You can drive legally using an international driving permit for a maximum of 12 months after your entry into Japan. In order to use a renewed international driving permit, you will have to be out of Japan for more than 3 consecutive months.

Anybody who currently has a valid driver’s license issued in their home county, anybody who wants to legally drive in Japan and currently does not have a Japanese driver’s license; who is planning to live in Japan for a period of more than 12 months; who does not have an international driving permit; who does not fully understand the detailed process and materials required to obtain a Japanese drivers license; who does not have an advanced level of written and spoken Japan language skills, who does not want to spend a lot of time to pass their driving test, is recommended to take advantage of our services.

Strictly speaking no, you do not. However, most importantly, international driving permit holders are not covered under Japanese insurance, and will therefore not be covered for the costs of any damage in the event of an accident. i.e. an individual will not be covered by insurance without a valid Japanese driver’s license. Also, if you receive a traffic violation while you are driving on your international driving permit, the police will record this infringement against your name and once you pass your driving test when converting to Japanese license, you may be told that your new license is automatically suspended for up to 2 years.

Sure, if you can speak basic Japanese, you can call your License Center and go through the process on your own. The problem is that the License Center will not give you all the information that you need, and they do not warn you of potential problems that you may face due to your specific situation. They also do not usually give straight answers to more complicated questions. A typical answer from a License Center official is “come in and we will look at your documents and tell you if they are ok or not.” From speaking with numerous people who have tried to do this without support, we estimate that up to 60% get rejected on the day they apply for conversion simply because their documentation is not in order. Problems such as middle names, maiden names, current residential address, current visa issue date, passport issue dates, and even the color of the background in your picture or the type of paper that supporting documents are issued on can cause your application to be rejected. No joke, it has happened to many. Our needs analysis and telephone consultation that are part of our full service program are designed to catch these problems in advance, and avoid being rejected at the application stage.

If you want to get through this procedure with the minimum amount of hassle, taking the least amount of your time, and causing you the least amount of frustration then we are here to help.

Our services are designed to help people to convert their currently valid home country driver’s license to a Japanese driver’s license. We are unfortunately not able to help you obtain a Japanese driver’s license from scratch. We recommend Koyama Driving School (http://www.koyama.co.jp/english.htm) as this is the only driving school that provides classes in English.

Unfortunately, there is no way around this. Yes, the U.S. Embassy is well aware of the requirement. According to our research, driver’s licenses are a state level issue in the U.S., and not a federal issue. This is one of the main reasons why there are not reciprocal agreements in place between the U.S. and Japan like there are with many Europeans countries. Another reason is that foreigners, including Japanese, moving to the U.S. are required to go through a similar process when converting their driver’s license in the U.S.

No, this is impossible. First of all, it is not possible to convert your international driving permit to a Japanese driver’s license. Secondly, a main requirement for the license conversion is to currently hold a valid foreign driver’s license.

The license conversion is a 3 to 4week process assuming that you pass your road test on the 1st attempt. License Centers are open from Monday to Friday and only take applications for license conversion during certain times (application times vary for each License Center). The road test must usually be scheduled on a different day usually 1 to 4 weeks after your initial application.

Yes, there are several configurations of driving course on which the general road test is taken. However, there is only 1 test course for those who are converting their home country driver’s license into a Japanese one, and this test course is much easier.

Kind of, but not really. It is more like an obstacle course. You need to do certain things at certain places. If you do the right things at the right time you will pass your test. This is where our test course simulation tool comes in very useful as it teaches you everything you need to know.

No, you may not. You must apply for license conversion and take the road test at the center of the prefecture or city that is written on your alien registration card.