{"id":49,"date":"2026-01-10T21:39:05","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T12:39:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmatsuura.com\/bloge\/?p=49"},"modified":"2026-01-10T21:39:05","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T12:39:05","slug":"renewing-drivers-license-in-japan-saitama-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmatsuura.com\/bloge\/2026\/01\/10\/renewing-drivers-license-in-japan-saitama-style\/","title":{"rendered":"Renewing driver’s license in Japan, Saitama style"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In Japan, a driver\u2019s license is usually valid for five years. That means, every five years, we have to go through the renewal process, with the deadline set on the license holder\u2019s fifth birthday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few days ago, I received the renewal notice from Saitama Prefectural Police.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

When I flipped the postcard over and saw the map on the back, I felt a small jolt of fear. According to it, I might<\/em> have to go all the way to the main “licensing center” in K\u014dnosu City, in Saitama Prefecture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Typically, each prefecture has only one such “licensing center.” If you live far from it, that can easily mean an hour or more of travel each way just to renew your license. K\u014dnosu sits more or less in the geographic center of Saitama, but for those of us living in the southern part of the prefecture, it feels quite far away. Since most people in Saitama live in the south, largely because of its proximity to central Tokyo, going to K\u014dnosu inevitably turns into a bit of a journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s pretty unreasonable. But at the same time, it may also function as a kind of \u201csoft law\u201d: behave yourself for five years and you\u2019re rewarded with the convenience of renewing your license at a nearby police station. Get caught committing an infraction, and you\u2019re sent to the distant central facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was fairly sure I hadn\u2019t been caught doing anything over the past five years\u2026 so I opened the postcard, slightly nervously…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…and discovered that I can<\/em> renew my license at my local station. Relief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

These days, it\u2019s also possible to merge your driver\u2019s license with Japan\u2019s My Number<\/em> (\u201cMyna\u201d) card. In theory, that sounds modern and convenient. In practice, though, the benefits seem minimal. The fee is a bit cheaper, but the process takes longer than simply having a conventional license card printed. Which basically means spending extra time sitting around at a police station, not exactly everyone’s idea of efficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, I\u2019m glad I don\u2019t have to make the long trip to K\u014dnosu, more than an hour away from home. Still, part of me thinks that a day trip to the northern part of the prefecture might not have been so bad… a bowl of local udon <\/em>noodle, a change of scenery, and a short break from the usual busy routine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Japan, a driver\u2019s license is usually valid for five years. That means, every five years, we have to go through the renewal process, with the deadline set on the license holder\u2019s fifth birthday. A few days ago, I received the renewal notice from Saitama Prefectural Police. When I flipped the postcard over and saw […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-49","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-japan","category-transport"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmatsuura.com\/bloge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmatsuura.com\/bloge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmatsuura.com\/bloge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmatsuura.com\/bloge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmatsuura.com\/bloge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mmatsuura.com\/bloge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54,"href":"https:\/\/mmatsuura.com\/bloge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49\/revisions\/54"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmatsuura.com\/bloge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmatsuura.com\/bloge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmatsuura.com\/bloge\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}