Driving in Japan
Photo: 切干大根, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
While Japan is home to some of the biggest automobile manufacturers in the world, such as Toyota, Honda, and Nissan, few visitors to Japan rent cars, as public transport is generally excellent and gets you almost everywhere. In addition, the roads of major cities are congested, and parking is expensive and difficult to find, so driving there is more of a hindrance than anything else. However, driving can still make sense in some scenarios, such as visiting rural areas.
UnderstandWhile driving is a hindrance in large cities like Tokyo or Osaka, many rural areas can really be explored with only your own transport, so driving should certainly not be dismissed out of hand, especially on the vast,…
PaperworkIf you do not have a Japanese license, you must have a valid International Driving Permit (IDP) from a 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic country.
RulesDriving is on the left as normally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, India and Singapore, but opposite to continental Europe, the United States and Canada.
CostsRental car companies generally offer smaller cars from ¥8,000 a day, often yellow-plate kei (軽, "light") cars with underpowered 660cc engines.
ExpresswaysExpressways (高速道路 kōsoku-dōro, often abbreviated as XX道 or XX高速, where XX is a general direction or the starting and ending cities of the expressway) form the backbone of the Japanese road network, and are the fastest…
Countryside drivingUnder a 2000 reform of retail store regulations that removed limits on store size, stores in rural areas of Japan have become much larger.
City drivingNavigating within cities and suburban areas can be confusing. In older areas, roads are often very narrow and there may be no sidewalks, meaning cars share the road with pedestrians and bicycles.
Signs and signalsVirtually all road signage in Japan is bilingual, as are all signs installed since 2017.
Fuel and chargingFuel is more expensive than in the USA, but generally cheaper than in Europe. Most cars use regular (レギュラー) fuel, shown in red. Diesel (軽油 keiyu) is green, high-octane (ハイオク) is yellow or blue.
Speed limitsRoad speed limits are marked in kilometres per hour.
Rest areasWhen traveling long distances by car, Japan has motorists covered with a number of rest areas both on and off the highway.
Car ferriesAs Japan is an island nation, there are various car ferries run across islands. The following lists some of the routes:
Sources and licences
- Guide text adapted from the Wikivoyage article "Driving in Japan" by its contributors, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Read on Wikivoyage · Contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0
- Photo: 切干大根, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons