ペーパードライバー

1961 is the early citation given by Kotobank's Nihon Kokugo Daijiten for ペーパードライバー, from Hoshino Yoshiro's マイ・カー. The form joins English paper and driver, but it is Japanese-made English rather than a normal English compound. Paper here points to a driver's license as a document, not to a driver made of paper. During the high-growth Showa period, car ownership and licensing expanded in Japan, and the term entered traffic, insurance, and daily conversation. It sits beside related driving words such as サンデードライバー, マイカー, 免許, 教習所, and 初心者マーク. The meaning shifted from having a qualification only on paper to a person who has a license but rarely drives or has almost no road experience. Modern Japanese uses ペーパードライバー both seriously and as self-description before refusing to drive. English does not normally say paper driver; licensed but inexperienced driver, lapsed driver, or someone who has a license but never drives is clearer English. Japanese driving schools now advertise ペーパードライバー講習 for people who want practice after years away from driving. Example: 私はペーパードライバーです means I have a license, but I do not really drive.