Naenano Reveals Her Driver’s License Has Lapsed — “I Knew, But…” — Surprising Reason Sparks “What a Waste” Reactions

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The story

Naenano (25), an influencer who serves as MC on ABEMA’s dating reality show “Love Catcher Japan 3,” revealed during promotional interviews for the show that her driver’s license has lapsed. When her co-star Moriyama of the comedy duo “Mitorizu” asked if she’d noticed the renewal deadline approaching, Naenano reportedly replied, “I knew, but I wasn’t confident…” On the 5channel entertainment/sports news board, a thread debated whether this “lapse” meant she’d simply forgotten to renew her license, or whether it referred to a deadline tied to her time at driving school (a time limit imposed for completing coursework or taking the exam after finishing lessons) — something the article’s wording alone couldn’t clarify.

Naenano Reveals Her Driver’s License Has Lapsed, “I Knew, But…” — Surprising Reason Sparks “What a Waste” Reactions

The comedy duo “Mitorizu,” voice actor Kimura Subaru (36), actress Takahashi Mary Jun (38), and influencer Naenano (25) will serve as MCs on ABEMA’s dating reality show “Love Catcher Japan 3,” which begins streaming on the 1st. They recently sat down for an interview to promote the show.

The show is a romantic psychological game where “Love Catchers” seeking true love face off against “Money Catchers” chasing a 10 million yen prize. Asked what she’d do if she won the 10 million yen, Naenano answered instantly, “I’d want to buy a car.”

Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here

What people said

2AnonymousSep 1, 2026 10:23
Even after reading the OP, none of this is sinking in.
3AnonymousSep 1, 2026 10:23
Mine lapsed too and I had to get it all over again.
Turned out the 8-ton-limited category (a mid-size truck license class) had been discontinued — I still think that's total BS.
41AnonymousSep 1, 2026 10:45
Re: #3
Not many vehicles you can drive with the 8-ton-limited license anymore anyway, so it's probably not worth stressing over.
114AnonymousSep 1, 2026 11:24
Re: #3
So that's the kind of thing that changes when you retake it, huh.
7AnonymousSep 1, 2026 10:25
What exactly is this "driving school deadline"?
12AnonymousSep 1, 2026 10:27
Re: #7
If you don't get your license within six months of starting lessons, you have to start all over from scratch.
34AnonymousSep 1, 2026 10:39
Re: #12
Huh, really?
Didn't know that.
56AnonymousSep 1, 2026 10:53
Re: #12
Re: #34
Wrong, don't fall for it.

It's the deadline from enrolling at the driving school to finishing the classroom coursework, and that's nine months, not six.
After that you go take the license exam — that has a one-year deadline from when you finish the school.
9AnonymousSep 1, 2026 10:26
If the driving-school deadline expired, doesn't that mean she gave up before actually getting her license?
13AnonymousSep 1, 2026 10:28
Is it a lapse from missing the license renewal deadline, or a lapse from missing the driving-school deadline?
Which is it?
Not that it really matters either way.
19AnonymousSep 1, 2026 10:30
Re: #13
She said she wasn't confident, so she probably never actually got her license.
27AnonymousSep 1, 2026 10:34
Everyone around me went off to one of those intensive license "camps" the summer of freshman year and knocked it out all at once.
Sounds fun in theory, but now that I think about it, I've never actually heard anyone say the camp itself was fun.
32AnonymousSep 1, 2026 10:37
Re: #27
That's a situation you see all the time in ero manga.
40AnonymousSep 1, 2026 10:42
Re: #27
A short intensive camp rooming with total strangers just to get a license — no way I could handle that.
52AnonymousSep 1, 2026 10:50
You run into people like this every now and then —
and it's always people who have zero interest in cars.
Don't let them drive.
53AnonymousSep 1, 2026 10:51
Re: #52
Because it sounds like she never actually got the license in the first place.
66AnonymousSep 1, 2026 10:59
People who are "paper drivers" like this (license holders with no real driving experience) should just hand back their licenses.
It's a hazard if they suddenly get out on the road.
74AnonymousSep 1, 2026 11:03
This article is confusing.
The driving-school deadline?
The deadline for getting the license after finishing lessons?
The deadline after a license lapses?
Which one is it?
77AnonymousSep 1, 2026 11:05
Re: #74
What even is the "driving school deadline"?
82AnonymousSep 1, 2026 11:09
If you lost your confidence during lessons, then not getting the license was the right call — it'd just be a hazard to everyone else. Please, by all means, keep on fantasizing about driving a cool car.
88AnonymousSep 1, 2026 11:10
Re: #82
That's not quite it. She did get the license. She just figured she wasn't confident enough, so why bother renewing.
93AnonymousSep 1, 2026 11:13
Meanwhile, she muttered, "It expired, so the driving school…" When asked, "Wait, you don't have a license?" she calmly replied, "Right. It expired."

