Driving school in Japan in English: verified courses cost ¥367,280 to ¥572,000 for an AT license in Tokyo and Saitama. Camps from ¥231,000, mostly in Japanese.
As of October 2026, few designated driving schools in Japan teach in English. We verified three commuting schools: Tokorozawa Driving School's International Class in Saitama (¥367,280 for an AT license), Koyama Driving School in Tokyo and Yokohama (¥432,520) and Musashisakai Driving School in Tokyo (¥462,000 to ¥572,000 by age). Camps cost less: Ibaraki Kennan has English-speaking instructors and charged ¥231,000 to ¥297,000 for 14 days with lodging. Most camps teach lectures in Japanese, with English textbooks and written tests only.
Only a handful of designated driving schools in Japan teach in English. For a regular AT car license with no license held, the three English courses we could verify cost ¥367,280 (Tokorozawa, Saitama), ¥432,520 (Koyama, Tokyo and Yokohama) and ¥462,000 to ¥572,000 by age (Musashisakai, Tokyo), tax included. A driving camp near Tokyo costs ¥231,000 to ¥297,000 with lodging, but most camps teach in Japanese. Prices are as of October 2026.
What we compared
Regular car (普通車), AT only, no license held
Prices from each school's or operator's official page on October 20, 2026, tax included. Camp prices change by entry date and age.
A designated driving school (指定自動車教習所) is approved by the prefectural Public Safety Commission. Koyama and Tokorozawa both explain the benefit: if you graduate, you skip the driving test at the license center and only take the written test there.
Koyama also warns that most driving schools teach only in Japanese. That is the main problem for foreign residents. A school with English textbooks is not the same as a school that teaches lectures and driving lessons in English, so we scored the difference.
If you already hold a license from home and stayed 3 months in that country after it was issued, you may not need a school at all. Read how to convert a foreign license (外免切替) first.
We used the japanhow driving schools method, published at /methodology/:
We only scored schools that state their English course on their own official page, or, for a camp, on its operator’s own booking site. No school paid to be included, and rankings are never paid for.
| School | Type | English (35%) | Cost (25%) | Length (20%) | Location (20%) | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ibaraki Kennan (茨城けんなん自動車学校) | Camp, Ibaraki | 6 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 7.8 |
| Tokorozawa Driving School (所沢自動車学校) | Commuting, Saitama | 9 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 6.9 |
| Koyama Driving School (コヤマドライビングスクール) | Commuting, Tokyo/Yokohama | 8 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 6.6 |
| Musashisakai Driving School (武蔵境自動車教習所) | Commuting, Tokyo | 9 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 6.5 |
| Tsuchiura Kita Inter (土浦北インター自動車学校) | Camp, Ibaraki | 3 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 6.5 |
Koyama calls itself the first authorized driving school for foreigners in Japan. Its English pages list five schools: Futakotamagawa, Seijo, Shakujii, Akitsu (Tokyo) and Yokohama, each with an English email address. English inquiries run 9:30 to 20:30 on weekdays at Futakotamagawa and 10:00 to 18:00 daily at the others.
| AT, no license held | Price (tax included) |
|---|---|
| Registration fee | ¥249,150 |
| Driving lessons, 31 hours at ¥5,170 | ¥160,270 |
| Skill test fees | ¥15,400 |
| Graduation certificate | ¥7,700 |
| Total | ¥432,520 |
Add ¥2,900 for the learner’s permit application. Extra lessons cost ¥5,170 an hour and an extra skill test ¥7,700. The admission fee includes priority booking and an exclusive phone number for the English course. Koyama uses textbooks first written and published in English. Its pages don’t say whether every instructor speaks English, so ask at enrollment.
If you are converting a foreign license, Shakujii, Akitsu and Yokohama sell 4 hours of practice for the license-center test at ¥60,500.
