Japan's Gaimen Kirikae Pass Rate Collapsed from 92.5% to 42.8% After October 2025 Reform

· GaimenGo Team

Japan's Gaimen Kirikae Pass Rate Collapsed from 92.5% to 42.8% After October 2025 Reform

The National Police Agency released official data showing the foreign license conversion written test pass rate plunged nearly 50 percentage points after the October 2025 overhaul. Here's what the numbers mean for you.

The numbers are in — and they confirm what many applicants have already experienced firsthand.

The Official Data (Source: National Police Agency, March 2026) Between October and December 2025 — the first three months of the reformed exam — 27,354 people sat the Gaimen Kirikae written knowledge test (知識確認). Only 42.8%, or 11,716 people, passed.

Before the reform, the full-year 2024 pass rate for the same test was 92.5%. That is a collapse of 49.7 percentage points in a single policy change.

The practical driving test (技能確認) also fell sharply — from 30.4% in 2024 to just 13.1% in the October–December 2025 period.

What Changed in October 2025 Before October 1, 2025, the written test consisted of only 10 visual illustration questions with a 70% passing threshold — meaning you could get 3 wrong and still pass. The test took roughly 10 minutes.

After October 1, 2025, the National Police Agency overhauled the format entirely:

  • 50 questions (up from 10)
  • 90% pass threshold — you may get at most 5 questions wrong
  • Text-based true/false format — no longer visual illustrations
  • 30-minute time limit covering comprehensive traffic law
  • Coverage includes two-wheeled vehicle rules, parking/stopping distinctions, intersection priority, and expressway regulations

Why Did the Pass Rate Collapse So Sharply? Three factors explain the drop:

  1. Terminology traps: The new exam exploits legal precision. The difference between 'stopping' (停車) and 'parking' (駐車), or the exact distance rules near fire stations vs. intersections, catches drivers who rely on common sense rather than memorized law.
  1. Two-wheeled vehicle rules: Car-only drivers are frequently blindsided by questions about moped (原付) restrictions — two-stage right turns, lane positioning, and the 30km/h speed limit — which appear on every test even if you're applying for a car-only license.
  1. No preparation resources: When the old test was 10 questions with a 70% bar, no one needed study materials. The new 50-question 90% threshold demands weeks of focused preparation, but official multilingual study resources are almost nonexistent.

What This Means For You A 42.8% pass rate means more than half of applicants fail on their first attempt. Given that:

  • Each failed attempt means rebooking (often weeks away in major cities)
  • You may lose a day's work for each test appointment
  • The practical test (now at 13.1%) becomes your next hurdle after passing the written test

...the cost of being underprepared is measured in months of delay, not just a failed test.

The Bottom Line The October 2025 reform transformed the Gaimen Kirikae from a rubber-stamp formality into a genuine exam. Treating it like the old 10-question test is the most common and most expensive mistake you can make.