Drivers license in Japan

6 comments

1. If your state or country has a reciprocal agreement with Japan you can use your license to get a Japanese license without a test. If not, you will have to take a written test and a short driving test on what amounts to a glorified go-kart track. Depending on the test examiner, grading on the driving test can be really strict, so it’s best to do some practice driving first.

   There are freelance instructors hanging around the test centers in the daytime. You can hire one and arrange to drive the course with with them on a Sunday in a test car you rent from the center and they can coach you on what you need to do to pass the test.

2. See your driver’s license can be fully converted to Japanese. If not, partial conversion then you can go straight into taking the written and practical exams without needing to join the course.

3. I’m currently in the process of fixing mine.

   You need to get your license from your home country translated. You can apply for a translation on the JAF website. It’s around ¥6000 or so. It takes 2 weeks and then you get a code to print it at a 7 eleven.

   Then make an appointment with your local license center (mine is in moriyama). This can take up to 2 months. To the appointment bring your license, translation, passport, photo of yourself, and a printout from the population register (mine was ¥300 from the city hall).

   You need to pay ¥4000 do a medical checkup and then you can ho home with a Japanese license.

   Do keep in mind your translated license has the same validity as the one from your home country, and once it expires, you need to redo the process.

4. Depends what country you’re from. Japan has agreements with certain countries whereby you can just swap your nation’s licence for a Japanese licence. (But, for example, if you’re from US, there’s no such agreement as licences are issued by individual states. Japan didn’t fancy 50 separate agreements. Fair enough.)

   If you’re in a position where you can’t just swap over your licence, you may be out of luck, and may have to start the process from the beginning like Japanese learners. (I’ve heard anecdotal stories of people going straight in to the test, and “coincidentally” being failed several times until they’ve taken a fair number of expensive lessons.)

5. There is a non-insignificant number of people who take the test at the licence office, without goIng to driving school, as it is cheaper to fail a few times than to go to driving school.
   Blogs often call it 一発免 or 一発試験

6. >I do have a drivers license from back home

   Or would help if you said which country it is, because some countries have easier processes than others.

   Depending from which country, it could be as easy as just converting the license without any tests, or having to do it all from scratch.