TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Japan plans offering driver's license tests for taxis and buses in foreign languages amid a shortage of drivers in the country. Japan's police are now preparing to issue sample exam questions in 20 languages to prefectural police forces nationwide by the end of March.

An official at the National Police Agency (NPA) said that eventually local police forces will be allowed to formulate their own questions based on local needs,

The multilingual approach for Japan's class 2 driver's license comes as industry groups face driver shortages. They then requested for more efforts to enable foreign nationals to work in relevant sectors.

The class 2 license is required to operate passenger transport vehicles such as local buses and taxis, but until now tests have only been given in Japanese. The NPA admitted that the tests had not been available in foreign languages because there were no specific demands for it.

The changes will bring the testing system in line with that for the class 1 driver's license for private cars, motorbikes and other automobiles. Since 2009, the NPA has distributed example questions for class 1 drivers' license tests in English, and the tests are already available in the same 20 languages, mostly Asian languages including Chinese, Korean and Tagalog. But European languages, such as English and Portuguese, will also be covered.

OANA | KYODO

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