How long does it take to get a gold licence? 5+ years

What are the conditions for getting a gold licence? No penalties or accidents for 5 years.

Those are the basics of being rewarded with a gold banded licence card for a faultless driving record in Japan. Is it that simple?

For some, it is proof of being a consistently safe and or considerate road user. Some brandish it as a symbol of being a trustworthy and reliable member of society. And it can most definitely save you money on insurance and provide preferential and time saving advantages at renewal. Some attractive reasons to appreciate attaining that little gold band on your license.

However, it takes a minimum of 6 years of soul-mining speed deprivation and shackled hooliganism to receive and yet can be lost in a split second.

So, on the road to Gold, what are the various licences and how does one come to acquire them?

TYPES of LICENCEs

There are basically three. But one has three sub-categories which are treated like two, so there are four but five licences but only three colours… All very confusing stuff. Let’s see if we can’t clear it up a bit.

🟢 Green Band
The green band on a Japanese licence card indicates a new driver 🔰. This is the first type of licence you receive after passing your driving test. It’s valid for three years. New drivers are required to display a “shoshinsha mark” (若葉マーク, “wakaba mark” or “beginner’s mark”), the one that looks like a green and yellow leaf, on their car for one year to notify other drivers of their newbyness.

🔵 Blue Band
The blue band is for general drivers. This is apparently the most common type of licence in Japan. There are a few subcategories for this license, with more details down the page but for now, here are the basic categories:

• First-time renewers.
• General drivers with one minor violation (with no more than three penalty points).
• Drivers with multiple violations or those who have caused an accident.

🟡 Gold Band
The gold band 🏅 signifies an excellent driver (優良運転者, yūryō untensha). To qualify for a gold licence, you must have a clean driving record with no accidents or traffic violations for at least five years leading up to your licence renewal.
The gold licence comes with several benefits:

• An automatic longer validity period of five years.
• Shorter, simplified renewal procedures, including a shorter safety lecture.
• Can usually be renewed at local central police stations, which as well as being closer and more convenient offer a more streamlined process.

The Road to GOLD

The optimal path to a Gold licence is to have no accidents or violations for the period of your Green licence and then Blue licence. That’ll see a gold band on your license in around six years.

But that’s often simpler said than done, and you may find yourself caught in a Blue licence renewal loop and confused as the Blue licence renewals don’t always go the same. So, let’s look at the different categories of the Blue licence and their consequences.

• First-time Renewers (初回更新者, shokai kōshinsha): This is for drivers who are transitioning from their first green licence to a blue one. They have not yet had the chance to establish a long, clean driving record. They receive a 3-year licence after a 120-minute safety lecture.
• General Drivers (一般運転者, ippan untensha): This is for experienced drivers who have held a licence for a long time (five years or more) and have a mostly clean record. This category is for those who have either had no violations or have had only one minor violation (3 penalty points or less) and no accidents in the five years leading up to renewal. They receive a 3-5year licence after a 60-minute safety lecture.
• Violating Drivers (違反運転者, ihan untensha): This applies to drivers who have committed two or more violations or have been involved in an accident resulting in injury or death in the five years leading up to renewal. They receive a 3-year licence after a particularly guilt-inducing 120-minute safety lecture.

So, to be precise, the blue licence isn’t a single category but encompasses these three distinct statuses. The common thread is the blue colour and the primarily 3-year validity period, but the criteria for each and the length of the required safety lecture are what seperates them.

If you’ve been conscientious or lucky enough to sail straight through Green & Blue or somehow, after being on the Blue licence merry-go-round, you find yourself receiving a Gold licence, congrats! Now the anxiety of keeping it kicks in.

LOSING GOLD

The Japanese driving license system uses a demerit points system. While a gold licence holder has a clean slate of zero points, any violation adds points to their record. As soon as a gold licence holder receives points, they are no longer eligible for a gold licence at their next renewal.

Here’s how you could earn points and lose your gold licence status:

• Commit any traffic violation that results in penalty points. This is the most common way to lose a gold licence. Even a minor offense, like a minor speeding ticket (e.g., going 15-20 km/h over the limit) or a stop sign violation, will cause you to lose your gold status. These are considered “small” violations in the grand scheme of things, but they are enough to get you booted out of the “excellent driver” category.
• Causing a traffic accident. This includes any accident that results in injury or death, regardless of how minor the injury. Causing an accident, even if it’s a small fender bender without injury, can also affect your record and lead to a downgrade to a blue licence, depending on the severity and responsibility.

What happens after you lose your gold status?

• Your next licence will be a blue “General Driver” or “Violating Driver” license. The exact category will depend on the severity of the violation(s) that got you downgraded and whether you were involved in an accident.
• The validity period of your license may be reduced. You will be issued a 3-5 year licence for a single violation, depending on its severity, or a 3 year licence for multiple violations instead of the automatic 5-year duration with a Gold licence.
• You must attend a longer safety lecture at your next licence renewal. The length of the lecture will depend on whether you are classified as a “general driver” (60 minutes) or a “violating driver” (120 minutes).
• Good news is that a violation doesn’t mean that you have to immediately hand in your licence for a blue band. That little card with the gold band is valid for the full five years, unless you blow through 15 demerit points and have to surrender your license entirely. As someone who mistakenly drove into a bus station and suffered the wrath of a barely adult koban cop, three weeks after receiving a gold licence, it’s an odd thing to be a gold labelled road user for almost five years, but knowing that you’re not.

Regaining GOLD

To get the gold status back, you must once again maintain a perfectly clean driving record for five consecutive years leading up to the next licence renewal. This means that a single violation can set you back years.

COST

There’s also a financial carrot dangled in front of road users to encourage them towards gold-standard manners. It ought to be noted that it’s a very small carrot compared to the wallet-draining stick of infringement fines.

The fees are made up of three components. First, the renewal fee, which is the same for all licences. Second, the lecture fee. As some lecture fees are longer than others, the price reflects that. Third, a prefectural fee, which isn’t uniform across all prefectures so hasn’t been included in the basic table below.

When spread over the duration of the licence, Gold is half the price. And only one loaded Starbucks coffee a year instead of two.

So let’s wrap it up by concluding that a Gold licence is ultimately cheaper, lasts longer and has some social and institutional perks. And if you’re a good, responsible and safe road user, you’ll eventually receive a gold-banded licence. Or you could lazily paper-driver your way to gold. A discussion for another time and place…

Ride well, ride far, ride safe and good luck on your path to the often elusive Gold licence.