(1) Switching to Japanese driver’s license for people who have licenses issued by their own countries
If you have a valid driver’s license issued in a country other than Japan and can prove that you stayed in the country for three months or longer from the date on which you acquired the license, you are eligible to have your driver’s license transferred to one issued in Japan. To this end, you must take tests (to confirm your driving knowledge and technique) at a driver’s license center or a test cite of driver’s license run by the metropolitan or prefectural police headquarters that controls the area you live in.
* If you don’t speak Japanese, you need to be attended by an interpreter
* You are exempted from 3. knowledge test and 4. technical test listed above, if you hold a driver’s license issued by any of the following 22 countries (as of March 2005): France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Ireland, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Finland, Austria, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Canada.
