Japanese-style bus driver training in Java: Japan turns to Indonesians amid worker shortage

KARANGANYAR, Indonesia – With Japan’s bus industry facing a serious shortage of workers, hopes are high for Indonesian bus drivers who have obtained a “specified skilled worker” visa.

At a Japanese-style driving school in Indonesia, students learn Japan’s traffic rules while studying the language, with about 50 drivers scheduled to head to Japan within a year.

Located in Karanganyar in Central Java province, Indonesia, the Japan Indonesia Driving School (JIDS) is surrounded by banana trees and rice fields. Its driving course features stop signs written in Japanese and Japanese-style railroad crossing signs, as well as practice slopes.

The school was established in August 2024 by KS Global in collaboration with a vocational training institution in Indonesia. The company, which is based in Shinjuku ward in Tokyo, also runs a foreign talent recruitment business.

The Japanese education provided by the school ranges from a conversational level to the level required to pass the driving licence examination in Japan.

“The key is that Indonesia’s road rules are the same as Japan’s: traffic on the left side of the road, and drivers on the right side of the car,” said KS Global managing director Kenichi Hikawa.

“There are other advantages, such as a high market share of Japanese cars in Indonesia, which makes Indonesians familiar with driving Japanese vehicles.”

Mr Jejen Kurniawan, 32, who was practising driving in an Isuzu large bus, said: “I can acquire the necessary knowledge and skills here while imagining Japanese roads.”

With a family of four – his wife, eight-year-old son, six-month-old daughter and himself – he dreams of “becoming a bus driver trusted in Japan so that I can send my children to university”.

In March 2024, just before JIDS opened, the Japanese government added foreign truck, bus and taxi drivers to the “specified skilled worker” residency category, thereby opening the automobile transport industry to foreign workers.

After arriving in Japan, the drivers must switch to a Japanese driving licence. Then, to become bus or taxi drivers, they have to obtain a Class 2 licence, a requirement for transporting passengers.

Nagoya-based Meitetsu Bus, which operates buses on regular routes mainly in Aichi prefecture, hired three Indonesians trained at JIDS in August. The company conducted interviews and other tests in Indonesia in November 2024.

“Indonesians are mostly Muslims, which gives us peace of mind with regard to alcohol-related incidents occurring, and they’re friendly and serious,” said Ms Naomi Irie, head of the company’s recruitment section.

“Those were the main reasons behind our decision to hire them.”

The three recruits, who have already obtained their Class 2 licences, are currently undergoing training on actual bus routes and are expected to start working as early as spring.

According to KS Global, JIDS trainees scheduled to arrive in Japan within the year have received preliminary job offers from bus companies nationwide, including in the Kanto, Kinki and Chugoku regions.

The company has been receiving increasingly more inquiries, not only from private bus companies but also local governments tasked with maintaining public transportation systems. THE JAPAN NEWS/ASIA NEWS NETWORK