My international driver's license will expire soon, how do I get a Japanese driver's License?
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As you probably know, to drive in Japan, you may use either an International Driving Permit or a Japanese driver's license. You can only obtain an IDP in your home country. They may be used only during your first year in Japan. After your first year, you must possess a Japanese license.
International Driving Permits are only accepted from countries that have both signed and ratified the United Nations Convention on International Road Traffic. Recent law changes mean that you can no longer renew an International Permit once the one-year period has expired. The one-year period is from your first entry into Japan (not the date that you most recently entered the country), or from the date noted in your International Driving Permit, whichever is sooner.
You may not drive a scooter on an International Driving Permit!
Here is a list of requirements that you must fulfill in order to get a Japanese driver's license:
- Have a valid driver's license from a foreign country.
- Stayed in the country where your license was issued for at least three months after the license was issued.
If you fulfill these requirements, go to the Ibaraki Prefectural Driver's License Center in Ibaraki-machi between 9:30 and 10:00 a.m. Their address is: 3783-3 Nagaoka Yagashira, Ibaraki-machi; phone: 029-293-8811
When you go to the Driver's License Center, bring the following items with you:
- Home country driver's license
- A certified translation of your driver's license (available only through the Japan Auto Federation)
- Valid Alien Registration Card
- Passport with valid visa
- Two passport-sized photographs (3 × 2.4 cm)
- International Driving Permit (if you have one)
- Application Fee: ¥2,400 for car, ¥1,650 for motorcycle
- Japanese Driver's License (if you have one, even if invalid)
- Personal seal (inkan/hanko)
- Helmet and gloves if applying for motorcycle
You'd think that all those documents would suffice, right? You'll still have to go through the following three tests to make sure that you can drive safely. If you have a French, New Zealand, Australian, Canadian, German, British, or Swiss driver's license, you do not need to take the driving test part.
- A ten question true-false test on traffic rules (can be taken in Japanese, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, or Korean)
- An eye test
- A driving test on the center's course with a testing center car
If you fail the written test you can take it again but only once a day. If you pass, it will be good for six months. For the driving test you can choose either automatic or manual but if you choose automatic your license will only be good for automatic cars.
Expect to spend half a day at the testing center. Go to window 12 to get all the forms you will be require to fill. All forms are in Japanese but for ¥300 they will fill them out for you if you give them all your documents. If you have any questions, call the testing center at 029-293-8811.
To get a translation from the JAF by post, photocopy the front and back of your home license and mail it together with you name, address and phone number and ¥3,700 in an envelope called a "genkin kakitome" to:
JAF Ibaraki Branch24757 Senba-chō
Mito-shi
130-0851
Usually this process takes less than 7 days.
Before going to the Center you might want to study Japan's Rules of the Road, published by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) in six languages: English, Korean, Chinese, Persian, Portuguese and Spanish. ¥1000 per copy. You can phone JAF at 029-244-7211 to order a copy. You must pay for postage if not going in person. Postage for an English language version is ¥310. Although you can pay by bank transfer or postal money order, the easiest way is to mail them the correct number of stamps along with your name and address.
