Is it worth it to get a license in Japan? I live in Osaka and taking the trains, bus, and even riding a bike is more convenient than driving.
My Japanese wife has her license but doesn’t want to drive because it’s such an expensive perk (parking cost, maintenance, gas, insurance, repairs, tolls, tickets, etc)
But I m from Canada and I have a Class 5 license and am looking at switching it to a Japanese one.
Any insight would be great
13 comments
I had an American license. Converted to Japanese with a simple driving test
I had the same feeling as you – but with Times Car rentals or Toyota, I can explore so much more. For eg, I drove 2100+ km in Hokkaido past week & almost circumnavigated along the coast. A lot of these places aren’t connected by trains. Same goes for Kyushu. Some of the places are beautiful & you might need a vehicle, if you’re averse to working on a public transportation (bus) timetable.
But I agree with the argument. Almost all places can be visited by bus/train with a *little* extra effort in place
If you can switch it doing a simplified test instead of the full process, do it. You dont loose much, and you have access to rental cars.
Also is a good photo ID for contracts of any kind.
I got a license from scratch about 10 years ago and have not once driven since I got it. My wife got her license 20-odd years ago and similarly hasn’t driven a car since accompanying me when I did my practice driving.
However, I got it just in case I need to drive overseas, not in Japan. The only times I regret not being able to drive is when I’m contemplating buying something (*e.g.,* a sofa) large.
It’s worth it if you want to explore more of Japan with the use of rental cars. You don’t need to own a car. There are also many ride sharing cars.
There is a difference between getting the Japanese licence and owning a car. I would not blame you for not wanting to own a car for exactly the reasons you listed.
But what is the downside of having the licence ? None.
So just change your licence and I think that as a Canadian it is not too complicated. And when you need a car, for whatever reason, like going to buy in big store that sell in bulk or buy furniture, want to go on vacation somewhere not easily accessible by public transport, then you can just rent a car. And as far as I know, there is some car share services if you start using a car more regularly and don’t want to own a car.
You’re not a resident of Canada. You’re a resident of Japan. so you might as well get it.
Because you’re not a resident of the Province your license is tied too (because you’re a resident of Japan) thus your Canadian license is technically no longer valid anywhere in the world, even Canada (apart from your first 1 year in Japan with an IDP and that also becomes invalid on your current period of stay if you leave Japan for < 3 months during that first year). Driving on it would be very risky. If not just for law, but also insurance payouts in case of an accident.
Luckily, Canadians *i believe* can just do the license switch to a Japanese one with no test or anything. Then whilst you are a resident of Japan your drive in your Japanese license both in Japan, and overseas (when overseas you use your Japanese license + an IDP tied to your Japanese license).
Since it is a straight conversion, I say go for it. No tests (ok there is an eye test), you just pay the license fee. You should get a document from the provincial gov/registry that shows your initial license issue date and some sort of proof you were in Canada for at least 3 months while holding that license. If your current license has an issue date more than three months before you came to Japan and you can show proof you were in Canada for 3 months of that, you shouldn’t need the other document. It’s a handy ID, opens up car rental options and you can drive a less than 50cc scooter.
I got it because my American license was going to expire. I get an international permit every time I go back to the US. It’s also nice if you ever need to rent a car for a trip or truck for moving.
My state did not allow conversion at the time so I couldn’t exchange. It also didn’t have proper online renewal so it expired.
I had to pay roughly 3k to go to driving school here once I decided I will need my license in the future.
It is MUCH better to just exchange the license unless your Canadian one is something special that wouldn’t convert back (I have no idea what class 5 means)
Yes. You can explore areas difficult to get to by train, easily go camping etc etc.
Rental cars are affordable here and high quality.
My Canadian husband got his driver’s license converted to Japanese one several months ago. Basically you will need to have your Canadian driver’s license translated into Japanese. Translation fee is 4000 yen if I remember correctly. You need to download the application for translation and fill the form, then send the form together with a copy of your Canadian license to JAF. You’ll get the translated version by mail within 2-3 weeks. Only after you get the translated version can you apply for the conversion. For more details of the documents, you can find easily on Google.
If you are living in Osaka city, then go to Kadoma Driver’s License Office. Be aware that they only accept 25 applications everyday, and everyone is early so come there as early as you can. The office is open at 8:45am but when we came there at 8:20am, we were already number 12/25 in the queue. You just submit the documents and wait. There will be a super easy eye test, that’s all. We waited for 6 hours; but if you are early in the queue you may get things done quicker.
One last thing, make sure you have proofs that you stayed in Canada for 3 months after the license was issued. You can use tax papers (like T4) as proofs. There must be proofs, no exceptions; they’re quite strict with that so be prepared.
Oh, I forgot to tell that there would be an interview in Japanese about your driving experience/ history. Basically, where did you learn to drive, how long did you learn, what were the contents of the test (basic things), did you have any bad driving history etc. if you don’t speak Japanese well make sure to bring a translator with you.
It was not a difficult process; just a little bit time-consuming. Good luck and have some good time go vroom vroom with your family.
Get the license, but don’t get a car. Just rent one whenever you need it.
Since you’re Canadian and can just swap your license and don’t have to take a practical test, why not? If you ever want to rent a car you can go around and it wouldn’t be only your wife that could drive then. You don’t have to buy a car just because you have a license, but it might be useful for renting to travel.