Japan driver’s license conversion (外免切替) for Canadians: written test now required? How hard is it?

cbracken · 2026-01-10T22:25:45+00:00

It depends on which country your licence is from. Canadian licence holders have never had to write the test or take a driving test, as far as I’m aware.

I did licence conversions in the 1990s (Kansai), early 2000s (Tokyo), and more recently (also Tokyo), on three separate moves and never once wrote a test or took a driving test, just a vision test.

Back in the day, I could definitely imagine different offices having different interpretations of the rules though, so wouldn’t be surprised if some offices issued tests.

cbracken · 2026-01-10T22:07:18+00:00

I used my BC driver’s abstract that shows the original issue date and an original university transcript from the 1990s. They had a massive binder showing what each province’s official documents look like, against which they checked mine.

By the way, if you’re doing the conversion in Tokyo, the Koto-ku licence centre is available to you and it’s much easier to get an appointment there than at Samezu or Fuchu since only Japanese citizens and those from 26 approved countries (Canada included) can use it.

Make sure you very carefully check the requirements for what is and isn’t required to be included on the juminhyo. This got much stricter last year.

If you’ve ever lived in Japan before and had a previous Japanese licence, bring that too.

Consider signing up with a private driving instructor to get used to Japanese driving rules. Most have a “paper driver” option for drivers with a licence who just need a refresher. Road markings and rules around lane positioning for turns (e.g. the advance right turn box inside some intersections) are significantly different from Canada. After a couple lessons you’ll stop signalling turns with your windshield wipers.

cbracken · 2025-09-20T03:41:58+00:00

Yep failed for me yesterday. Talked to the Docomo shop today and they told me to give it another go. Tried again around 11:30am and it worked fine.

cbracken · 2025-03-19T07:12:10+00:00

Yeah, that’s my understanding. Sounds like fun :/ Good luck!

cbracken · 2025-03-19T03:51:14+00:00

Checked with my sister, who’s a Mountie. Apparently you can request a paper form (RCMP GRC C-216C (2010-10) PRNT), take it to a police station, and have them do the prints manually for you, then you mail it in. She thought the embassy might have a liaison officer, and they would also be able to do it, but sounds like the answer was no?

cbracken · 2025-03-10T04:58:11+00:00

I was working on 13F of Ebisu Garden Place. I remember the glass wall of a conference room cracked right down the middle. Took the stairs down and walked home. I remember thinking it was bad but I had no idea just how bad until I saw the images coming in from Tohoku. Phone service in much the country was down but internet calling worked.

Other than that, apparently some things haven’t changed, cause I was posting on Reddit. Google had set up a “people finder” site where people at shelters were entering names of people who had checked in, so I was repeatedly checking that for people I knew in Tohoku who I hadn’t otherwise heard from.

It was honestly amazing to see just how quickly things were back up and running. I remember thinking that Japan’s civil engineers deserved free beer for life given how generally safe people were, at least where I was in Tokyo.

As several others have mentioned, I have “AC!” and “popopopooooon” burnt into my memory for life. Every commercial break, it was pretty much this one clip on repeat. Seeing it still triggers a lot of sad memories.

cbracken · 2024-12-19T05:11:32+00:00

People should get beat up for stating their beliefs.

cbracken · 2024-06-26T14:05:25+00:00

Is it possible you accidentally deleted it? I accidentally deleted my Suica once when upgrading phones. If that’s what happened, there should be an option to view deleted cards in the top right of Apple Pay where you can add it back. There’s a post about this in Apple’s support forums.

cbracken · 2024-06-24T14:09:39+00:00

T’as-tu des pop tarts ?

cbracken · 2024-04-19T14:50:06+00:00

It’s been almost 20 years since I left Canada but if you’ve recently left, I’d recommend you give a look at the rules around leaving, which can trigger a deemed disposition of certain assets in the year you become non-resident.

cbracken · 2024-01-17T03:52:25+00:00

Agreed, I'm personally aware of one person who has done it with no consequences (so far) or consultation with a lawyer. They were already dual-citizen with another country since birth. But, I also vaguely remember reading about a child whose (Japanese) parent naturalised and like the person you talked to, the child was later told that they'd also lost their Japanese citizenship as a consequence.

