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by franciscop 359 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?
1 comments
klausa 359 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 359 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 359 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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