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by tecleandor 354 days ago
Ha! I go to Japan every now and then, as I have friends there, and I've though a couple times about doing the Japanese driving license thing, that looked super easy back at the time (translate your current driving license, book a meeting in the exam center, do a short exam, and you're almost good to go). I was thinking about doing it in my next trip in two weeks, but seems like they've raised the difficulty several levels :)

(Spaniard here too...)
2 comments
m463 352 days ago
A friend lives there, he said basically:

if you drive on the right at home, they will fail you the first time on principle. If you drive on the left (aus, brit) you have a chance to pass the first time.

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franciscop 354 days ago
> I go to Japan every now and then

AFAIK this is only available for residents? People traveling can/should use the international driving permit. Both JAL (translation) and the center itself asked me for my resident card.

> do a short exam

Oh there's no exam needed at least! Unless you mean the eye test?

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klausa 354 days ago
It’s not, you can get a Japanese driving license without living here ; but the government is making some noises to cut back on that (some recent semi-notable accidents caused by foreigners).

It’s apparently been a loophole for Chinese and Vietnamese tourists to get a license that is more recognized abroad then their own.

I think restricting this to residents makes sense; I’m more wary of making it more complex or difficult in other ways, but I also have that quest behind me so I don’t really care to be fair.

As to exam - that depends entirely as to where your “original” driving license is from.

Some countries just need a sufficient amount of paperwork (which sometimes is more difficult than the exam), some require just a theory exam, some require both theory and practical exam. In case of the US, it also differs state by state, because of course it does; why would anything ever make sense.

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franciscop 354 days ago
> As to exam - that depends entirely as to where your “original” driving license is from.

Yes, that's why I was replying that since we both are Spaniards "(Spaniard here too...)"

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tecleandor 354 days ago
The "Spaniard" was mostly for reference, as right now I can't remember who sent me the information about the exams, so it might not apply to Europe or Spain.

But the documents required (at least previously to recent changes) for the license transfer were [0]:

    1. Application form for Japanese Translation of foreign driver’s license
    2. A driver’s license (original, in principle)
    3. A photocopy of a residence card or a resident record etc [...] only required for licenses written in Arabic or Russian and licenses issued in certain countries[...]
And it didn't mention any residence documents. I don't know how that works today...

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  0: https://english.jaf.or.jp/use-jaf-more/drive-in-japan/foreign-nationals-license
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