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English guide on how to read a Japanese DL

English guide on how to read a Japanese DL

Old Feb 18, 2013, 7:08 pm
  #31  
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A bit more in-depth discussion on the acceptable (and unacceptable) use of an IDP in Japan:

http://japaninfoswap.com/internation...nses-in-japan/

Before 2002, an International Driver’s Permit (IDP) could be renewed repeatedly and used, with a valid overseas license, instead of formally applying for a Japanese driver’s license. But, after the law changed, the use of an IDP was limited to (Japan Traffic Act Article Number 107.2)

1 year maximum from first arrival in Japan
Drivers returning to Japan after being out of the country for at least 3 months

After your IDP expires, you must convert your foreign license to a Japanese license. You may not renew it unless you leave the country again for at least 3 months.

Though this law changed nearly 10 years ago, the information has still not completely filtered out to the foreign communities of Japan, and many people are risking penalties of up to 1 year imprisonment, and in extreme cases may also result in loss of employment or deportation every time they get behind the wheel.

2011 saw two high profile drivers arrested for driving without a license in Japan in situations involving invalid International Driving Permits (IDP).

Japanese golf star Ryo Ishikawa was the first. Ryo Ishikawa was named Sports Illustrated’ s Sportsman of the Year for promising to donate all of his golf earnings for 2011 to support relief projects related to Japan’s recent devastating tsunami.

The award and the golf pro’s notoriety did not help when he was caught driving on an invalid IDP; he was arrested and charged. Ishikawa got a United States Driver’s License, and IDP while playing in the US, but failed to notice that an IDP is only valid if the license holder has been outside of Japan for more than three months, which he was not.

The second arrest of 2011 was…“That foreign guy from the Softbank commercials with the cute dog” which is how most of us in Japan know American actor Dante Carver.

Carver, who has been in Japan since 2005, was stopped in Shibuya after making an illegal U-turn. When asked by police for his license, he produced an invalid IDP, and was arrested. Having lived in Japan since 2005, he was well beyond the legal limit for driving with an IDP. To have used an IDP legally for that amount of time, he would have had to leave the country for 3 months out of every year. It appears instead that he simply renewed his IDP and continued to use it, unintentionally breaking the law.
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Old Feb 18, 2013, 7:55 pm
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I believe that their primary target was Japanese native scofflaw drivers who were banned from driving in Japan and then obtained licenses abroad. I guess they also did not like that people like this golfer avoided getting a license at home the "hard way".
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Old Feb 18, 2013, 11:41 pm
  #33  
 
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Precisely for the latter reason they have a rule that you need to prove that you were in the foreign country for a certain period (6 months IIRC) after receiving the foreign license. I witnessed a very irate British guy at the DMV in Samezu who had gotten his British license two passports ago and had been living in Hong Kong for the past 10+ years; they wouldn't accept his conversion request because he had no documented proof of having lived in the UK after getting the license.
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Old Feb 19, 2013, 8:21 pm
  #34  
 
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Originally Posted by joejones
Precisely for the latter reason they have a rule that you need to prove that you were in the foreign country for a certain period (6 months IIRC) after receiving the foreign license. I witnessed a very irate British guy at the DMV in Samezu who had gotten his British license two passports ago and had been living in Hong Kong for the past 10+ years; they wouldn't accept his conversion request because he had no documented proof of having lived in the UK after getting the license.
But that's just plain pedantic Japanese bureaucratic stupidity. I think it is 90 days, actually.

Did you have to prove this with a US license? How? So your license was issued in 2007 let's say and you moved to JP in 2012. They check your current (and/or last passport). What proof is there that you actually lived in the US? Lack of Japanese or other residence visas in the passport?

I hear that you go through a "lite" test procedure with a US license. But I guess if you do not have residency proof then they make you go through the full rigmarole.
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Old Feb 19, 2013, 8:39 pm
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Originally Posted by gnaget
Did you have to prove this with a US license? How? So your license was issued in 2007 let's say and you moved to JP in 2012. They check your current (and/or last passport). What proof is there that you actually lived in the US? Lack of Japanese or other residence visas in the passport?
I had to order a certified copy of my driving history from my state's DOT (such as https://doj.mt.gov/driving/driving-records/), which showed that my drivers license was first issued more than 90 days before my entry into Japan, as well as prove that my current license was also valid.
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Old Feb 19, 2013, 10:03 pm
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I just gave them my American license, the "official translation" from JAF, and my passport. Didn't need to show any driving history. I think they simply inferred that I had lived in the US for the requisite period because my passport was issued four years prior to my entry to Japan, and I only had tourist stamps from various countries dated prior to that.

Yes, those people are pedantic. A friend of mine needed to get an international license. For this he needed to show the DMV his plane ticket. He only had a confirmation email so he showed them the email on his phone. The lady at the counter responded that she absolutely needed to have it on paper. My friend scrambled around trying to figure out how to get it on paper from his phone, before figuring out that he could fax the email to himself at the convenience store across the street (or something like that). He brought the paper back, the lady at the counter looked at it, then handed it back to him immediately saying "ok, I just needed to see it."

Incidentally, if you don't have the foreign residency, you can't convert your foreign license at all, so you have to go through the standard new driver procedure (i.e., either go to driving school, or get a learner's permit and come back later to take the very difficult full exam).
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