Free sample · Karimen · Honmen · Gaimen kirikae

Japanese driving test sample questions, in English

Ten real practice questions from our free Paper 07 (lights, police signals and railway crossings), in the same true-or-false format as the actual karimen exam. Read the statement, decide ○ True or ✕ False, then open the answer. Want the full experience? Sit the free 50-question mock test under a 30-minute clock and get marked instantly.

The karimen test and the gaimen kirikae knowledge check: 50 questions, 30 minutes, 90% to pass. The honmen (full licence) test draws on the same rules in a longer paper, so these questions train all three exams. How the test works.

Question 1

When it is foggy, you should not turn on your headlights, because they might blind oncoming drivers.

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✕ False. In fog you should turn your headlights on, but keep them on low beam to prevent diffused reflection back at you.

Question 2

If the engine stalls on a railway crossing, as an emergency measure you can shift into first or second gear and use the starter motor to move the vehicle off the crossing (except in automatic vehicles and manual vehicles with clutch-start systems).

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○ True. This is the standard emergency technique for clearing a crossing in a stalled manual vehicle.

Question 3

When crossing a railway crossing, you should shift up from low gear to a higher gear so you can get across quickly.

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✕ False. Do not change gears inside a railway crossing. Proceed in low gear at a constant speed.

Question 4

The hand signal for a U-turn is the same as the hand signal for reversing.

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✕ False. The U-turn hand signal is the same as the right-turn signal. The reversing signal is the arm held out diagonally, swung backwards and forwards with the palm facing backwards.

Question 5

When the headlights of an oncoming vehicle are too bright, turn your eyes slightly toward the left front to protect them, while continuing to pay attention to the traffic ahead.

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○ True. Looking slightly left avoids being dazzled without losing sight of the road ahead.

Question 6

You may cross a railway crossing without stopping if you are following the car in front of you.

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✕ False. Even when following another vehicle, you must stop before the crossing and check safety yourself.

Question 7

At night, you may drive without turning on your headlights on roads that have street lighting.

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✕ False. Headlights must be on whenever you drive at night, regardless of street lighting.

Question 8

A police officer directing traffic gave an instruction, but I ignored it and followed the traffic light facing me instead.

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✕ False. When a police officer or traffic warden is directing traffic, their instructions override the traffic lights.

Question 9

At a railway crossing, it is enough to stop just before the crossing and check safety with your eyes.

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✕ False. Stop immediately before the crossing and check both directions by looking and listening. Eyes alone are not enough.

Question 10

When meeting an oncoming vehicle while driving on high beam, I turned my headlights off.

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✕ False. Dim your lights or switch to low beam when meeting oncoming traffic. Never switch them off.

That was 10 of 500.

The full Paper 07 (25 questions on this topic, with every answer explained) is free by email. The other nine topic papers are ¥500 each, or ¥4,000 for all ten plus ten full 50-question mock tests.

Get Paper 07 free See the ¥4,000 bundle

These are original practice questions written to match the format, topics and phrasing style of the official exam. Nothing is reproduced from an actual exam paper. Notice how many statements turn on words like "always", "enough", "may" and "must": that wording is exactly what the real test trains you to read carefully.