How to Get Foreign Newspaper Scholarship Students a Moped License | Working Backwards from the Start Date, and the Test Languages Each Prefecture Offers (2026 Edition)

A guide to choosing the route that fits the placement prefecture, counting back from the start date

In newspaper delivery work, a moped license is an almost essential requirement. Moreover, many scholarship associations recommend getting it before the start date. In other words, the license is not a task for after starting, but a condition for starting itself.

When accepting international students as newspaper scholarship students, how you plan this license directly decides whether they can be placed on schedule.

This article is for staff at newspaper distributors, scholarship associations and placement agencies. It sorts out how to choose the route and a schedule counted back from the start date.

*This article is based on information as of September 2026. Rules, exam languages and fees can change. Before starting the procedures, always check with the police or driver's license center in the prefecture where the person will take the exam.

Is there a driving test for a moped license?

First, a common misunderstanding. No practical driving test is required for a moped license. This is the same whether the person gets a new license at the driver's license center or through license conversion.

In license conversion, people normally take a driving skills test (a test where you actually drive) in addition to the knowledge test. But when applying for a moped license, the driving skills test is not required. The moped training course is not required either.

👉 The judgment "avoid license conversion because the practical test is hard" does not apply to mopeds. What you should compare are 3 points: pass rate, exam languages and the order of procedures.

How many ways are there to get a moped license?

👉 The deciding point is "whether the scholarship student can take the written exam in their native language in the prefecture where they are placed". If they can, a new license with its higher pass rate is better. If they cannot, license conversion, which can be taken in 20 languages, is more realistic.

When the start date is fixed, what should come first?

For newspaper scholarship students, the start date is decided in advance. That is why "how many months it takes" matters more than "what the pass rate is".

A new license at the driver's license center is often chosen for these reasons.

• Reservations are easy to get — in many areas, the exam can be taken within 1 month

• Only 1 reservation is needed — license conversion takes 2 stages: the document review and the knowledge test

• It can be obtained without a home country license — international students often do not have a license in their home country, and in that case license conversion is not even an option

On the other hand, retakers of the license conversion knowledge test have increased since the rule change, and in some areas the wait is 1 to 3 months. If there is not much time before the start date, this waiting time decides the choice.

Which languages is the moped written exam available in?

Since June 2024, 20-language support has been spreading nationwide, but it covers the written exams for Class 1 and Class 2 licenses and the provisional license, and the license conversion knowledge test. The moped license written exam is decided by each prefecture on its own, and is handled differently. (Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, "Written exams available in foreign languages")

The placement is decided by where the newspaper distributor is. Even within the Tokyo area, the available exam languages change when the prefecture changes.

For example, if a Myanmar speaker is placed at a distributor in Kanagawa, they cannot take the moped written exam in their native language. In this case, if the person has a license from their home country, getting a moped license through license conversion, available in 20 languages, becomes a useful option. There is neither a driving skills test nor a moped training course, so the only Japanese-language barrier is the 50-question knowledge test.

👉 Check the exam languages of the prefecture before deciding the placement. Some prefectures are moving the moped exam to 20 languages, so do not decide based on last year's information.

👉 We have a separate article with a list of the exam languages in all 47 prefectures. For prefectures without information on their official pages, we confirmed by calling the driver's license center. It can also be used as material to give to the person. It is written for the person taking the exam and covers the required documents, fees and the flow on the day.

If you choose license conversion, where do people get stuck?

License conversion has steps that getting a new license at the driver's license center does not. Before the knowledge test, there is a document review.

The document review also needs a reservation

First, reserve the document review, and after passing it, move on to the knowledge test. Some prefectures let people take the knowledge test on the same day they pass the document review, while in others the knowledge test is on a separate day. If it is on a separate day, the time until getting the license gets longer by that much.

What happens if the documents are incomplete?

If the documents are incomplete, the application is not accepted on the spot, and the person must start again from making a reservation. They cannot even move on to the knowledge test. The main required documents are as follows (Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department).

