at 14 is just absurd IMO. When you're 18 you're allowed to vote in my country (and get drunk) so I guess it makes sence you can also drive (I don't mean get drunk and drive haha!). Although heaps of 18-yearolds are not mature enough to drive (not drink either for that matter), but whatcha gonna do...

Nyo & MMM: Bloody expensive eh. No wonder so many of my japanese friends don't have a license haha. Back home most people drive for like 2 years on a learners permit with their parents, and then take a few lessons before taking the exam (hopefully passing). Not the way over here in Japan ? (and yeah I could just ask a friend here, before someone bashes me for that, but it's not that important that I would call and wake someone at 3 am =D )

In Sweden you can get a driver's licence at 18. It's a pretty suitable age, younger then 18 is just... too young.

Norway: Cars driving driver's licence at 18, most people fails one or two times, costs around $4700 I believe. Also 18 years old to drink any alcohol up to 21% - 20 years old to drink any alcohol with 21%+ alcohol.

I believe 18 is also to young, younger is just stupid. I am soon 20 and still wait because I will not risk myself or others as I do not feel confterbal behind the steering wheel.
And I like the fact that Japan have strict rules.
But I believe you need to be 20 years old to smoke in Japan, but I might be wrong.

And if we goes into statistics we have around 7000 accidents in Norway pr.year and there is 6,420,000 accidents in the US pr.year. Even if the US's population is 60x bigger then Norway the accidents in % is not even close. And I believe this is much because of the young age you can start to drive. And they should follow the rest of the world and change their rules as soon as possible.

The Japanese course exam is actually very hard. They rate with extreme detail - one tiny screw up on the test and you fail. The thinking is that if you can`t even remember to do it properly when you`re being tested on it, then there is no way they can trust you to follow the rules when you`re not. Hence, if you don`t actually take real classes and get a lot of serious practice under your belt, the chance of passing the test is extremely low. That`s something that drives foreigners in Japan mad when they try to just breeze through the test - they don`t realize that "I`ve been driving for 10+ years!" doesn`t mean anything if you can`t even follow the rules properly in a test environment.

My aunt is a driving instructor in the US, and I have to say - having gotten my license in Japan through the regular Japanese route of driving school then test... I am seriously SHOCKED that they allow 90% of the people over there (the US) to get a license.