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If you take a full course they will test you at the driving school and you are guaranteed to pass. If you just go to the driver's center and take the test you save a lot of money, but will probably fail multiple times before getting your license. If you are already an experienced driver you can also just take a one or two hour course and get some pointers on what they are looking for, which is what I eventually did after failing like five times.

How much is it the way you did it, in total?

Can't remember, long time ago. Less than 10,000 yen I'm sure.