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About this tool
See whether Japan accepts your international driving permit, which permits it refuses, and when the one-year window from your entry date closes.
This checker tells you whether the international driving permit in your bag is actually valid in Japan, because Japan recognises only one format. Article 107-2 of the Road Traffic Act accepts a permit issued under the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic and refuses the 1968 Vienna and 1926 Paris versions outright. A separate group of countries - Switzerland, Germany, France, Belgium, Monaco, Taiwan, Slovenia and Estonia - is handled without permits at all, using an official Japanese translation from JAF or an embassy. The tool also dates the one-year window, which runs from your entry into Japan or from the permit's issue date, whichever ends first.
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Names the 1968 Vienna and 1926 Paris permits as invalid here, which is the single most common and most expensive mistake.
Compares one year from entry against one year from issue and returns the earlier date.
Handles the eight countries Japan deals with through a JAF or embassy translation instead of a permit.
No. Article 107-2 of the Road Traffic Act recognises only permits issued under the 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic, so a 1968 Vienna permit - and the older 1926 Paris one - has no standing in Japan. Rental companies check the convention printed on the cover and will refuse the booking, and at a police stop you count as an unlicensed driver. Most authorities that issue the Vienna format can also issue the Geneva one; ask specifically before you travel.
One year, but two clocks run at once. The permit is valid for one year from the date it was issued, and separately you may only drive on it for one year from the date you entered Japan - whichever ends first is your real expiry. Since the re-entry rule was tightened, someone who has been in Japan three months or more and leaves for less than three months does not get a new entry date, so a short trip abroad no longer resets the year.
No - you need an official Japanese translation instead. Germany, along with Switzerland, France, Belgium, Monaco, Taiwan, Slovenia and Estonia, is handled outside the permit system: Japan accepts the licence itself when it is accompanied by a Japanese translation prepared by the Japan Automobile Federation or by that country's embassy or consulate in Japan. An International Driving Permit will not substitute for it, and the translation is valid for one year.
Yes, through the gaimen kirikae procedure, but the effort depends on where the licence came from. You must prove you stayed in the issuing country for at least three months after the licence was issued. Holders from around thirty listed countries, including the UK, Australia, Canada, South Korea and most of the EU, are exempt from the knowledge and practical tests; the United States, China, Brazil, Russia, India and Vietnam are not, and their holders sit both. This is general information rather than legal advice - confirm your own case with the prefectural licence centre.