My daughter is going to driving school now. She says that driving is very difficult!
My parents taught me to drive when I was about 13 or 14 years old. We lived in the countryside, and driving was a neccessary skill that we had to learn. I got my learner's permit when I was 15, and my real driver's license when I was 16. That was normal in Texas.
But when I moved to Japan when I was 23, I was afraid to drive here. At that time, I could get a Japanese driver's license easily, without a test or driving school, by showing my Texas driver's license. But even though I had already been driving for about 10 years in Texas, I was afraid to drive in Japan!
It was hard to get used to driving on the left side of the road.
The driver's seat is on the right side of the car instead of the left, so I had to switch my hands for the controls. I turned on the windshield wipers every time I wanted to use the turn signal (ウインカー）!
The roads in Texas are very wide, but roads in Japan are often narrow. (Parking spaces too!) There are big telephone poles on the sides of many streets that you have to maneuver around.
There are people riding bicycles along the road, pedestrians (people walking), children, elderly people, mothers pushing their babies in strollers (ベビーカー).
I didn't have to worry about hitting people in Texas, only cows or deer.
So I didn't drive for my first 6 or 7 years in Japan. I was too worried I might cause an accident and injure someone. Even after I had my first child, I went to the supermarket on foot, with my baby in a stroller. But when my second child was born, it became harder and harder to get around. I remember the day that changed my mind about driving.
It was during rainy season. It had been raining for days, and I had a lot of laundry that wasn't dry. I decided that I would take my clean, wet laundry to the laundromat (コインランドリー) to use the clothes dryers.
I put a raincoat on my 3 year old daughter. I put my 8-month-old baby son in the baby carrier that I wore in the front. I put the laundry in 2 giant plastic garbage bags, and I put those on the baby stroller (ベビーカー). The laundromat wasn't too far away, so I thought we could make it like that.
But it was raining. So I had to carry an umbrella. And I needed to keep my 3-year-old safe. I needed to hold her hand, or make sure that she held on to the stroller with one hand. And I needed to push the stroller. AND I needed to keep adjusting the bags of laundry because they slipped and almost fell off the stroller many times. So I needed 4 hands!
That was such a hard and stressful walk to and from the laundromat! By the time we got home, both children were crying and I was so stressed out! I decided on that day that I needed to get used to driving in Japan. So my husband helped me practice on the weekends. He gave me advice about how to drive safely, and I finally felt confident enough to drive here.
Luckily, I have never had a serious accident. I had my first fender bender (軽い事故) last year, but I still have a gold 
license. Maybe being so afraid made me a more careful driver?
I hope I can continue to drive safely!