Switching a foreign driving licence in Tokyo: 2025 rules

If you live in Tokyo and want to exchange your foreign driving licence for a Japanese one, you apply at a Tokyo driving test centre. The procedure is called 外免切替 (gaimen kirikae — foreign licence switch). Its rules changed on 1 October 2025. The biggest change comes first: you now need a copy of your resident record to apply.

Who can apply since October 2025

The Tokyo Metropolitan Police say the amended Road Traffic Act regulations took effect on 1 October 2025 and changed the documents for the switch. A foreign resident now hands in a copy of their resident record, the 住民票の写し (jūminhyō no utsushi). It has to be the version that shows the 特定事項 (tokutei jikō), the extra entries a ward keeps for foreign residents. Those entries are your nationality, your residence status, your period of stay and its expiry date, and your residence card number. Ask for that version at the ward. The copy must be less than six months old, and it must not show your My Number. If your period of stay is renewed before you apply, get a fresh copy.

If you are not on the resident register, the National Police Agency says you generally cannot apply, apart from a short list of exceptions such as diplomats. The register covers mid- to long-term residents, not people on a short-term stay. So a tourist cannot switch a licence in Japan, and a hotel address no longer works. The resident record guide explains who gets one.

The three-month rule still applies

After getting the foreign licence, you must have spent three months or more in total in the country that issued it. The National Police Agency asks for proof, normally a passport with entry and exit stamps, so bring old passports too. If you used automated gates and have no stamps, the Tokyo police documents list says to get an entry and exit record from that country.

The same list says the licence must be the original card or paper document. A licence that exists only in an app cannot be switched.

Who takes the checks, and what changed

Licences from 29 countries and regions are switched without a knowledge or skills check. The Tokyo police page lists them: the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Korea, Taiwan, much of Europe and seven US states.

Everyone else takes both checks. The 知識確認 (chishiki kakunin — knowledge check) used to be 10 questions, with 7 needed to pass. It is now 50 questions, with 45 needed to pass. The picture questions were removed. The check runs once a day, in the afternoon. Tokyo offers it in 20 languages, including English.

The 技能確認 (ginō kakunin — skills check) now includes driving through a pedestrian crossing. Japanese law says you must approach a crossing slowly enough to stop before it. If anyone is crossing or about to cross, you must stop (Road Traffic Act, Article 38). The police also say the pass standard is stricter than before, without publishing the detail.

The skills check needs its own booking. The documents list warns that the check date comes roughly three to four months after you book it. Your foreign licence must still be valid on that day.

Where to go in Tokyo and how to book

Fuchu and Samezu test centres handle every country. Koto handles only the 29 test-exempt countries and regions. All three work on weekdays only.

Booking is required. You book on the 警視庁行政手続オンライン site, which has one page for the test-exempt group and another for everyone else. You hand in your documents on the booked day. The skills check, if you need one, is a separate booking later.

What to bring

The Tokyo police documents list asks for the original of every document; photocopies are refused. The resident record is the ward's own issued copy, which counts as an original.

• Your current foreign licence, plus any expired earlier licences from that country.
• A Japanese translation of the licence from the issuing country's embassy in Japan, the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF), or another body the list names for your country. A sworn translator abroad does not count. JAF takes applications online only and quotes five to ten working days for most countries.
• Your passport, and old passports showing the stay in the issuing country.
• Your residence card, which the police notice to foreign applicants lists alongside the resident record since 1 October 2025.
• The resident record copy described above.
• One photo, 3 cm by 2.4 cm, taken within six months, on a plain background.
• The fees. On 17 October 2026 the Tokyo page showed ¥2,500 to apply for an ordinary car licence and ¥2,350 when it is issued. That is ¥4,850 to the test centre. JAF charges ¥6,600 for a translation used to switch a licence, its price since 1 July 2026. Those three fixed costs add up to ¥11,450, before the photo.

Driving before the switch is done

An international driving permit under the Geneva Convention lets you drive in Japan until the earlier of two dates: one year from the day you landed, or one year from the day the permit was issued. For someone on the resident register, a trip abroad of under three months doesn't restart that year. The police say the return date is not a new start date.

The permit itself cannot be switched. The National Police Agency says only the national licence behind it is accepted.

How the dates interact: a worked example

Take an invented case. Your international permit was issued on 1 February 2026, and you landed in Tokyo on 1 March 2026. The permit's own year ends on 31 January 2027. Your first year in Japan ends on 28 February 2027. The earlier date wins, so your last day of driving on the permit is 31 January 2027.

Your licence is from a country that is not test-exempt, so you need both checks. If you book the skills check on 1 October 2026, the check date comes three to four months later: between 1 January and 1 February 2027. That is the very end of your permit. Fail once, and the retest needs another booking three to four months out, well after 31 January. You then cannot drive at all until you pass.

If you book on 1 June 2026 instead, the check falls between 1 September and 1 October 2026. That leaves at least four months before 31 January 2027, which is room for one retest if the first check falls in September; a retest after a check on 1 October can land as late as 1 February, after the permit expires. If you will need the tests, book in your first few months in Japan, not your last.