Before you start

Residence registration and a residence card with the address on the back
Your foreign licence with an official Japanese translation from JAF or the issuing embassy
Proof you were physically present in the issuing country for at least three months after the licence was issued
A jūminhyō residence certificate

Step-by-step

1
Check the exemption list before planning anything
A defined list of countries — most of western Europe, Australia, Korea, Taiwan and others — converts without a practical test. If yours is not on it, expect a closed-course examination and budget for more than one attempt. Check this first because it changes the whole timeline.
OnlineWho: You
2
Get the JAF translation
The Japan Automobile Federation issues the accepted Japanese translation of a foreign licence, and it must come from JAF or your embassy — a private translation is refused. JAF's Aichi branch handles it. Allow a week or two.
In personWho: You
3
Assemble evidence for the three-month presence rule
You must show you were in the issuing country for at least three months after the licence was issued. Entry and exit stamps in old passports are the accepted proof, so keep expired passports. This requirement blocks more applications than anything else in the process.
In personWho: You
4
Apply at the Hirabari licence centre
Aichi's main centre is at Hirabari in Tempaku-ku, reachable on the Tsurumai subway line plus a bus, with a second centre at Toyokawa for the eastern half of the prefecture. Application, eyesight check and the knowledge test happen there, on weekday mornings only. Since 1 October 2025 the procedure has been tightened nationally: a copy of your jūminhyō is required, so short-stay visitors can no longer convert, and the knowledge check went from ten questions to fifty with a 90% pass mark.
In personWho: You
5
Secure a parking space certificate before you buy a car
Registration requires a shakoshōmeisho, a police certificate confirming a designated off-street space within two kilometres of your home. There is no legal overnight street parking anywhere in Japan. In Nagoya a monthly space is comparatively cheap, which is a large part of why so many households here own two cars.
In personWho: You
6
Budget for shaken, tolls and an ETC card
The shaken roadworthiness inspection falls due every two years and is expensive. Expressway tolls across the Chubu network add up quickly, and the ETC transponder card that discounts them requires a Japanese credit card — which in turn requires the bank account, which requires ward registration.
OnlineWho: You

Documents you’ll need

Foreign driving licence
JAF or embassy translation
Passport, including expired ones showing the three-month presence
Residence card and jūminhyō
Passport photographs

Things most newcomers don’t know

Aichi held the worst road death record in Japan for sixteen consecutive years, and the underlying exposure has not changed.

From 2003 to 2018 no prefecture killed more people on its roads. Deaths have since fallen a long way — 112 in 2025, an all-time low, putting Aichi outside the worst five — but the prefecture is still third nationally for injury collisions behind Tokyo and Osaka, and the causes of that are structural rather than cultural: extremely high car dependence, wide fast arterials including Nagoya's hundred-metre boulevards, and a large share of long-distance commuting. Drive here assuming right-turning traffic will not wait for you.

Source: Aichi Prefectural Police

The three-month presence rule blocks more conversions than the driving test does.

You must prove you were physically in the country that issued your licence for at least three months after issue. Someone who obtained a licence shortly before relocating simply cannot convert, whatever their experience. Old passport stamps are the standard evidence, which makes an expired passport a document to keep rather than one to discard when the new one arrives.

Source: National Police Agency

The practical test assesses Japanese form, not whether you can drive.

Applicants from non-exempt countries face a closed-course examination scoring exaggerated mirror and shoulder checks, precise lane positioning, a crank course and an S-curve. Drivers with decades of clean experience fail on the first attempt routinely, because they are being marked on procedure rather than safety. If your country is not exempt, take one lesson at a Japanese school before booking — it is cheaper than three re-tests.

Source: community-reported

Living without a car is easy in Nagoya and hard in the rest of Aichi, and the job decides which you are.

The city's six subway lines plus Meitetsu and Kintetsu make central Nagoya as car-free as any Japanese city. The tier-one supplier plants at Kariya, Anjō, Ōbu and Toyota mostly are not on a useful line and start earlier than the trains are convenient. Ask where you will physically work before deciding whether to convert your licence, not after.

Source: community-reported

Common mistakes to avoid

Discarding an old passport and losing the evidence for the three-month presence rule.
Assuming your country is exempt from the practical test without checking the list.
Buying a car before obtaining the parking space certificate.
Underestimating the two-yearly shaken inspection when budgeting for ownership.
Driving Aichi's wide arterials with the assumptions you brought from a European city.

Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.