Driving license in Japan

In Japan, a driving license is required when operating a car, motorcycle or moped on public roads. Driving licenses are issued by the prefectural governments' public safety commissions and are overseen on a nationwide basis by the National Police Agency.

Types of license

Japanese licenses are divided by experience level and by vehicle type.

Categories

The vehicle classes are as follows:

Name	Japanese	Description
Large vehicle	大型自動車	Any vehicle which weighs 11,000 kg or more in total, has maximum capacity of 6,500 kg or more, or carries 30 or more people, and is not classified as special vehicle, motorcycle or moped.
Medium vehicle	中型自動車	Any vehicle which weighs between 7,500 kg and 11,000 kg in total, has a maximum capacity between 4,500 kg and 7,500 kg, or carries 11 to 29 people, and is not classified as heavy vehicle, special vehicle, motorcycle or moped.
Semi-Medium vehicle	準中型自動車	Any vehicle which weighs between 3,500 kg and 7,500 kg in total, has a maximum capacity between 2,000 kg and 4,500 kg, and is not classified as heavy vehicle, medium vehicle, special vehicle, motorcycle or moped.
Ordinary vehicle	普通自動車	Any motorised vehicle which is not classified as heavy vehicle, medium vehicle, semi-medium vehicle, special vehicle, motorcycle or moped.
Large special vehicle	大型特殊自動車	Specialised automotive equipment such as tractors or cranes which are used for particular work and are not classified as small special vehicles.
Small special vehicle	小型特殊自動車	Specialized automotive equipment with a maximum speed of 15 km/h or less and no larger than 4.7m × 1.7m × 2.8m.
Large motorcycle	大型自動二輪車	Any motorcycle including a sidecar with a power exceeding 20 Kw, and is not classified as special vehicle.
Ordinary motorcycle	普通自動二輪車	Any motorcycle including a sidecar, and is not classified as special vehicle, heavy motorcycle or moped.
Moped	原動機付自転車	Any motorcycle with a power 0.6Kw or less, or motorized quadricycle which is not larger than 2.5m x 1.3m x 2.0m with a power 0.25Kw or less.

The "restricted to automatic" license can be issued for ordinary vehicle, ordinary motorcycle and heavy motorcycle license classes.
The "restricted to small motorcycle" license can be issued for ordinary motorcycle license class, and can be issued along with the "restricted to automatic" license.

Vehicle Type Ratings

The vehicle type ratings are as follows:

The minimum requirement for heavy or medium vehicle license can be relaxed to 19 years old and one year experience under ordinary vehicle/heavy special vehicle license by certain lesson in driving school.

Required training

There are two options for learners. Firstly, learners can attend a designated driving school. Graduates from a designated driving school do not need to sit the practical examination but they do need to sit the written examination. Secondly, learners can attend non-designated driving school or obtain practice through other means, in which case they must sit both the practical and written examinations. The Japanese driving examination consists of a written examination and a practical examination for each level of license. Most Japanese go to a driving school prior to taking these examinations, and upon completing the course at a non-designated driving school must register for the examinations in the prefecture where they are registered as a resident. The practical examination consists of driving a vehicle through a purpose-designed driving course while obeying relevant rules of the road.
Japan also allows Japan-resident holders of foreign driving licenses to convert their foreign license to a Japanese license through an abbreviated examination process. This consists of an eyesight test and, depending on the issuing country of the foreign license, may also require a short written examination and a practical examination.
Countries exempt from the exam include, as of 2022: Iceland, Ireland, parts of the United States, United Kingdom, Italy, Australia, Austria, Netherlands, Canada, South Korea, Greece, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, Hungary, Finland, France, Belgium, Poland, Portugal, Monaco, Luxembourg, and Taiwan.
In 2003, the first-time pass rate for Americans was slightly higher than the 35 percent pass rate for Japanese returnees, but not much. On the other hand, for those who took the regular test, they had to go through an intensive driver education program. The first time pass rate for this group, even with the harder test, was 90 to 100 percent. As of 2022, the fee for an English-speaking foreigner to obtain a license from a Japanese driving school is about ¥500,000.

Driving license card

Every licensed driver is issued with a driving license card, which they are required to have available for inspection whenever they exercise the privileges granted by the license.

Description

The sections of the sample license shown are:

No.	Japanese	English	Notes
1	年月日生	Date of birth
2	氏名	Last name and first name
3	住所	Address
4	交付	Date of issue of the card
5	年月日まで有効	Date of expiry of the card	Background colour: green for new drivers, blue for normal drivers, gold for good drivers In this example, the driver is issued as a new driver.
6	免許の条件等	Conditions	In this sample, vehicles weighing up to 8 tonnes. Usual default also includes a limitation to Automatic Transmission ; a separate driving test on the manual transmission vehicle is required for this permission.
7	見本	"Sample"	Does not exist on a normal license
8	優良	Superior	Annotation for good drivers
9	番号	License number
10	二・小・原	Date of first issue of motorcycle licenses	Including motorcycles, small special vehicle, or moped license.
11	他	Date of first issue of other licenses	Other categories exclude the commercial ones.
12	二種	Date of first issue of commercial licenses	Literally means driving license of the second kind
13	種類	Valid categories	Valid categories are shown in abbreviations in Kanji, invalid only with a hyphen.
14	番号	Number	Intra-office reference number.
15	都道府県公安委員会	Issuing authority	Public Safety Commission of the issuing prefecture. In the example, the license is issued by Tokyo Metropolitan Public Safety Commission.
16		Seal	Official seal of the prefectural public safety commission.
17		Photo

Date format

The dates are written in year-month-day order. The years follow the Japanese era calendar scheme. The months and days follow the Gregorian calendar, as in most Western countries.
In the example pictured above:

The driver's date of birth is the 27th day of the 5th month of the 50th year of the Shōwa era, or 27 May 1975.
The expiry date is the 20th day of the 3rd month of the 24th year of the Heisei era, or 20 March 2021.

Categories of license

Abbreviated names of the categories of vehicle this license includes. For illustrative purposes, this sample license shows every category. Category names are in the same places on every license. If a category is not included in a license, in the place where the category name would appear there is a horizontal bar.
If the license is licensed with a Tractor-Trailer and a Commercial Tractor-Trailer both, the け引 label will label 引、引二 instead.

Amendments

Amendments to the license, such as a change of address, can be recorded on the reverse side of the license. For amendments that cannot be recorded in this manner, a new license must be issued.

Use in other countries

The United Kingdom has an exchange agreement with Japan, which allows the holder of a Japanese license who is deemed to be resident in the UK to exchange it for a British license. To do this, the holder must send the license, a translation thereof, an application form and a fee to the DVLA or DVA.
Taiwan does not recognise a Japanese International Driving Permit. As an alternative, Taiwan has an exchange agreement with Japan, which allows holders of a Japanese license to drive in Taiwan. For holders of a Japanese license who stay in Taiwan less than one year, they can drive in Taiwan with a Japanese license and its Chinese language translation issued by Japan Automobile Federation. Holders who stay longer than one year need to obtain a Taiwanese driving license with a Japanese license and other documents, but driving tests can be skipped.