Aimed at easing the severe labor shortage in the transportation industry, this is an effort to lower barriers for foreigners who have difficulty with the driver's license exam, which is conducted only in Japanese.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department in late April began offering English-language exams for Class 2 commercial licenses, required for passenger transport, to applicants at three testing centers in the capital. While the regular Class 1 driver's license test has been available in English for some time, the Class 2 test was previously only offered in Japanese, making it difficult for foreigners. Aichi Prefectural Police in central Japan also started offering the Class 2 test in English this week. Fukuoka Prefectural Police in northern Kyushu began offering the test in Vietnamese, English, Chinese and Nepali at the end of March.
About 50% of applicants for Class 2 licenses pass the exam. They are required to familiarize themselves with not only traffic laws but also passenger transport standards. Of all Class 2 license holders for ordinary and large vehicles, 6,689 were foreign nationals – less than 1% – by the end of 2023, according to the National Police Agency.
Japan's taxi and bus industries, as well as its logistics industry, are facing a severe driver shortage. The overall shortage is expected to reach about 67,000 and 22,000 drivers, respectively, by 2029. To address the problem, the National Police Agency has translated sample questions for the Class 2 driver's license into 20 languages and distributed them to all police stations to make it easier for more foreigners to take the exam.
Hinomaru Kotsu, a major taxi company in Tokyo, started hiring foreign drivers in 2010 and had about 120 such drivers from 29 countries as of the end of April. A company official said Japanese is a big barrier for foreign applicants even if they have all the other necessary knowledge, so the language test options would be “very effective.”
The Japanese government has announced plans to accept up to 24,500 foreign drivers under a skilled worker visa program from 2024 to 2028.
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