Licence exchange process for Australians – just my experience for future reference for others

I changed over my Aus (Victorian) licence and just thought I would make a post more for archiving purposes for anyone else who ends up in my position because I couldn’t find answers for what I wanted at the time. I’ll try to use as many key words as possible.

**Background**: Australian (Victoria) full licence, car only, less than 12 months in Japan, Nagoya, Aichi.

**TL;DR**: you can exchange it directly without doing any extra tests, you need a report from VicRoads but you don’t need to get that translated, costs all up were around ¥10,000, took a good 3 hours to get done, if your Japanese is ok for day to day stuff you shouldn’t need someone to translate for you.

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Firstly, the English information for Aichi Police says that everyone needs to do a written and practical test. I think because they must get a lot of people from countries where their licences aren’t transferable, they just put out this blanket info. But the Japanese information has a list of countries that can do a direct swap, and Australia is one of them.

So the first confusing/frustrating thing is that there are only two places you can exchange your licence (and neither of them are convenient for public transport so definitely try to get this done before your IDP expires). The best place to go is the Hirabari 平針 site because at Higashimikawa 東三河 you have to go in twice (first to check documents, and again to get the licence).

Secondly, it is *practically impossible to get an appointment*. There is an online appointment system where they go live at 7:30am each weekday, for 2 weeks in advance. The problem is that everyone is trying to get an appointment, and by the time you have filled in your details for the time slot it will be gone. They literally disappear by 7:32am. Occasionally there will be a rogue appointment for the same day, so double check the date and time.

Once you have your appointment, you need to get your Aus licence translated which is actually very straightforward via the JAF website. Just note that they don’t send you a notification to say it’s ready, and the netprint code for 7-11 expires, so if you miss that and have to request a new code it takes a couple of days.

Now because I had a Victorian licence, it doesn’t have a start date on the physical licence. You need to login to VicRoads and get a driver’s record (it was about $10 and was emailed to me within 24hr). I only realised this a couple of nights before my appointment so I was panicked they wouldn’t accept it without an official translation, but on the day they asked to see the original email and accepted it phew.

Another thing you need to bring is your jyuminhyo 住民票 – now I did not realise that these are only valid for a few months after issuing, so the one I got at the city office months prior was out of date. However I discovered you can print yourself a new one at the convenience store on the multifunction copiers if you have My Number card, for ¥150. You need to bring photos but they’ll take a new one on the day for the licence.

On the day, I brought copies of everything and included some old gas bills from my place in Vic to try to prove when I lived there in case they didn’t accept the VicRoads email, but it wasn’t necessary. The appointment time is kind of a joke because it doesn’t really relate to when you will be seen. It was about 45min of waiting to get my docs seen, then you pay, do your eye test, and get given a card of when to come back for your licence photo. Unfortunately for me it was 90min later, but I could get some lunch at the cafe on site.

When I came back, they took my photo, and 10min later I had my licence in hand! They stamp on the back that I don’t need to display one of the L plate arrow 🔰 shoshinsha 初心者. Also they gave me back my Vic licence but just said I’m not allowed to use it from now on.

My Japanese isn’t great (like N3), but I was able to get by ok. Most of the paperwork was all in Japanese, if you’re not feeling confident definitely bring someone with you to help you out.

6 comments
  1. This is really helpful – thanks for sharing. One query my NSW license expires in May, does your expiry date on your Japanese license match that or do they provide you with a new expiry date for the Japanese license. Just thinking I’d rather avoiding trying to get a new license delivered from Aus before transferring to the japanese one.

  2. The thing you left out about Hirabari is it’s the place you go when you die and you’ve been bad but not really evil. I guess you could say that about a lot of places but man I wish I had gone to Higashi Mikawa. That being said, my experience was getting a J license from scratch after my American license expired. Glad to hear they are capable of efficiency in situations like yours!

  3. Happy driving!

    It was interesting to see how things have changed. I converted my NSW licence to a Japanese licence 13 years ago. Like you I needed a driving record from the licensing authority because NSW licences didn’t include an issue date. This is a bit of a pain but horror stories turn up from time to time for people who can’t prove they were driving in their home country, so in that light I’m glad it was smooth. I was given a one year licence to start then put on the normal system of 3 years and 5 years with gold status.

    I had to go into a JAF office for the official translation. I heard they changed the procedures for covid but I thought you had to mail it in. Good to see it’s online now.

    The licensing centre in Saitama didn’t require bookings back then. I wonder if this has changed nationwide or it’s just Aichi.

  4. Thanks very much appreciated I have a Kiwi drivers license which has the issued date so i should be good to go.

  5. As a heads up, with Australia not doing re-entry stamps in your passport for travelling, I had done a bunch of Japan travel in the year or two prior prior to coming here full time. So the old dude was leery about me having my Australian licence and having lived in Australia for at least 3 months before arriving.

    This was despite me being something like 42 years old at the time, having had a licence for over 20 years and showing my licence history for 10 years. Like, fucking work it out, mate.

    They also categorically WOULD NOT accept photos of bills with my address on them, OR printed out bills and invoices, despite me saying that in Australia, it’s almost all electronic. Not acceptable. Same with bank statements. None of the emailed ones were deemed acceptable.

    Luckily I still had access to my federal government job pay website as I was on LWOP, so I printed out 5 years years of payslips and slapped them down on the table the next day, as I had to come again.

    So, if anyone tells you it’s a straight up process, it’s not. The system is and staff are just not designed to make common sense decisions.

    To clarify, make sure you have, at the very least:

    – valid juminhyou which clearly lists Australia as your country of birth (the copy I had didn’t have that.
    – your official driving history for as long as possible
    – some kind of ORIGINAL documentation showing you had your licence AND were a RESIDENT of Australia for at least 3 months before coming to Japan. Only originals were acceptable in my case

    Luckily for our prefecture, you COULD make reservations in advance.

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