Driver’s Licenses for Foreigners: Create System to Facilitate Understanding of Traffic Rules

Editorial

14:30 JST, June 22, 2025

There have been a series of accidents involving foreign drivers who cannot be said to have a sufficient understanding of Japanese traffic rules. The system should be revised so that licenses are issued after a thorough assessment of a person’s driving knowledge and skills.

The National Police Agency is considering changing the system that allows a driver’s license obtained overseas to be converted into a Japanese license, in order to make it stricter.

The system was introduced in 1933. Initially, its main purpose was to enable Japanese citizens who had obtained a driver’s license overseas to smoothly become able to drive in Japan upon their return.

Since the 1990s, the number of foreigners using the system has exceeded that of Japanese nationals. With the increase in inbound visitors to Japan and foreign workers, the figure reached 69,283 last year, accounting for 94% of the total. Vietnamese and Chinese nationals are particularly numerous.

Many countries drive on the right hand of the road, and traffic signals and pedestrian safety measures differ from those in Japan. Just as Japanese people driving abroad may be confused by differences in the traffic rules, foreign drivers likely face similar challenges in Japan.

Accidents involving foreign drivers are on the rise, exceeding 7,000 cases last year. In a recent incident in which a driver was going the wrong way on the Shin-Meishin Expressway in Mie Prefecture, and a recent hit-and-run incident involving elementary school students in Saitama Prefecture, both the drivers were foreign nationals who had used the foreign license conversion system.

There is strong criticism that the current system is too easy. The test on traffic rules uses a yes-or-no format, and a score of 7 out of 10 questions is required to pass. The passing rate exceeds 90%.

Even short-stay tourists can apply to obtain a Japanese driver’s license through the system by using their hotel or an acquaintance’s address as their residence. This arrangement effectively allows the provision of Japanese driver’s licenses to foreigners who may not fully understand Japanese traffic rules.

Vietnam and China are not parties to the Convention on Road Traffic, more commonly known as the Geneva Convention on Road Traffic. Therefore, some people are believed to abuse the conversion system in a bid to obtain a Japanese international driver’s license, which is valid in about 100 countries that are party to the convention.

If accidents involving foreign nationals who hold Japanese driver’s licenses become frequent overseas, it could undermine trust in the Japanese driver’s license system.

The NPA plans to increase the number of yes-or-no questions and make the behind-the-wheel driving test more rigorous. Tourists will be excluded from the system by requiring people to submit a copy of their residence certificate at the time of application.

In Japanese society, where the population continues to shrink, foreign workers have become an indispensable part of the workforce. Whether a person has a driver’s license directly impacts their career choices and income level. Going forward, it will be necessary to implement measures that take foreign nationals’ perspectives into account, such as increasing the number of road signs that have instructions in other languages.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, June 22, 2025)