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> What I don't understand is how this gets me out of paying fines or
> prevents me from losing points off my license.
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>




First of all, you shouldn't have a Japanese license in the first place. You
should just renew your int'l license once a year out of the country. Then
you don't have to worry about points in the first place. All this only works
if you have an int'l license. If you don't have an int'l license, and
actually got screwed into taking an actual driving class and test 200-300
thousand yen, well, life sucks. You've gotta live with what you got yourself
into. Rules regarding int'l licenses and who may use them have changed this
year I am reading on a website right now... kanji is a little rusty, but it
looks like you must prove now that you have left the country more than once
a year in order to continue using an int'l license.
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