Foreign driver’s licenses valid in Japan
If you have a driver’s license issued in Switzerland, Germany, France, Belgium, Monaco, or Taiwan, you may drive a car or other vehicle in Japan in accordance with Japanese laws and regulations by carrying the Japanese translation of your license.
You may drive for a period of one year from the date of your landing in Japan or the validity period of your driver’s license, whichever is shorter.
However, if you are recorded on the Japanese Basic Resident Registration Card and you re-enter Japan within 3 months of your departure from Japan, the date of re-entry is not considered the date of landing (the starting date of your driving expiration period in Japan).
The translation you carry is not valid if translated by yourself.
A Japanese translation prepared by a person designated by government ordinance (embassy, consulate, JAF, etc.) is required.
International Driving Permit
If you have an international driver’s license issued under the Convention on Road Traffic (Geneva Convention of September 19, 1949), you may drive for a period of one year from the date of your landing in Japan or the validity period of your driver’s license, whichever is shorter.
However, if you are recorded on the Japanese Basic Resident Registration Card and you re-enter Japan within 3 months of your departure from Japan, the date of re-entry is not considered the date of landing (the starting date of your driving expiration period in Japan).
In Japan, only international driving permits issued by countries that are signatories to the Geneva Convention are valid.
※参照：警視庁HP「外国で取得した国際運転免許証で日本国内を運転するには」
※外国人に分かりやすく英語翻訳して掲載しています
※We provide an easy-to-understand English translation for foreigners:
To drive in Japan, you must have an international driving permit (IDP) that was issued by a country that is a signatory to the Geneva Convention and conforms to the format specified in the convention. Even if your IDP was issued by a Geneva Convention country, you cannot drive in Japan if the permit was issued based on a format specified by another convention, such as the Vienna Convention.
To legally drive with an international driving permit in Japan, the following conditions must be met:
1．The international driving permit must be within one year of issuance, and you must have entered Japan within one year of issuance.
2．You must not violate the so-called “3-month rule” as stipulated in Article 107-2 of the Road Traffic Act.
If a person recorded in the Basic Resident Register (including foreigners with medium- to long-term residency) leaves Japan and re-enters within three months, after obtaining a new international driving permit during that period, the date of re-entry does not reset the validity period of the permit. Therefore, you cannot drive in Japan under these circumstances.
(Note: This also applies to those who leave Japan with a Refugee Travel Document.)
3．Situations where you can drive after re-entering Japan within three months.
In this case, although re-entry occurs within three months, the re-entry date does not reset the validity period. However, you can still drive if the re-entry occurs within one year from the previous entry and within one year of the IDP issuance.
See more!
https://www.keishicho.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/menkyo/menkyo/kokugai/kokusaimenkyo.files/kokusaimenkyo_english.pdfList of Countries that are Signatories to the Geneva Convention
| Iceland | Croatia | Dominican Republic | Belgium |
| Ireland | Côte d’Ivoire | Trinidad and Tobago | Botswana |
| United States of America | Congo | Turkey | Poland |
| United Arab Emirates | Democratic Republic of the Congo | Nigeria | Portugal |
| Algeria | San Marino | Namibia | Madagascar |
| Argentina | Sierra Leone | Niger | Malawi |
| Albania | Jamaica | Japan | Mali |
| Israel | Georgia | New Zealand | Malta |
| Italy | Syria | Norway | Malaysia |
| India | Singapore | Haiti | South Africa |
| Uganda | Zimbabwe | Vatican | Monaco |
| United Kingdom | Sweden | Papua New Guinea | Morocco |
| Ecuador | Spain | Paraguay | Montenegro |
| Egypt | Sri Lanka | Barbados | Jordan |
| Republic of Estonia | Slovakia | Hungary | Lao People’s Democratic Republic |
| Australia | Slovenia | Bangladesh | Lithuania |
| Austria | Senegal | Fiji | Liechtenstein |
| Netherlands | Serbia | Philippines | Luxembourg |
| Ghana | Republic of Korea | France | Romania |
| Canada | Czech Republic | Bulgaria | Rwanda |
| Cambodia | Central African Republic | Burkina Faso | Lesotho |
| Cyprus | Tunisia | Brunei | Lebanon |
| Cuba | Chile | Benin | Greece |
| Denmark | Venezuela | Kyrgyzstan | Togo |
| Peru | Guatemala (Note 2) |
Special Administrative Regions and Territories
Overseas Territories of the United States
(Guam, Puerto Rico, etc.)
Curaçao, Jersey, Hong Kong
Aruba, Cayman Islands, Sint Maarten, Macau
Guernsey, Gibraltar
Overseas Territories of France
(French Polynesia, etc.)
Isle of Man
※参照：警視庁HP「ジュネーブ条約締約国等一覧」
