2025-06-29
Starting in August last year (2024), I decided to try to convert my Michigan license to a Japanese license. Unfortunately, Michigan is not one of the countries/states that has a bilateral treaty with Japan. Thus, I had to take both a knowledge test and a practical driving test on a designated driving course.
While the practical driving test is the same as the one offered to Japanese people who opt to bypass the driving school system, the knowledge test is an extremely simple 10 question true/false test (think: "if there's a stop sign, do you have to stop?" level). The practical driving test is mostly about technical execution and involves having to do an S shaped curve and a 90 degree angle turn (see image). These are relatively challenging, and I'm not sure most people could pass without practicing. Note that for the license conversion process, you don't have to pass a test on an actual road.
These tests are only offered at Driver's License Centers and you must go to one belonging to your prefecture. Since I live in Tokyo, that means Samezu or Fuchu (Koto doesn't have the facilities for the practical driving test). I live much closer to Samezu, so I went there after preparing all the documents. At the time, there were no appointments so you just had to show up.
The centers open at 8:30AM. I got there at around 8:15 on September 13, 2024, which was the Friday before a three-day weekend. There were already well over 100 people in line, which I assume was related to the long weekend. I gave up as I didn't want to have to take the day off work. I tried again the following Wednesday, arriving at around 8:00AM. Even so, there were already 70-80 people in line. I decided to try my luck and wait in line as I had some extra time that day.
I waited; the line moved seemingly quickly. Around 8:45, I got to the front and was told that the registration for the day had ended. You see, despite having a population of nearly 15 million, the Tokyo Driver's License Centers only accept ~40 applicants for the foreign license conversion per day, per location! You might say, "Hey, there aren't that many foreign residents (~700k) in Tokyo, and many of them may have already converted. They can't literally ALL be trying to get a conversion right?! Maybe you just got unlucky." That's what I thought too.
To minimize the odds of pure bad luck, I decided to go to the much more inconvenient Fuchu ceneter (travel time from my house ~1.5 hours, multiple transfers and a bus required). The site there was much harder to access and there are fewer people outside the 23 wards of Tokyo. I also decided to start waiting before 5am. Japanese public transit closes at night, requiring me to spend the night nearby at the cheapest place I could find. To my shock, when I arrived at the center at ~4:50am, I discovered a long line of people waiting there already. A number of people had been camping out in the parking lot! Some people had been waiting since 8pm on the previous day (instead of being in a hostel like me). Those people who started waiting at 8pm the previous day were still only around #15 in line... Apparently, there were even services charging 30k JPY to have someone wait in line for you... This was truly a dystopia.
As I waited patiently for the 3+ hours until the center opened, I talked to some of the people in line. I discovered the source of the oddity after talking to a Chinese citizen who is a fellow resident in Tokyo. Apparently, the Japanese government allows non-residents on tourist visas to do this license conversion by using their hotel as their address. According to that person, this began to be allowed in July 2024. This reddit post says there was minimal wait in June; the user advised people to show up around 8am. It seems plausible that the issue might have begun in July.
The reason there are so many people in line is because of people from places like China/Vietnam. Because China is not a signatory to the Geneva Convention on Road Traffic, the Chinese driving license cannot be used to get an International Driving Permit (IDP). This is obviously a bummer for Chinese citizens if they want to drive when traveling overseas. However, if they could say convert to a Japanese license, they could then use their Japanese license to get an IDP. That's why a lot of Chinese citizens are heavily incentivized to try to convert their license in Japan.
I encountered a number of Chinese citizens who claimed to have taken vacation, come to Japan, lined up for the conversion registration, and scheduled a test date. Then, they would go back to China before flying back to Japan for the test date a few months later. Because of these non-residents heavily incentivized to go through the process, the waiting line became ridiculously competitive! Many of these people learn only enough Japanese to understand instructions like "turn right at number 19." I later encountered a person who asked worriedly in Chinese: "I don't know any Japanese. Will I be okay?"
Back to the day in September: I waited until the opening time and was handed a number. I was number 42, so it was very borderline if I could make it or not.
I got lucky and was able to get in, barely. I think maybe up to #45 got through as some people didn't have the proper paperwork. I got a 1pm appointment as the process is slow since they checked our paperwork one at a time. Afterwards, I took the trivial knowledge test and did a minimal vision test before setting my next appointment for the practical driving test in January 2025.
In the interim, I didn't really do any driving at all. I had a valid International Driving Permit, but didn't use it to practice at all. I did, however, sign up for a 3-hour practice session with FCA driving school. The practice session was helpful prep for the test as I was able to practice the S curve and the 90 degree angle turns a few times until I was able to do them consistently. They also gave some general tips on what to watch out for.
The general format of the exam is that you start with 100 points and for every mistake, you get a penalty. Get too many penalties, and you fail the test. The officer who sits in the passenger seat also has access to the brakes. If they engage them, it's an automatic failure. One of the weirdest failure methods is that if you hit the curb and you continue on forwards, you fail. Instead, you're supposed to stop, reverse, and correct your position to not go over the curb. This is completely impractical in real life driving, but it's a test I suppose.
Since I had an appointment, I felt okay about not having to wake up incredibly early to get a slot. However, I remembered that back in September even people with appointments were waiting in line quite early. To be safe, I started lining up at 7am or so. Luckily, this time I could just sleep at my house and wake up a bit early.