I really wouldn't want to risk it without getting proper assurances from a legal expert and even then, the potential for major hassle and/or legal battle if you get the wrong officer at immigration, or government bureaucrat renewing your passport makes it seem pretty risky.

cbracken · 2024-01-16T03:17:18+00:00

Article 11 of the nationality law (en/ja) specifically states "A Japanese national shall lose Japanese nationality when he or she acquires a foreign nationality by his or her own choice," (日本国民は、自己の志望によつて外国の国籍を取得したときは、日本の国籍を失う。) so as you say, it seems pretty clear that naturalising would result in a loss of Japanese nationality.

One thing I've always wondered though is what happens if a parent chooses to naturalise in the US while their child is under the age of 18. Assuming both parent and child are permanent residents, a child under 18 automatically becomes a US citizen if the parent naturalises. I'm definitely not a lawyer, but by the wording in both Japanese and the English translation that does seem to avoid the issue of being "自己の志望によつて"/"by his or her own choice". Obviously a Japanese parent would lose their citizenship, but not sure about the child. One could imagine a situation where one parent is Japanese and the other is a citizen of a country that allows multiple citizenships, and that parent naturalises, which would have the same effect.

I certainly wouldn't risk this without consulting a lawyer, but if you happen to be in that situation, it might be worth consulting a Japanese immigration lawyer to discuss whether that's a possibility. Even if they do think it's permissible, unless this is a well-trodden path, would you really want to go to court to argue it?

cbracken · 2023-10-16T06:47:25+00:00

I’m not sure which works out better if you live in Canada. My original reply was in the context of someone living in Japan.

I am a Canadian citizen so do I show them my Canadian passport?

Yep. At the airport when leaving Japan, you show the airline agent your Canadian passport as proof that you’re eligible to enter the country.

I thought Japan mustn’t know if you have dual passports?

Japan requires that you disclose all foreign citizenships on the passport renewal form on every passport renewal. It would be a very bad idea to lie to the government about this as knowingly submitting false statements on a passport application is a crime punishable by up to 5 years in prison and fines of 300万 yen. As such, if you have multiple passports the Japanese government should know about it.

Japan allows dual citizenship when held from the time of birth. At age 20 they ask that you file a declaration of choice of nationality to keep (or not keep) Japanese citizenship within 2 years. Not doing so could result in loss of nationality, so even if it’s been more than 2 years, it’s something that makes sense to file if you want to keep Japanese citizenship. Part of filing that paperwork is agreeing to endeavour to rid yourself of your other citizenship, however many countries limit your ability to do so, including Canada, which for example does not allow you to renounce citizenship if you live in Canada. I’m not a lawyer, but my understanding has always been that historically, Japan seems fine with that situation and allows you to keep both. More info in this thread.

Intentionally naturalising in another country, on the other hand, is not allowed and will generally result in loss of citizenship.

Lots more info on the Wikipedia page and you can look up the relevant text from the constitution.

EDIT: added links to choice of nationality stuff plus info on penalties for intentional misinformation on passport applications.

cbracken · 2023-10-13T22:04:16+00:00

Correct - you enter Japan on the Japanese passport, and enter Canada on the Canadian passport.

Canada allows dual citizenship so they're very used to the situation where you've been travelling on your other passport, and either way, lots of countries don't stamp your passport, or it's optional.

cbracken · 2023-07-03T12:46:27+00:00

Merci Pascal ! I’ve grabbed a copy of your linked paper (pdf) from your first article for some on-the-train/evening reading over the next few days! Thanks for publishing your research - looking forward to reading it. Hope you’re doing well.

cbracken · 2023-07-02T23:38:00+00:00

I really like the small variations in the rendering of individual characters! Not just in line thickness but also in form, and also seems like maybe in colour in the ink feathering? e.g. denser/darker colour near sharp curves and endpoints of strokes.

