Converting Your Foreign Driver's License (外免切替)

Driving at first: your International Driving Permit

When you arrive, a 国際運転免許証kokusai unten menkyoshō (International Driving Permit, or IDP) lets you drive. A US IDP is issued under the 1949 Geneva Convention — in the US, only AAA and the American Automobile Touring Alliance (AATA) can issue one — and it’s valid in Japan for up to one year from the day you land, or until the IDP itself expires, whichever comes first.

For a short stay that’s all you need. But two rules make it a dead end for residents:

• You can’t get or renew an IDP inside Japan — they’re issued by your home country.
• You can’t reset the year with a quick trip. Once you’re recorded as a resident, leaving and coming back within three months does not restart the one-year clock — and getting a fresh IDP during a sub-three-month trip doesn’t count either.

So once you’ve used up that first year as a resident, the way to keep driving legally is to convert your license.

Converting: the 外免切替

The 外免切替gaimen kirikae (foreign-license conversion) exchanges your valid foreign license for a Japanese one at a driver’s license center. The core eligibility rule is an anti–“license tourism” check: you must have held the foreign license and stayed in the country that issued it for a total of three months or more after you got it. Your passports (with their entry/exit stamps) are how you prove that, so bring the old ones.

What to bring

Requirements vary a little by prefecture, but you’ll generally need:

• your valid foreign license (the original — copies aren’t accepted)
• an official Japanese translation of it — from JAF (the Japan Automobile Federation; ¥6,000) or your country’s embassy/consulate
• your passport(s), including ones showing the three-month stay after you got the license
• your 住民票jūminhyō (or 在留カードzairyū kādo) and ID
• an application form and a photo

Check your prefecture’s license-center page for its exact list and whether you need an appointment.

The tests — and who skips them

For most applicants the conversion involves, in order: a document check, an eyesight/aptitude check, a short knowledge test (around ten true/false questions), and a practical driving test on the center’s course. The practical test is the part that catches people — it was tightened in October 2025, it’s graded on precise procedure rather than raw driving skill, and failing it once or twice is common.

If you hold a license from a designated country or region, you’re exempt from both the knowledge and practical tests — you go straight through the document and eyesight checks. (Everyone takes the eyesight check.)

The US angle: only some states are exempt

Here’s the part that surprises Americans: the United States is not exempt as a whole. Exemption is granted state by state, through individual agreements with Japan — so what matters is the state that issued your license, not where you live now.

• Seven states are fully exempt (both the knowledge and practical tests are waived): Colorado, Hawaii, Maryland, Ohio, Oregon, Virginia, and Washington. A license from one of these means you skip straight to the document and eyesight checks.
• Indiana is a partial case: the practical test is waived, but you still take the knowledge test.
• A license from any other state — California, New York, Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, and the rest — means you take both tests.

Because this rests on state-level agreements, the list does change over time, so confirm the current designations with your prefecture’s license center before you go (the Tokyo Metropolitan Police and Kanagawa Prefectural Police pages list them by name).

And it runs both ways: the same agreements mean a Japanese license converts back to those states’ licenses with their tests waived too — genuinely useful if you later move to, say, Washington or Maryland. (The Japanese consulates for those states document the reciprocal process.)

Practical tips

• Don’t let your IDP year lapse with no license. There’s no grace period — if the year runs out before you’ve converted, you can’t legally drive in the meantime.
• Bring originals. The document check is strict; photocopies of your license won’t do.
• If you’re not exempt, plan for the practical test to take attempts. Study the test course’s expected procedure (mirror checks, lane positioning, the specific route) — people who can clearly drive still fail on the choreography.
• SOFA drivers are different: personnel under the US–Japan Status of Forces Agreement drive on a USFJ permit rather than going through the 外免切替gaimen kirikae — and converting once SOFA status ends has its own traps (proving your original license date, the lapsed-license risk). See Driving Under SOFA Status.

The short version

• An IDP covers you for up to a year from landing; you can’t renew it in Japan or reset it with a trip under three months.
• After that, convert via the 外免切替gaimen kirikae — you must have held the license and stayed in its issuing country 3+ months after getting it.
• Expect a document check, eyesight check, knowledge test, and practical test — unless you’re exempt.
• Seven US states are fully exempt (CO, HI, MD, OH, OR, VA, WA); Indiana skips only the practical; every other state takes both tests.
• It’s the state on your license that counts, the list can change, and the agreements work both directions.

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This guide is general information, not legal advice. License rules, required documents, and the list of exempt states change over time and vary by prefecture — verify against the official sources below and your local license center before you go. See Your First Two Weeks in Japan for where this fits in the arrival sequence.