Getting a Foreign License Conversion Appointment in Tokyo
Getting a Japanese driver's license based on your foreign driver's license is called a driver's license conversion — gaimen kirikae (外免切替) in Japanese. For those who have to take the shortened written and practical driving test in Tokyo*, the first step is getting a document check and written test appointment (done the same day) at the Samezu (鮫洲) or Fuchu (府中) test centers. You can book this appointment online, but slots are scarce, disappear in minutes, and the booking site does not send you a push notification when something opens.
Our Gaimen Hunter watches the Tokyo reservation site and notifies you when a slot that matches your preferences shows up on the reservation site.
From watching the reservation site for a while, we got a few insights into appointments at the Tokyo test centers.
Two kinds of openings: new releases vs likely cancellations
Tokyo's new calendar openings—in our data—show up about ~60 days ahead, not the 90+ days you sometimes hear anecdotally.
Any opening much earlier than that is likely a cancellation: someone released a slot they no longer need. In a month of looking, we only saw 6 cancellations (4.9%) show up out of 122 total appointment slots.
Appointment Slot Snapshot
- Slots discovered in one month: 122
- Likely cancellations (slots less than 50 days out): 6 (4.9%)
- Median time until no longer seen: 19 hours
- Median lead time for bulk releases: 60 days
What appointments are in high demand?
Most folks are obviously not morning people, as the 13:00 time slots go the quickest and 08:30 the slowest. Samezu is the more popular location.
It's also obvious from the data that folks jump on the cancellations almost as soon as they appear — in less than an hour.
If you want those prime afternoon slots or cancellations, Gaimen Hunter will notify you of those so you don't have to waste time constantly refreshing the very frustrating reservation website — let the machine do that for you. Unlike other services, we will notify you for free.
Further reading
* Lucky folks who can get a conversion without taking the tests can go ahead book their appointments easily on the reservation site. They don't appear to be scarce.