{"id":178629,"date":"2026-07-10T11:23:50","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T02:23:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/?post_type=news&#038;p=178629&#038;lang=en"},"modified":"2026-07-10T11:23:50","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T02:23:50","slug":"foreign-driver-license-project-begins-in-oita","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/news\/foreign-driver-license-project-begins-in-oita\/","title":{"rendered":"Foreign Driver License Project Begins in Oita"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A new project in Oita City aims to help address the transportation industry\u2019s driver shortage by supporting foreign drivers through Japan\u2019s driver\u2019s license conversion process. Announced on July 7, the initiative brings together four organizations, including a staffing company and a vocational training school. Foreign nationals seeking professional driving jobs in Japan must convert their home-country licenses, but the process became more stringent in October 2025, cutting pass rates by about half. Under the program, participants from countries including Myanmar and India will receive recruitment and pre-departure training before studying traffic regulations and practical driving skills in Oita. Practical training is scheduled to begin next spring, with organizers aiming for participants to obtain Japanese licenses within about two months of arriving in Japan. <strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/newsdig.tbs.co.jp\/articles\/obs\/2786105?display=1\" target=\"_blank\">OBS News<\/a> \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/tosonline.jp\/news\/20260707\/00000004.html\" target=\"_blank\">TOS News<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/fnn_fukuoka-drivers-license-center_2026_WEB.jpeg?resize=1400%2C1050&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"1400\" height=\"1050\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-178630\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/fnn_fukuoka-drivers-license-center_2026_WEB.jpeg?w=1400&amp;ssl=1 1400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/fnn_fukuoka-drivers-license-center_2026_WEB.jpeg?resize=300%2C225&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/fnn_fukuoka-drivers-license-center_2026_WEB.jpeg?resize=1024%2C768&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/fnn_fukuoka-drivers-license-center_2026_WEB.jpeg?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><br \/>\nPhoto: Fukuoka Now (for image purposes only)<\/p>\n<p>Get Fukuoka and Kyushu\u2019s top stories delivered to your inbox. The Now is Fukuoka Now\u2019s free biweekly newsletter featuring local news, events, culture, business, and community updates in English. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/mailmagazine\/\">Subscribe to The Now<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Summaries based on public content, errors may occur during translation. Images credited independently. Send feedback using <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/contact\/\">this <strong>form<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new project in Oita City aims to help address the transportation industry\u2019s driver shortage by supporting foreign drivers through Japan\u2019s driver\u2019s license conversion process&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30292,"featured_media":178630,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"class_list":["post-178629","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","location-oita-prefecture","news-category-general","en-US"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/178629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178629"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}