Driving licence

Licence validity, fees and classes

A Japanese licence's validity is not a flat number of years — it is counted in birthdays.

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Licence classes

Licence classes and the minimum age for each

Art. 84 of the Road Traffic Act divides the first-class licence into 10 classes, each with its own minimum age for the licence itself.

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Licence class	Minimum age	Prerequisite licence(s)
Large motor vehicle licence	21^※	None
Medium motor vehicle licence	20^※	Semi-medium motor vehicle licence, Ordinary motor vehicle licence, Large special-purpose vehicle licence
Semi-medium motor vehicle licence	18	None
Ordinary motor vehicle licence	18	None
Large special-purpose vehicle licence	18	None
Large motorcycle licence	18	None
Ordinary motorcycle licence	16	None
Small special-purpose vehicle licence	16	None
Moped licence	16	None
Towing licence	18	None

* For the large and medium licences, the minimum age may be reduced to 19 for a person who has completed training specified by Cabinet Order. Which training qualifies is not published in a form this site can cite, so it is not stated here.

The medium licence also carries a prior-holding-period condition

To obtain the medium licence, the applicant must already have held one of the prerequisite licences above for at least 2 years (or 1 year, if a Cabinet-Order specified training course was completed) — a holding-PERIOD condition the "prerequisite licence(s)" column above does not itself show.

the Road Traffic Act, art. 96(3)

How long the licence runs

Validity runs by a COUNT of birthdays, not a fixed number of years

Art. 95-6 of the Road Traffic Act does not fix the licence document's validity to a flat number of years or a terminal age. Instead it runs a table, keyed on the holder's driving-record class and their age at renewal, that states how many of the holder's FUTURE birthdays must pass — plus a one-month grace period — before the document expires. Because that reference point moves with each renewal, two holders who are both "under 70" can have validity periods differing by close to a year, depending on how close their renewal date falls to their own birthday.

Excellent/general driver, under 70 at renewal
Valid until the 5th birthday after renewal, plus a 1-month grace period.
the Road Traffic Act, art. 95-6
Excellent/general driver, exactly 70 at renewal
Valid until the 4th birthday after renewal, plus a 1-month grace period.
the Road Traffic Act, art. 95-6
Excellent/general driver, 71 or over at renewal
Valid until the 3rd birthday after renewal, plus a 1-month grace period.
the Road Traffic Act, art. 95-6
Violator driver (any age)
Valid until the 3rd birthday after renewal, plus a 1-month grace period.
the Road Traffic Act, art. 95-6

This table applies uniformly to both first- and second-class licence documents — the article does not distinguish by vehicle category.

Fees

The examination fee

Ordinary-licence examination fee (national standard)

¥2,500

the Road Traffic Act Enforcement Order (Cabinet Order), art. 43

What is actually payable is fixed by each prefecture's own ordinance

Art. 112(1) requires each of Japan's 47 prefectures to fix its own actual fee by its own ordinance, using the national standard above as the basis it is built from. No individual prefecture's ordinance is cited by this site, so this page does not state a single amount as "what you will actually pay" — that depends on which prefecture administers the test.

the Road Traffic Act, art. 112(1)

After the licence is issued

The novice period, and renewal

The semi-medium, ordinary, large-motorcycle, ordinary-motorcycle and moped licences each carry a 1-year novice period after issue (time the licence was suspended does not count). A violation during that period reaching a Cabinet-Order-specified points threshold triggers a mandatory retest; not appearing for it, or failing it, leads to revocation. The specific points threshold and the revocation sub-paragraph are not published in a form this site can cite, so they are not stated here.

There is no separate medical certificate with its own validity cycle. The same eyesight/aptitude standard is applied both at initial application and again at every renewal — the licence document's own expiry, per the table above, is the entitlement's expiry.

the Road Traffic Act, art. 108 ／ the Road Traffic Act Enforcement Regulations (Ministerial Ordinance), art. 23 ／ the Road Traffic Act, art. 95-6

The licensing authority

Who issues this licence

The Prefectural Public Safety Commission with territorial jurisdiction over the applicant's address grants the licence and sets the examination standard. In practice the prefectural police administer the test on the Commission's behalf, but the Act names the Commission, not the police, as the authority.

the Road Traffic Act, art. 84(1) ／ the Road Traffic Act, art. 89(1)