Are you exempt from the tests?
This is the first thing to settle. Licenses issued by 29 countries and regions are exempt from both the knowledge check and the driving skills check — the procedure becomes paperwork and an eyesight test. Everyone else takes both.
Exempt from both tests
- Iceland
- Ireland
- United Kingdom
- Italy
- Australia
- Austria
- Netherlands
- Canada
- South Korea
- Greece
- Switzerland
- Sweden
- Spain
- Slovenia
- Czech Republic
- Denmark
- Germany
- New Zealand
- Norway
- Hungary
- Finland
- France
- Belgium
- Poland
- Portugal
- Monaco
- Luxembourg
- Taiwan
United States: only licenses from Ohio, Oregon, Colorado, Virginia, Hawaii, Maryland, Washington are on the list. A license from any other state is not exempt.
Licenses issued by these countries and regions are exempt from both the knowledge check and the driving skills test. For the United States, only the states listed here are exempt — a license from any other state is not. Source: Tokyo Metropolitan Police — conversion procedure
If your country is not listed
You take the knowledge check — 50 True/False questions, 45 correct to pass — and then the driving skills check on a separate day. That is what this site is built for.
The list is reproduced from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police page as it stood on 25 August 2026. Designations can change, and your license center makes the final decision on your individual case — confirm before you build a plan around being exempt.