• Foreign driver's license (within its validity period)

• Japanese translation of the driver's license — made by ZIPLUS, JAF (Japan Automobile Federation) or a similar organization

• Copy of the certificate of residence (juminhyo) — showing nationality, residence status, residence period expiry date, residence card number and other items

• Residence card and passport — an old passport may be needed to confirm a stay of 3 months or more in that country after getting the license

• 1 photo — 3 cm tall × 2.4 cm wide, taken within 6 months

ZIPLUS can make the Japanese translation of the driver's license

Of the required documents, the one most often missing, and the one the host side can prepare in advance, is the "Japanese translation of the driver's license". If it is left to the scholarship student, they may reach the day without knowing where to ask, and get stuck at the document review.

ZIPLUS Co., Ltd., which runs Drivey, also makes this translation.

• Study and document preparation are handled through one contact — there is no need to arrange materials and documents separately

• You can request for several people at once — when accepting 10 or 20 people at a time, this is more reliable than each person arranging it separately

• You can start before entry — if you do it at the same time as starting study, the person can go to the document review soon after entering Japan

👉 Getting stuck on the translation and having to rebook is the most wasteful kind of delay in license conversion. For newspaper scholarship students with a fixed start date, this one delay affects the placement itself.

👉 If you choose license conversion, first check what the knowledge test asks. We have published an article on the exam content, pass rate and preparation and practice questions (with answers and explanations) in the actual question format. People from different countries get stuck in different places, so knowing the person's weak points before they arrive speeds up preparation.

Which countries are exempt from the tests?

In license conversion, both the knowledge test and the driving skills test may be waived depending on the country where the license was obtained. The following 29 countries and regions are covered (Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department).

Iceland / Ireland / United States (only Ohio, Oregon, Colorado, Virginia, Hawaii, Maryland and Washington) / United Kingdom / Italy / Australia / Austria / Netherlands / Canada / South Korea / Greece / Switzerland / Sweden / Spain / Slovenia / Czech Republic / Denmark / Germany / New Zealand / Norway / Hungary / Finland / France / Belgium / Poland / Portugal / Monaco / Luxembourg / Taiwan

None of the main countries of newspaper scholarship students — Vietnam, Myanmar, China, Nepal, Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh — are included. So they will always take the 50-question knowledge test.

A schedule counted back from the start date

The license is a condition for starting, so count back from the start date. This is a guide for getting a new license at the driver's license center.

If you choose license conversion, add the document review reservation and 1 to 3 months of waiting. First check whether it will be in time, counting back from the start date.

If the person fails, this backward schedule breaks down. The exam fee must be paid again, and the reservation must be made again.

The moped written exam is not an exam you can pass "without studying"

• 48 questions, 50 points in total (46 text questions + 2 illustration questions); you pass with 45 points or more (90%) (Kanagawa Prefectural Police)

• The pass rate is 58.7%

• According to National Police Agency statistics, 162,668 people took the exam in a year and 95,495 passed. Put the other way, 67,173 people failed

The pass line is a high 90%, and most questions are text questions. Even if the person can take the exam in their native language, they will not reach it without an accurate understanding of Japanese traffic rules.

Lost points concentrate on "differences from home country practice"

• Japan drives on the left — it is easy to confuse the direction of signs and how right and left turns work

• Pedestrian priority at crosswalks — the rule is "if a pedestrian is about to cross, always stop"

• Always stop at railroad crossings, open the window and check for safety — this is handled very differently from country to country

• The definition of "going slow (jokou)" — it means moving at a speed at which you can stop immediately, which is different from "driving slowly"

If the person starts by memorizing Japanese, they fall apart when the wording changes even slightly. Understanding "why that rule exists" in the native language gives them the ability to handle questions they see for the first time.

Practical tips when handling several people together

Fees (Tokyo, as of September 2026)

Fees are based on Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, "Moped license exam". If the person fails, the exam fee is charged again. When 10 or 20 people are processed at a time, applying the 58.7% pass rate as-is means about 40% will need to retake. The quality of preparation feeds directly into costs and schedules.

