This paper describes reliability characteristics of an air foil journal bearing for high-speed turbomachinery at a room temperature. To verify the reliability of air foil journal bearing, lift-off characteristics, load carrying capacity, and 10,000 cycle start-stop test were performed with a motor-driven test rig. A lift-off test shows the relationship between the rotating speed of the shaft and the frictional torque with bearing surface. About a load-carrying capacity, the tested air foil journal bearing produced a load capacity of 500N at an operating speed of 15,000rpm, which is compared with results of numerical analysis and empirical coefficients. Finally, the trends in change of start torque, stop torque, and bearing temperature were shown during a 10,000-cycle start-stop test of an air foil journal bearing. We found that an air foil bearing performs well, as a supported bearing for the high-speed turbocompressor.