A spike in road accidents involving tourists is creating another flash point for overtourism in Japan. To add fuel to the fire, local media is now reporting on a phenomenon that most people didn’t know existed. It seems there’s a way for some tourists to get Japanese driver’s licenses. Here’s why Chinese and other foreign tourists are lining up outside of local licensing offices to snag one.
Driving in Japan
Most people who move to Japan have to obtain a Japanese driver’s license if they want to drive here. There are two ways to do this.
The first is to do what everyone else in Japan does – take the knowledge and driving tests and qualify for a license. (The driving test itself is notoriously difficult. I’ve heard from multiple fellow immigrants who say they’ve had to take it multiple times before passing.) First-time drivers will generally need to display a “beginner mark” on any car they drive.
The other option is to perform a license exchange. License holders from around 20-some countries as well as seven of the United States (Ohio, Oregon, Colorado, Virginia, Hawaii, Maryland, and Washington State) can obtain a driver’s license without taking a driving test due to reciprocal licensing agreements between these governments and Japan.
License-holders from Belgium, France, Germany, Monaco, Switzerland, and Taiwan may drive in Japan with their originally issued licenses, so long as they carry an authorized translation with them.
So what about travelers? Tourists who wish to drive in Japan while visiting must obtain an international driver’s permit from their country of origin before departing for their trip. Japan recognizes international permits from the 101 countries that are party to the 1949 Geneva Convention.
Using a hotel address to get a driver’s license?
One country that isn’t party to that convention? China. A Chinese driver’s license is only honored in around ten countries. That’s obviously a huge inconvenience for Chinese frequent travelers.
However, there’s a workaround. And Chinese tourists are rushing to take advantage of it.
Typically, when obtaining a driver’s license, you have to submit a copy of your residence certificate (住民票; juuminhyou). This is an official document issued by your city hall verifying your address in Japan.
Chinese tourists, however, are asking the hotels where they stay to issue them a Temporary Leave Permit (一時帰国証明書; ichiji kikoku shoumeisho). This is a document stating the bearer is residing at the specified location in Japan. Some hotels, such as the Business in Grandeur in Fuchuu, Tokyo, will gladly fill these forms out for guests for free.
The procedure appears designed to accommodate Japanese citizens who are currently living abroad. However, multiple Chinese citizens interviewed by FNN say they’ve used it to obtain a Japanese driver’s license.
The procedure merely involves passing a 10-question written exam – which is available in Mandarin and 23 other languages. Test takers must get seven out of ten questions right.
There are currently so many tourists trying to obtain a driver’s license that travelers generally have to leave Japan and come back on a second visa to take the test. FNN recorded footage of tourists waiting all night to submit applications in front of a driver’s license office.
Accidents caused by Chinese drivers are on the rise
Why go through all this trouble? Well, for one, it means you can drive freely in Japan. Chinese visitors make up some six million of Japan’s yearly tourists, placing China only second behind South Korea in Japan travel.
However, the bigger benefit is that Japan has signed onto the Geneva Convention’s driving accords. That means Chinese citizens can use their Japanese driver’s license to obtain international driving permits for over 100 other countries.
Some are concerned that the policy is leading to more accidents here in Japan. As more people visit the country, the number of accidents involving foreigners is increasing. Last year saw 1,571 car accidents caused by people of Chinese nationality – an increase of 159 over the previous year.
There have even been some high-profile accidents involving, of all things, go-karts. A Chinese tourist caused an accident back in April while participating in one of Tokyo’s hated go-kart road tours. (In that case, the tourist in question didn’t have a valid license for Japan. As a result, the owner of the go-kart company is now facing charges.)
Japanese net users ask: Why is this allowed?
I hesitated to write about this story at first. Some people in Japan love to use news like this to stoke resentment and racial hatred against Chinese and Koreans. It also, honestly, seemed too preposterous to be true.
The more reports I saw, however, the more I wondered why this is even allowed. It’s one thing to allow license exchange for Japanese residents who pay taxes, have jobs, and rent or own property here. It’s quite another to hand them out willy-nilly to anyone who passes a ten-question written test.
Many commenters on Yahoo! News Japan agreed, expressing shock that anyone could get a Japanese driver’s license using a hotel’s address.
“The more people who drive in Japan without knowledge of Japan’s rules, the more likely accidents are to happen,” writes journalist Nakajima Kei.
Cracking down
Nakajima argues that Chinese and Japanese road laws and customs are “very different.” She also says that this could lead to more accidents involving Chinese citizens in other countries. Since those drivers can obtain international driving permits with their Japanese licenses, that could end up reflecting negatively on Japan.
I couldn’t find much recent data on rental car accidents. The data I could find from 2018 shows that, on average, tourists cause more rental car accidents than either Japanese citizens or resident immigrants.
Japan’s media has focused on Chinese tourists, given the spike in accidents involving travelers from China. But this is apparently a giant loophole that visitors of any nationality can exploit. It’s just that visitors from China are more motivated to jump through the hurdles required, given how valuable a Japanese driver’s license is for their future travel plans.
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交通事故激増中なのに…！中国人が「日本の運転免許」を取得する「ありえないほど簡単な方法」. Gendai Business