 When Moriyama of "Mitorizu" shrugged and said, "So you didn't notice it was time to renew?" she answered, "I knew, but I wasn't confident," prompting reactions of "What a waste!"


Isn't Moriyama misunderstanding here?
He clearly didn't hear the end of "It expired, so the driving school…"
98AnonymousSep 1, 2026 11:14
Re: #93
"You don't have a license?" → wrong
"You never got your license?" → right
That's how it should've gone, right…
110AnonymousSep 1, 2026 11:22
Re: #93
I bet the "(when it was time to renew)" part was just something the transcriber inserted —
that's probably the mistake.
Driving school itself isn't cheap, so I get why people say it's a waste,
but if she decided for herself she wasn't cut out for it, there's not much to be done.
117AnonymousSep 1, 2026 11:25
Re: #93
Hard to say without knowing the actual vibe in the room, but it's plausible Moriyama did pick up on it correctly.
Maybe it was the reporter who misunderstood and inserted "(when it was time to renew)" on their own.
94AnonymousSep 1, 2026 11:13
Re: #41
It's the opposite, the opposite —

People on YouTube say that 8-ton-limited license is actually valuable.
You don't need the depth-perception test, and it's valid for life.
96AnonymousSep 1, 2026 11:14
Re: #94
Back in my old man's day, the license even came with the motorcycle-class restriction lifted — such a good deal… I'm jealous.
101AnonymousSep 1, 2026 11:18
If you lose your confidence during driving school, better not to get the license at all — though maybe she just got unlucky with a bad instructor.
106AnonymousSep 1, 2026 11:19
Re: #101
When I was young, a lot of instructors were scary — the type who'd just casually snap "Tch, you're not cut out for driving." These days, even instructors with tough-guy, almost yakuza-looking faces will praise you to build you up instead. Apparently if they don't, young people just quit and the schools can't stay in business. Times really do change, huh.
109AnonymousSep 1, 2026 11:22
So basically: "I knew (the renewal deadline was coming up), but I wasn't confident (about driving), so (since I had no intention of driving anymore) I didn't renew it"

— is that the gist?
120AnonymousSep 1, 2026 11:26
Re: #109
Maybe she figured there'd at least be some easy test involved?

Either way, giving up a privilege like this is way too much of a waste.
119AnonymousSep 1, 2026 11:26
People who stumble at driving school are better off not getting a license at all.
Give it another 20 years and even without driving skill —
maybe even without a license — kids will probably be able to "drive."
128AnonymousSep 1, 2026 11:34
Re: #119
Yeah, that's probably where it's headed.
Gold licenses (Japan's clean-record license class with perks) will stop mattering at all.
121AnonymousSep 1, 2026 11:28
She's talking about driving school though.
Isn't the rule that you have to get your license within six months of getting your provisional license?
So why is everyone bringing up license renewal?

Background and Key Points of Debate

Driving school involves multiple overlapping deadlines. Generally, students have about nine months from enrollment to complete the classroom coursework, and then one year after that to take the final license exam. Separate from all this is the “renewal” deadline that comes around every few years once you’ve actually obtained a license. The original article only quotes the line “I knew, but I wasn’t confident,” without clarifying which deadline Naenano was actually referring to — or even whether she’d obtained a license at all. That single ambiguity is exactly what split opinion in the thread, with one camp arguing she simply “skipped a renewal” and another insisting she “never actually got the license because the driving-school deadline lapsed,” each side reading the same quote differently. The 8-ton-limited mid-size license (automatically granted to anyone who obtained a regular license before the June 2007 law revision) also came up, sparking a split between those who doubted its practical value since fewer vehicles qualify each year, and those who called it valuable precisely because it doesn’t require a depth-perception test. In the end, both debates stem from the article’s thin explanation and remain speculation — what Naenano actually meant has not been confirmed.

*This article is compiled as an excerpt and summary from the 5channel (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Entertainment] Naenano Reveals Her Driver’s License Has Lapsed, “I Knew, But…” — Surprising Reason Sparks “What a Waste” Reactions.”

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