It turned out arriving early didn't matter as they just gathered the people with appointments in a separate line. It also turned out that in the interim, they made the whole process appointment based. Good riddance to the dystopian scenes of waiting from 8pm on the previous day...
Anyways, they brought the people who needed the practical test into a room that blocked cellular signals, gave us a quick explanation of the rules before checking our documents again and telling us to get ready for the test. The process is that 2 students go at a time. One drives while another sits in the back and is allowed to observe. The officer gives directions from the passenger seat on where to go next in the course. I had the horrible misfortune of going first, so I wasn't allowed to observe anyone else's driving.
I was incredibly nervous as I started. Japan drives on the left side of the road (like the UK) and the first thing the officer told me to do was to make a right turn. So, I got ready to turn by going to the right turn lane. The lights then went to this formation:
In America, when preparing to turn left (the equivalent), you first inch into the intersection even before the light changes to allow you to turn. I started to do this. But, the officer then engaged the brakes and told me this was not allowed. Oops! I basically failed on the first step.
The officer had some mercy and allowed me to continue (probably just to let me experience it a bit, but with the failure already marked). I did the S curve without issues and then the officer basically told me to head back. To head back, I needed to turn right again. This time, I failed to get into the proper lane as I hadn't noticed. The officer engaged the brakes once again. Two auto-failures in the same test. Oops!
Because the paperwork check was only valid for 6 months, and the next available practical driving test was not until May (due to the huge number of applicants), I had to restart the process from the first step: paperwork check + knowledge test. I set it up for late February. The only good thing about going first was I could then go home early.
I had no problem with the February paperwork check and set up another practical driving test for June. I again practiced once with FCA driving school before the actual test. This time, it was even more helpful than the first time because I was used to the format and expectations. I was able to focus much more on perfecting the minor details. The other thing I did to practice was repeatedly watch this YouTube video explaining the routes that you get asked to drive. I would practice the hand and head motions required for each turn in my apartment. For example, for a right turn, I would practice using my hand to signal, moving my head to check the blind spots, and then miming turning the handle with my hands. Although the actual courses differed from the video, it was definitely helpful to get into the mood.
I determined that if I failed again, I would just go to Samezu for my next attempt instead of spending 1.5 hours going to Fuchu each time. In May 2025, two incidents in Saitama and Mie involving foreigners who had converted their license failing to follow the traffic laws made the news. Because of this, the whole process looks like it will require a much harder knowledge test similar to the Japanese one and residency requirements (hopefully this means the lines will no longer be miserable).
On the day of the test, there were 22 of us doing the practical driving test. I got luckier this time and was assigned to go 5th. The first person, upon getting into the car, couldn't start it due to the hand brake being engaged and was yelled at by the police officer. The recent news probably made the police much more strict in their grading as well. The first person then proceeded to fail to stop at a stop sign. Oops. They drove for a bit before coming back to the start location, where they managed to drive the car onto the curb as they parked. Oops. They got a thorough berating from the officer and were dismissed. The second person defeated the hand brake, but also failed to stop at the stop sign, causing the police to engage the brakes. When they returned, they parked maybe 2+ feet from the curb (the goal is under 1 foot), probably in fear of repeating the first person's mistake. Oops. Similarly, they got a berating.
The person to go 3rd originally had incorrect paperwork (said was using glasses, but they came to the test in contacts) and was sent back to fix the paperwork. Naturally, after being yelled at by the police officer. I thus got bumped up to go 4th. So, I sat in the back and watched the person in front of me drive. They didn't make any egregious mistakes, except in the S curve, where they hit the curb and continued on. I guess that was an autofail because the officer told them at the end: Hey, that's really dangerous and why you failed.
It was finally my turn to go. My heart was racing. I went through the course and again like the first time, the first instruction was to turn right. This time, I waited for the signal. Learning from the first attempt! After completing the S curve and 90 degree angle turn with no issues, I felt pretty pumped. I was soon told to head back. Again, having learned from my previous failure, I got into the correct lane and turned right. I parked perfectly and the officer congratulated me and that was that! The officer did make 2 comments during the ride though: when going to the right turn lane to make a turn, you're supposed to do it before an orange line apparently. Also, I was once too far from the left curb when making a left turn. But, it was minor enough that I could pass.
After passing at around 9:30am, they told us to gather at around noon for another paperwork check. After the check, they took our photos and we were told to wait around until the licenses were ready. Out of the 22 people, only 4 people passed (18% pass rate) so the test was fairly challenging. That said, of the people I observed, I think clearly the first 2 people I watched didn't really deserve to pass. I didn't manage to get out of the license center until ~3pm, having been there since 8am. A truly long day.
The process was much harder than expected. The process being flooded by non-residents did leave a sour taste in my mouth. Having to wait starting at 4am is truly dystopic. I'm glad they switched to an appointment system and that the Japanese government plans to change the residency requirements. I don't begrudge the people who took advantage of the system, but I am a bit annoyed at the people who made such an obviously bad loophole with the hotel address being a valid address. There's no way that was on accident.
I also really envy my friend from Washington state could do the conversion with no testing at all. But, I do think going through the process did help me refine my driving skills from the opposite side of the road. I probably won't be driving much in Japan, but having the option is nice when it's needed. It's also a nicer form of identification than a Zairyu card. I'm going to write more on the difficulty of the test in my next post.
Any error corrections or comments can be made by sending me a pull request.