{"id":1810,"date":"2014-01-09T06:35:34","date_gmt":"2014-01-08T21:35:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/international-driving-permit-idp-from-japan\/"},"modified":"2025-08-28T11:35:37","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T02:35:37","slug":"international-driving-permit-idp-from-japan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/en\/international-driving-permit-idp-from-japan\/","title":{"rendered":"Obtaining an International Driving Permit (IDP) in Japan"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><center><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-8831 aligncenter\" style=\"margin: 6px;\" src=\"http:\/\/japaninfoswap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Japan-driver-license.gif\" alt=\"Japan-driver-license\" width=\"460\" height=\"313\" \/><\/center><\/div>\n<p>You can get an <strong>In<\/strong><b>ternational Driving Permit (IDP)<\/b> based on your Japanese driver\u2019s license. The permit is valid for one year from the date of issue and must be used in conjunction with your Japanese License.\u00a0 The process of getting an IDP generally takes one hour, and requires a visit to a license center within the prefecture you live during business hours.<\/p>\n<p>Please note that license centers may offer this service only during specific times, or on specific days.\u00a0 Addittionally, while the requirements should remain the same, procedures at each license center will vary, so please be aware that your specific location may be different from what is detailed here.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\" align=\"right\">Find your local<a href=\"http:\/\/www.japandriverslicense.com\/dl-centers.asp\"> license center here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2><b>You Will Need:<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Japanese Driver\u2019s License<\/li>\n<li>Proof of overseas travel &#8211; passport, passport photocopy (ID page) , airline ticket, etc. (all digital copies must be printed on paper)<\/li>\n<li>One photo, about 5 x 4 cm (the photos from the machine at license center are fine)<\/li>\n<li>Inkan (this isn\u2019t necessary for non-Japanese, but if you have one it is handy)<\/li>\n<li>2,350 yen<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>At the License Center: <\/b><\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>Buy your application, you should ask for a \u201cKokugai Menkyo (\u56fd\u5916\u514d\u8a31)\u201d.<\/li>\n<li>Fill out your application; there may be sample applications available\u00a0 to help you.<\/li>\n<li>Turn in your completed application, along with your license, passport, and photo at the correct window.<\/li>\n<li>They will take all of these and ask you to sit down; in about 15-20 minutes they will call your name at the window.<\/li>\n<li>Go back up and you will receive your IDP, license and passport. You will need to stamp the application form with your inkan to show that you have received it. If you do not have your inkan with you they will ask you to sign for it.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>You can find additional information on IDPs and Japanese Driver&#8217;s Licenses through the following links<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\">Using <a title=\"International Drivers Licenses in Japan\" href=\"http:\/\/japaninfoswap.com\/international-drivers-licenses-in-japan\/\">International Drivers Licenses in Japan<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><a title=\"Converting your Foreign License to a Japanese Driver\u2019s License\" href=\"http:\/\/japaninfoswap.com\/converting-your-foreign-license-to-a-japanese-drivers-license\/\">Converting your Foreign License to a Japanese Driver\u2019s License<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You can get an International Driving Permit (IDP) based on your Japanese driver\u2019s license. The permit is valid for one year from the date of issue and must be used in conjunction with your Japanese License.\u00a0 The process of getting an IDP generally takes one hour, and requires a visit to a license center within [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":1808,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[60,134,135,61,37],"tags":[78,136,62],"class_list":["post-1810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hr-group","category-japan-drivers-license","category-lease-japan","category-relo-japan","category-tokyo-2","tag-cars-and-driving","tag-international-drivers-license-idp","tag-login"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1810"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1810\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51218,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1810\/revisions\/51218"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hrcjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}