System Glitches Halt Issuance, Renewal of Driver’s Licenses; Leap Day Thought to Have Caused Trouble in 4 Japan Prefectures

The Yomiuri Shimbun

14:50 JST, February 29, 2024

Prefectural police could not issue or renew driver’s licenses in Kanagawa, Niigata, Okayama and Ehime prefectures Thursday morning, due to system glitches believed to have been caused by the fact that it was leap day

The National Police Agency and the prefectural police are investigating the incident.

The system malfunctioned at around 8:15 p.m. Thursday, according to the NPA. The four prefectural police organizations affected all use a computer system made by the same company, and its time management function is believed to have malfunctioned.

Prefectural police in Kanagawa, Okayama and Ehime prefectures had fixed the system completely by around noon.