Musashisakai’s English Plan covers both theory and driving. Online theory lessons have English subtitles, driving lessons are taught by English-speaking instructors, and you get English practice tests for the provisional and final written exams. The plan charges nothing extra for additional driving lessons or skill-test retakes.
The price depends on your age. For an AT license with no license held, tax included:
| Age | Total |
|---|---|
| 17–22 | ¥462,000 |
| 23–28 | ¥473,000 |
| 29–35 | ¥495,000 |
| 36–45 | ¥517,000 |
| 46–55 | ¥539,000 |
| 56–65 | ¥572,000 |
Add the ¥2,900 provisional license fee. The school is a 5-minute walk from JR Musashisakai Station on the Chuo Line and is open daily. English-speaking staff are limited, so book English help ahead through the contact form. It accepts credit cards, PayPay and installment plans through Orico or Marui, subject to screening.
Tokorozawa, accredited since 1961, has run an International Class since April 2008. Its page says experienced instructors and staff support you in English, there is English reception, and the class has its own lecture room.
Before enrolling, you take a free 30-minute English Ability Test and need 80%. If you fail, you join a seminar first. The AT course for someone with no license is 26 hours of lectures and 31 hours of driving, for a total of ¥367,280. The school is 2 minutes’ walk from Sayamagaoka Station on the Seibu Ikebukuro Line and is closed on Mondays. You must be 18 or older to enrol.
Not fully. A driving camp (合宿免許, gasshuku menkyo) is a stay-in course where you finish an AT license in about 14 days, with lodging and meals included. The operator of the two Ibaraki camps below says academic lectures at its schools are in Japanese. What varies is the support around them. Our gasshuku guide for foreigners explains how camps work.
Its operator, Inter Art Committees (booking site 合宿免許ムーチョ！), says Ibaraki Kennan has instructors who speak English, supplies textbooks in English and three other languages, and offers the provisional written test in English. It had 240 foreign students in 2025. You can book it only through that company.
The same operator lists English textbooks and a provisional written test in English, Chinese, Vietnamese, Portuguese and Nepali. It had 1,885 foreign students in 2025. It does not claim English-speaking instructors.
AT single-room prices for November and December 2026 starts ranged from ¥231,000 to ¥297,000, and every date we checked on October 20, 2026 was full. It is 20 minutes by school bus from JR Tsuchiura Station and has the same tattoo and local-resident restrictions as Kennan. Shortest course: 14 days AT, 15 days MT.
All three commuting schools ask for your residence card (在留カード) and a 住民票 (residence record) that shows your nationality, period of stay and residence card number. Koyama and Musashisakai ask for one without your My Number (個人番号). Musashisakai wants it issued within the last month; Koyama within six months. Bring glasses if you need them for the eye test.
After graduating, you take the written test at the license center of the prefecture on your 住民票. Koyama says it has 95 true-or-false questions and you need more than 90 of 100 points.
More guides: converting a foreign license, driving on an international driving permit, driving camps for foreigners and buying a car in Japan.
Yes. Koyama Driving School (Futakotamagawa, Seijo, Shakujii, Akitsu and Yokohama) and Musashisakai Driving School in Musashino run English courses at designated schools. Tokorozawa Driving School in Saitama runs an International Class.
For a regular AT license with no license held, the English courses we verified cost ¥367,280 to ¥572,000 including tax as of October 2026. Driving camps cost ¥231,000 to ¥297,000 including lodging for the dates we checked, but teach mostly in Japanese.
Not one taught fully in English. Ibaraki Kennan's operator says it has English-speaking instructors and offers English textbooks and an English provisional test. Lectures at camps are generally in Japanese.
Not at the English courses above, though Tokorozawa asks you to pass a free English test (80%). At most other schools and camps, lessons are in Japanese and booking agents use JLPT N3 as a guideline.
Spotted something out of date or wrong? Email hello@japanhow.com and we will check it against the source. See our corrections policy.
Photo: Kugel / CC BY-SA 4.0
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