I lived in Washington state for about 5 years before moving to Japan. I read that Japan and WA have a reciprocal agreement for testing exemption when converting drivers licenses. Given that Japan distinguishes between Automatic and Manual Transmission licenses, I was wondering if anyone has had any experience converting a Washington state license into an MT Japanese license?
I’ve searched around in both Japanese and English but only found some posts on yahoo chiebukuro stating that it should be possible, nothing confirming anybody has actually done it.
5 comments
Based on my BC license experience, if it doesn’t state anything on yours, it’ll automatically be MT.
I have a WA license. I got a Japanese driver’s license pretty easily. Just watched some videos and then going the license. You can also use an international license
Yes, I changed my WA license to a Japanese one. You will still have a laundry list of things you need. Most importantly, you need to prove that you were physically in WA for a year preceeding the conversion. College transcripts with dates, rental agreements, etc. Get an appointment and go there with as much info as possible including your residence card. Even if you don’t get it then they will give you your list. It took me two visits to get it. Good luck.
I had a motorcycle endorsment on my license. I dont think that’s related, but I just converted my WA license and I got full large bike and a drivers license for manual vehicles
I moved here from WA and did the conversion.
On the form you can select AT or MT. I wanted to select MT, but my wife said not to that it requires the manual test.
Not so. When we handed in the paperwork the desk agent crossed that out and selected MT and there was no manual test required.
A standard WA license can be converted to a Japanese license and it gets MT status for free.
Also saw them do the same for another woman doing the same who clearly said that she can’t actually drive a MT. They still gave her the MT license through the process.