Keep progress visible

When several people are handled at the same time, it becomes hard to see "who has studied how far". If you rely on self-reports, lack of preparation comes to light just before the exam. This is even more true when people study before entry: the host side needs a way to check the progress of people in a distant place.

About the Drivey corporate plan

Drivey's corporate services are a corporate platform that completes written driving exam preparation and safe driving education online and "makes visible" progress and results. It is run by ZIPLUS Co., Ltd., which also makes Japanese translations of driver's licenses.

Study can start 2 months before entry

With internet access and a device, people can start studying while still in their home country. On the corporate admin screen, the host side can check remotely who has progressed how far. Compared with handing out materials after entry, the margin before the start date is completely different.

Supports both mopeds and license conversion

It supports the moped license course, license conversion course, provisional license course, regular license course and Class 2 license, so preparation can start before the route is decided. Even if you "check the exam languages of the placement prefecture and then decide the route", study does not stop.

6 languages

Japanese, English, Chinese, Vietnamese, Indonesian and Myanmar. Learners can understand the meaning of Japanese traffic rules in their native language before the real exam. There is also Japanese with furigana, so people taking the exam in Japanese can study without getting stuck on kanji.

Corporate admin screen

What learners study

• Videos — situations that text alone cannot convey, such as stopping at crosswalks and passing railroad crossings, can be seen on video

• Interactive Q&A — one question, one answer to check that knowledge sticks

• Understanding checks and mock exams — from road sign tests to timed mock exams, measure ability in the same format as the real exam

• Beyond getting the license — also covers knowledge directly tied to life and safety in delivery work, such as hazard prediction, traffic ethics and manners

Prices (tax included, per license per month)

Corporate plans include the corporate admin screen. For the "License Conversion Peace-of-Mind Package", we will give a separate quote. Please also ask us about making translations. We can also discuss payment by invoice.

👉 You can check the course content on the moped license course / license conversion course pages. For personal use, you can start with a free trial.

👉 Features, prices and the setup process are on the corporate services page. For quotes and demos, please use our contact form. If you tell us the number of learners and which courses you need for how many people, we can give you a quote right away.

Summary

• A moped license is almost essential for newspaper delivery, and getting it before the start date is recommended. The license is a condition for starting

• Neither route for a moped license has a driving test. When getting a moped license through license conversion, neither the driving skills test nor the moped training course is required

• A new license at the driver's license center has a written exam pass rate of 58.7%, and one reservation is easy to get. However, exam languages range from 0 to 20 depending on the prefecture, and a moped training course held in Japanese is required

• A moped license through license conversion has a lower pass rate, 42.8% on the knowledge test, but can be taken in 20 languages. However, the document review also needs a reservation, and incomplete documents lead to rejection. ZIPLUS can make the translation

• The decision depends on the placement prefecture. Tokyo offers the moped exam in 5 languages on weekdays; Kanagawa and Chiba offer English only

• 67,173 people fail the moped written exam each year. It cannot be passed without studying in advance

• Study can start 2 months before entry. The host side should be able to check progress remotely

Rules, exam languages and fees can change. This article is based on information as of September 2026. Before starting the procedures, check the latest information with the police or driver's license center in the prefecture where the person will take the exam.

Sources: National Police Agency, "Driver's License Statistics, 2025 edition" (moped written exam: 162,668 examinees, 95,495 passed, pass rate 58.7%) / License conversion results for October–December 2025 published by the National Police Agency (knowledge test 42.8%, driving skills test 13.1%; reported by Nikkei and NTV NEWS NNN) / Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, "Written exams available in foreign languages" (updated May 11, 2026) / Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, "Converting a driver's license obtained abroad to a Japanese driver's license" (required documents, 29 exempt countries, stay of 3 months or more) / Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, "Amended Enforcement Regulations of the Road Traffic Act, effective October 1, 2025" (knowledge test 50 questions, 45 or more correct) / Kanagawa Prefectural Police, "Exam procedures for moped and small special vehicle licenses" (46 text + 2 illustration questions, 45 points or more) / Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department, "Moped license exam" (fees, moped training course) / Fukuoka Prefectural Police, "Conversion from a foreign license" (no practical check needed when applying for a moped license)