New to driving? The door is widerLarge and Class 2 licenses from 19; a standard Class 2 in as little as 3 days

Trucking job ads list conditions such as “standard license OK” or “semi-medium or above.” Japan’s Road Traffic Act divides licenses by gross vehicle weight and maximum load. A standard license (普通免許) covers vehicles under 3.5 tons gross. A semi-medium license (準中型免許) covers under 7.5 tons and can be obtained from 18 without a standard license first. A medium vehicle license (中型免許) covers under 11 tons, and a large vehicle license (大型免許) anything above that.

The catch is that the rules depend on when you got your license. According to the National Police Agency’s license statistics, a standard license obtained on or before March 11, 2017 is treated as a “semi-medium (limited to 5 tons)” license, and one obtained on or before June 1, 2007 as a “medium (limited to 8 tons)” license. Two people with a “standard license,” one a veteran and one new, may be allowed to drive very different trucks. Check a job’s conditions against what is printed on your license.

As a rule, you must be 21 or older with 3 years of driving experience to test for a large vehicle license, and the same applies to a Class 2 license (二種免許). Completing special eligibility training (受験資格特例教習), introduced on May 13, 2022, lowers this to 19 or older with a combined 1 year or more holding a standard or other license. The age exception takes at least 7 periods of training, and the experience exception at least 29.

There are conditions. Until you reach the normal age (21 for large and Class 2, 20 for medium), you are in a “young-driver period” (若年運転者期間). If you reach 3 or more penalty points, you must attend a 9-hour young-driver course; if you don’t, your license is revoked. Anyone heading into driving work straight out of high school should be especially careful during this period.

A Class 2 license is what you need to carry passengers for a fare. As a guide, taxis (standard vehicles seating 10 or fewer) need a standard Class 2 license (普通二種), large buses such as route buses need a large Class 2 license (大型二種), and minibuses need a medium Class 2 license (中型二種). The seating thresholds are set by the Road Traffic Act’s enforcement regulations.

From Sept 1, 2025, the minimum driving-school training for the standard Class 2 license that taxi drivers need was cut from 40 periods to 29, and the shortest schedule from 6 days to 3. The National Police Agency’s expert panel decided on the change after trial training. Before that, on June 29, 2024, the daily cap on Class 2 practical lessons was raised from 3 periods to 4.

The steps to start driving a taxi have also become lighter. According to MLIT, the geography test, which only about half of candidates passed, was abolished by a ministerial ordinance amendment in February 2024 on the assumption that drivers now use car navigation. The requirement that initial training last “10 days” was scrapped in March 2024. The written test for both Class 1 and Class 2 licenses can now be taken in 20 languages (the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department’s example; test dates and venues differ by language).

More people are getting a standard Class 2 license. In the NPA’s license statistics, driving-school graduates for the standard Class 2 license rose from 10,182 in 2021 to 33,182 in 2025. Holders rose from 67,611 at the end of 2021 to 169,395 at the end of 2025. No source breaks the increase down into ridesharing, deregulation or other factors, so how much each contributed is unknown.

Large, medium and semi-medium licenses, until now available only for manual transmission, are getting automatic-only versions. According to the NPA, automatic-only medium, semi-medium and medium Class 2 licenses began on Apr 1, 2026. The large license follows on Apr 1, 2027, and the large Class 2 license on Oct 1, 2027.

We could not find statistics on how many commercial trucks and buses are automatic. If you get an automatic-only license, check first whether the company you want to join runs automatic vehicles.

A license doesn’t mean you drive alone right away. Under an MLIT notification (the guidance and supervision guidelines), carriers must give newly hired drivers “special training for new drivers.”

For trucks (general freight motor carriers), anyone who has not been appointed as a driver at another company in the past 3 years must, before driving on duty, receive at least 15 hours of classroom instruction on laws and safe driving, and at least 20 hours of practical instruction driving a commercial vehicle with an instructor riding along. They also take an aptitude assessment for new drivers (適性診断).

For taxis and route buses, the training covers safe-driving basics and passenger safety for a total of at least 6 hours. Charter buses require at least 10 hours plus at least 20 hours of practical training in the vehicle the driver will actually drive. Taxi drivers who complete the course then register as drivers with a government-designated registration body (運転者登録).

Training fees for large and Class 2 licenses vary widely by school, region, the licenses you already hold, and whether you commute or attend a residential course; there are no official average figures. Taxi and bus companies are often said to train newcomers by covering license costs, but we found no statistic showing how common that is.

Some local governments offer subsidies. Niigata City covers half of the large Class 2 license costs paid by bus operators (up to ¥300,000 per person; the program runs from August 2024 to Mar 31, 2027). Kanagawa Prefecture covers part of the cost when route bus operators in the prefecture send drivers to special eligibility training. Both programs are for operators; individuals cannot apply directly.

Some large and Class 2 license courses qualify for the Employment Insurance Education and Training Benefit (教育訓練給付). Eligibility is designated course by course, so check with Hello Work or the course search.