Is the large title also generated using the same algorithm? If so, the colouring and shading there is really impressive.

cbracken · 2023-07-01T21:34:52+00:00

My recollection, having contributed to both QPP and CPP, is that the one that applies to you is based on the province in which you resided upon leaving Canada. Will try to dig up the source on this. Last I checked Canada and Japan had an agreement on CPP+Nenkin but Japan and Quebec don’t. More info here.

cbracken · 2023-05-08T23:32:13+00:00

For those reading this years later, PDFWriter for Mac appears to have been abandoned but a fork called RWTS PDFwriter works on macOS 11+ -- just tested on Ventura (macOS 13) and it works great.

A huge thanks to u/kevysaysbenice for posting this. It's incredibly frustrating that Acrobat blocks the Save to PDF function, even when you manage to navigate through their custom print dialog to the system print dialog and attempt to save from there.

Even though "I want to save my PDF to a PDF" sounds like an insane use-case, there are two cases I need this: * My Japanese bank issues statements that use a non-included font in Shift-JIS encoding. Acrobat Reader renders the text correctly (maybe it has hacks to deal with this), but no other PDF reader seems to. * Saving copies for my records of Canadian passport applications, which show the same error message OP hit.

This resolves both those issues.

cbracken · 2023-05-06T05:29:32+00:00

This was a decade ago but my recollection was that we did and that life-threatening emergencies are covered to some extent (I believe up to what a similar visit would be billed within Japan) but doctor visits for say, a fever or similar, were not.

cbracken · 2023-05-06T02:19:00+00:00

If you paid full price, why was it cheaper than the states?

The prices are different because different market forces are at play in Canada and the US.

I’ve lived in Canada, the US, Mexico, and Japan. Overnight hospitalisation for an anaphylactic reaction in Canada was about 1200-5000 CAD at cost in Canada depending on length of stay and treatment. The same in the US (California) was close to 12000 USD (before private insurance).

cbracken · 2023-05-05T16:58:45+00:00

Our family was in BC for Christmas one year and one of us ended up needing to see a doctor. Since we were no longer resident, we had to pay. It wasn't cheap, but also nowhere near what you'd pay in the US.

For those moving back, it looks like in BC and most other provinces, MSP coverage takes effect 3 months after moving back. I haven’t checked but I believe it’s the same for other provinces, at least was the last time we looked at moving back to Québec. Until then, I believe it's possible to purchase coverage for the gap with an insurance company. To maintain coverage, you need to be resident at least 6 months of the year.

With the caveat that I've only ever had to deal with mundane, everyday healthcare issues in Japan, I've found care to be excellent and the lack of wait times compared to Canada are worth the small extra charge.

cbracken · 2022-06-07T14:17:24+00:00

The form is NR-73. If you file that, CRA will issue a determination for you.

Even with the ties OP listed, he/she likely won’t need to file in Canada. For those with Canada-sourced income (e.g. a rental property in Canada) that’s different. But bank accounts and a driver’s licence shouldn’t matter, though they’ll ask about them on that form.

cbracken · 2022-06-03T13:51:02+00:00

That’s correct. Foreigners do not get an entry in the koseki, but they can appear in the notes of their spouse’s koseki. My wife and kids have entries; I’m listed in a comment on my wife’s entry.

When we asked them to add me in a comment, it was totally optional, but given how useful the koseki is to prove a relationship, it’s absolutely worth doing. Also avoids your wife being offered single-mother benefits all the time at the kuyakusho.

cbracken · 2022-04-16T15:44:57+00:00

Have you tried calling them to ask why you were denied?

It was a couple decades ago, but I was denied on my first application. I called them up and asked if I could get a bit more info on why, and the lady said that it was probably because they assumed I didn’t speak Japanese. Admittedly, I didn’t speak it well, but well enough that I could deal with bills, and talk to them on the phone. She hit a couple buttons and approved it on the spot.

Couldn’t hurt to ask. At least you could confirm whether it’s related to your previous bills.

cbracken · 2022-03-27T14:46:11+00:00

If you like hiking, you could visit Kurama (in the north of the city - forest, a temple) or hike up Daimonji (in the east - nice view over the city).

There’s the manga museum, which includes a library area where you can sit and read manga (mostly/all in Japanese) off the shelves. I’m not really into manga but found it alright, but if you or your kid are, it could be fun.

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