In about 2017 I converted my Australian driver's license to a Japanese one with ease, but it expired over COVID when I left the country, recently I decided to renew it which I found it is not possible and I would have to start the whole process before, which was no biggie for me.
Please not I'm from one of the few countries where a conversation is possible with out and written and physical test as well.
In 2017 I was told I would need to obtain a translation from JAF and a passport photo. I went to JAF in the morning and was out in 30 minutes and headed to the local Drivers License Centre at the time their website said there foreigner office was open. I arrived on the dot, they asked for the translation and passport photo (which was even needed in the end as they take your photo in the end), I did a simple vision and colour blindness test on a machine from the 1960's, had my photo taken and was out in about an hour.
Fast forward to 6 months ago, saw on their website they now needed an additional driver's history from my home government, easy, ¥2000, the JAF translations are done online now, quite complicated and cost ¥4000, but they arrive by email pretty quickly. It all together and headed over.
Arrived and was told it's now appointment only since COVID, no problem, "can I make an appointment for next week?", nope, next available is in 6 months, told them I never saw any mention of this on their website in the requirements.
Booked anyway, told them that my Australian driver's license would expire in 2 months and the JAF would expire before the appointment date, they didn't seem to care.
Fast forward 3 months, my new Australian driver's license arrived (¥20,000), and I had the new JAF translation (another ¥4000). They had written down a short list of what I was missing and required, which includes (forget the name) document from the ward office. Nope, failed again, the ward office document had my home country listed as blank. Also they told me I needed to prove that in the 20 years I've been driving that I would need to prove that I've spent at least 3 months of it living in my home country, this must be a joke . Made another appointment.
In that time I'd visited the ward office to get them to list my country of birth on the document, received another JAF translation (another ¥4000).
Fast forward another 3 months, I'm back there again. On the previous visit they said passport stamps were enough to prove you've been in your home country for set amount of time, but my country like most don't stamp citizens in when they arrive, self service now. They could me payslips would do.
So I printed out 5 payslips, one from early 2020 from my Australian employer, one late 2020, etc etc, close to 4 years worth. Great news, today I was told it was all good…..except I needed 3 whole months worth of consecutive payslips, something the didn't tell me on the last visit.
Today the guy was nice and I told him this was my 4th time here in 6 months and had a bit of sympathy, I asked if he would accept bank transactions from the employer and he said he would as I don't have access the the payslips anymore. So here I am, off to the Family Mart to print them, BANG, something hits my ankle, a kid comes literally flying past me like a slow motion scene from a movie, followed by his bicycle, some part of his bike clips my shoulder, he lands on the ground with the bicycle on top of him.
This kid is on disbelief, shock and starts to cry, his sister stops behind me, I tell the kid to stay down and assess him, he's alright, no blood, nothing broken, reeeaaally lucky, but he'll be sore tomorrow.
Back to it, frantically printing these bank account screenshots (Yep screenshots) to get them back before they closed. Made it back and the rest went as smooth as it did in 2017, but now with about 5 times more documents, all except they didn't tell me that if I had of shown them more that 1 years worth of bank transactions, I wouldn't have to have one of those new driver magnets on my car, but I don't mind.
Moral of the story, things only ever seem to get harder on this country, only drive if you need to and I'd probably check other prefectures Drivers License Center websites as they rarely updated and one might have clearer information than the other.
Edit: Don't let anything expire in Japan or you're likely to be starting from scratch.
Happy to say the kid was alright, I was alright and now I'm the proud owner of a Shoshinsha sticker on the back of my car.
by Narcoleptic_pilot21