I’m a Canadian living in Japan and have all the proper paperwork (license translation, Juminhyo, etc.) to get my license translated over to a Japanese one. Except two potential problems:
1) My license, and thus what was translated, was issued more than 3 months before I left Canada, but there’s no actual proof I did live in Canada because I lived with my parents, had no phone bill, but I did have a job that I can maybe use pay stubs from. And in my passport I have no entry/exit stamps for Canada, but I’ve heard you can get a document from the government/embassy that shows this.
2) I’m on vacation in Okinawa and live in Tochigi, and just lost my wallet with my license. I have the Japanese translation of it at home in Tochigi, and I have pictures of old licenses. How f**led am I? Even if I order and get a new license shipped to me before my appointment in a month it will show the reissue date as less than 3 months.
Side note: with an IDP and my Japanese translation, can I still drive (without my Canadian license in hand)? Would the translation act as a substitute?
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Sup mate. I got my Alberta license transferred over back in July before it expired. I hope my experience will be helpful:
1. They will absolutely require you to provide concrete proof that you’ve lived in Canada for more than 3 months before coming to Japan. Despite my license having an issue date of 2016 and passport entry stamp of 2018, they still required me to provide other documents. Luckily I keep scans of all my previous paystubs so I was able to submit them on the same day. I’m not 100% sure about the embassy docs so if you can get paystubs that will probably be the easiest way (especially since you won’t have to pay extra fees).
2. Gotta say you’re pretty screwed in this case. Even with scans/photos of the previous license they will still only look at the current physical card. I hope you find your wallet!
Regarding the IDP, yes you can drive with it but there are a number of limitations on how long you can use it for. The Japanese police have English resources on this issue.
> Side note: with an IDP and my Japanese translation, can I still drive (without my Canadian license in hand)? Would the translation act as a substitute?
No. IDP and translation are just saying that you are allowed to drive with your Canadian license. So you need the license.
W/o the actual license you’re pretty f’ed. also bring your driving record. They looked at my license which we renew every year in QC and said I’d only been driving for 1 year instead of 15 which spiked up insurance and other things. I got a beginners license ‘cause my license didn’t prove how many years I’d been driving.
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Thanks everyone, hopefully my license turns up before the appointment 😅