Mara Bangali, from Guinea, Africa, is a former basketball player and works as a taxi driver in Fukuoka, Japan. Although she is unfamiliar with Japan, her language, and culture, she got a license with the support of the Doe taxi company. In addition to Bangali, Doe has about 10 people from various countries including Africa and Bangladesh working as taxi drivers. The company only works three days a week and can earn 600,000 yen a month, although it depends on working hours.
The Japanese taxi industry, which is facing a crisis due to the aging population, is turning to foreigners to overcome difficulties. The Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported on the 18th that “Fukuoka City Doei Taxi has succeeded in cultivating young talent, including those in their 20s, by actively recruiting foreigners.” According to the Japanese National Police Agency, about 67,000 taxi drivers and 22,000 bus drivers are expected to be short by 2029. As a result, the taxi industry is focusing on recruiting talent, and the case of the taxi company Doei Taxi is drawing attention. About 25% of the 46 drivers in Doei Taxi are made up of foreigners of various nationalities, including Peru and Guinea.
The company is fully supporting them to obtain second-class driver’s licenses, which are essential for taxi driving. Due to the nature of Japanese public transportation, where taxi fares are high, some of them earn more than 600,000 yen per month. In addition, the transportation environment, which is easier to drive compared to large cities such as Tokyo, is attracting the attention of foreign job seekers. The government is also expanding the multilingual service of the second-class driver’s license test to resolve the manpower shortage in the transportation industry. General driver’s licenses were available in foreign languages, but second-class licenses were only allowed to be tested in Japanese. The passing rate of the test, which requires traffic rules and knowledge of the passenger transportation industry, is around 50%. According to the National Police Agency, 6689 foreigners were among the holders of second-class licenses as of the end of 2023, less than 1%.
Accordingly, the National Police Agency is promoting multilingualism by translating the second-class license example questions into 20 languages and distributing them to each police. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Agency is conducting the second-class driver’s license test in English at three test sites in the jurisdiction. Aichi Prefecture also introduced English tests, and Fukuoka Prefecture has reportedly been conducting English, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Nepalese tests since March.
JULIE KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
