Before you start

Residence registration and a residence card with your 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 whether your country is exempt from the practical test
A defined list — most of western Europe, Australia, Korea, Taiwan and others — converts without a driving test. If your country is not on it, expect a closed-course examination judged on Japanese procedural form. Check this before you plan anything else.
OnlineWho: You
2
Get the JAF translation of your licence
The Japan Automobile Federation issues the accepted translation, and it must come from JAF or your embassy — a private translation is refused. JAF has a Sapporo branch. Allow a week or two.
In personWho: You
3
Assemble the evidence for the three-month rule
You must show you were in the issuing country for at least three months after the licence was issued. Old passport stamps are the standard proof, which is a strong reason never to throw an expired passport away. This requirement stops more conversions than anything else.
In personWho: You
4
Apply at the Sapporo licence centre in Teine
The Hokkaido Prefectural Police run the application, eyesight check and knowledge test at the Teine centre. It is a long way from the centre by subway and bus, and the counters keep short weekday hours. Note the national tightening that took effect on 1 October 2025: a copy of your jūminhyō is now required, so short-stay visitors can no longer convert at all, and the knowledge check went from ten questions to fifty with a 90% pass mark. If a practical test is required, repeat bookings can take weeks.
In personWho: You
5
Buy studless winter tyres before the first snow, not after
The 1990 Spike Tyre Dust Prevention Act — which Sapporo's own dust problem helped bring about — ended manufacture and sale by early 1991 and prohibits studded tyres on bare road surfaces in designated areas, Sapporo among them. Studless is the only option you can actually buy. Fitting is booked out solid in late October, and driving on summer tyres in snow will be treated as an offence and will void a great deal of goodwill from your insurer.
In personWho: YouBy late October
6
Secure a parking space certificate before you buy a car
Registration requires a shakoshōmeisho — police confirmation of a designated off-street space within two kilometres of your home. In Sapporo add a winter question: is the space usable in February, and is it road-heated? An uncovered space needs shovelling before every departure for four months.
In personWho: 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

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 emigrating simply cannot convert, however experienced. Entry and exit stamps in old passports are the accepted evidence, so an expired passport is a document you keep, not one you throw away when the new one arrives.

Source: National Police Agency

Studded tyres are effectively outlawed, and that law exists partly because of Sapporo.

Spike tyres shredded road surfaces into airborne dust so severe that Sapporo and other snow cities recorded serious winter air quality problems, and the Spike Tyre Dust Prevention Act was passed in June 1990. Manufacturers stopped making them that December and stopped selling them the following March; use on bare road in designated areas — Sapporo included — has carried penalties since April 1992. Studless rubber is what you will actually buy. It is genuinely good on packed snow and genuinely poor on the polished black ice Sapporo produces during a thaw — which is why local drivers slow down in March, not January.

Source: Ministry of the Environment

A parking space that works in August may be unusable in February.

The shakoshōmeisho certifies that a space exists, not that you can get a car out of it. An uncovered Sapporo space accumulates snow all winter and needs clearing before every trip, and you cannot lawfully shovel it into the road. Road-heated or covered parking costs meaningfully more per month and is the reason many Sapporo residents keep a car for weekends and take the subway to work.

Source: City of Sapporo

A car does more for you in Sapporo than in any other big Japanese city, because the railway is retreating.

JR Hokkaido has been closing unprofitable rural lines for over a decade and more are under review, so much of the island is now only reachable by road. Inside Sapporo the subway, the tram and the underground walkway make a car optional. Outside it, the difference between having one and not having one is the difference between living in Hokkaido and living in Sapporo.

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.
Leaving winter tyres until the first snowfall, when every fitter in the city is booked out.
Buying a car before securing the parking certificate — and before checking the space works in winter.
Shovelling your snow into the public road, which is unlawful and reliably annoys the neighbourhood.

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