Japanese Driver's License!

so I accomplished the, not impossible, but pretty difficult feat of obtaining my Japanese driver's license this week. (More specifically, I transferred my American driver's license into a Japanese one. To actually obtain a Japanese license from scratch, the way Japanese people do, would have been considerably more difficult.) This was a several month long, several hundred dollar endeavor, yet to live in Niigata for a second year and NOT drive would be a huge mistake. So it was well worth it.

I had been apprehensive about it from the get-go. I knew there would be a thousand bureaucratic hoops to jump through, culminating in the dreaded practical driving test--a fixed route on a closed course at the License Center. I knew there were a million instant fails--if you stall (if taking the test in a manual, which I did), if you drive too close to the center of the road, if you are going too quickly while turning, if the car goes off the track, if you don't look in the mirrors properly before putting on the turn signal, etc etc. The only way to pass would be to take driving classes, which eat up more time and money, etc. I did end up taking 5 classes in total--4 before taking the test the first time, and once more between failing the first time and passing on the second time. Here's a total breakdown of the bureaucracy involved, and how much everything cost.

(** Costs are in dollars in a rough exchange from the yen **)
Translation of my American license at JAF, the Japanese AAA - $30
Proof of Foreigner Registration - $3
Photo - $7
Submission of documents at the central licensing center - $24
--these documents were mainly photocopies of my foreigner registration, my American license, every page in my passport that had stamps on it, plus the above^^ photo and proof of foreigner registration. Every page in my passport needed a photocopy to prove that I was in America for a cumulative total of three months since I obtained my original driver's license. This law is supposedly to make sure that Japanese people don't just get an American license and then attempt to transfer it to a Japanese license, because that would be considerably easier and cheaper than what they have to go through.
5 driving lessons at $52.50 each = $262.50
Driving test charge, $35 x 2 = $70
License processing charge - $21

TOTAL: $417.50, not including highway tolls for the two trips I had to make to Niigata City (to go to JAF and the central license center), gas on those trips, or gas to go to the driving center in Nagaoka, 15 minutes away, to take the test or my lessons.
Also not including the time I had to take off work - 1 hour to go to the central license center, 8 hours the first time I took the test (in the morning I had to go in for the eye exam and the written test, which was 10 of the easiest multiple-choice questions ever. "Drivers should be attentive to pedestrians, construction, and other vehicles, in order to maintain a smooth flow of traffic--True or false?"), and 4 more hours the second time I took the test - 13 hours total.

Part of what makes the driving test so ridiculous is that it's not about how good of a driver you are, it's about how much money you put into their dumb system. The way they expect you to drive to pass the test is literally the sloppiest driving I've ever done. Speed up a ton right before slowing down a ton to turn, signal years before you actually turn, etc. Oh yeah, and the part about stalling is an instant fail? Not true. I definitely stalled at the very last stop sign, very quickly restarted the car, rechecked the coast was clear, and was on my merry way. I thought for sure I had failed but sure enough, yep, the most inconsistent and ridiculous driving test ever. Not complaining though :)