Taipei, Dec. 8 (CNA) Taiwan's Directorate General of Highways (DGH) said Saturday it wants to digitize the translations of driver's licenses to make it easier for Taiwanese travelers to drive in Japan, and to help them save time and money applying for translated copies.
Chief of DGH's Motor Vehicles Division Lin I-sheng said Saturday that the number of travelers from Taiwan to Japan keeps growing and more Taiwanese choose to drive in Japan during their trips.
Each year, over 200,000 applications are submitted for Japanese translations of driver's licenses.
When Taiwanese travelers drive in Japan, they need to carry both their original driver's license in Taiwan and a Japanese translation issued by Taiwan's motor vehicles offices -- because Japan does not recognize the international driving permit issued by Taiwan's government, Lin said.
Lin said that each copy of license translation cost NT$100 (US$3.2) while a digitized version can save both the time and the cost of the paperwork.
He added that DGH has asked Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) to negotiate with the Japanese side and hoped the new rule could be carried out starting next year.
Some 4.6 million Taiwanese traveled to Japan in 2017, and the number totaled 4.1 million in the first 10 months of this year, statistics from Taiwan's Tourism Bureau showed.
Since September 2007, people from Taiwan and Japan have been allowed to drive while visiting each other's country if they carry the driver license from their own country and its translated copy, according to DGH.
