Driving in Japan as a Tourist: Essential Tips & Honest Advice (2024)

What are the things you need to know for driving in Japan as a tourist to “blend in” as best as possible?

Although I have been visiting Japan for the past decade, I have only hired a car in my more recent trips. In honesty, I was a little intimidated to drive in Japan… the road signs in Japanese, getting lost, where to park… gah!

As an invisible tourist, I’m all for getting off the beaten track in Japan to help dilute our tourist footprints in the major cities. Having the flexibility of a car expands our freedoms to visit remote places that aren’t easily accessible by public transport – and are therefore overlooked by most visitors. So I eventually bit the bullet.

Now, I’ve collectively used a car for almost two weeks to get around in Japan (solo and with others), it is much easier than I thought it would be. I’m Australian so driving on the left side comes naturally to me, but I have plenty of advice to share to help make it less daunting if you don’t!

If you’d like to find out what it’s really like driving around Japan, when I’d recommend driving (and when I would NOT recommend it), things to know before hiring your car and what to prepare in advance, read on for more!

This guide to driving in Japan for tourists covers:

• What you need for renting a car in Japan
• How to rent a car in Japan
• Japan driving laws and rules
  • Driving age
  • Driving side
  • Navigating
  • Petrol stations
  • Parking
• Things that may surprise foreign drivers in Japan
• When I would recommend (and not) driving in Japan

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What you need for renting a car in Japan

Don’t arrive in Japan and expect to just hire a car on the day. There are some things you’ll need to bring along that have to be prepared earlier.

International Driving Permit

You’ll need a current driver’s licence from your home country in addition to an International Driving Permit (IDP) to drive in Japan. These can only be obtained in your home country beforehand.

To apply, my friends in Australia can use the AAA official website. In the UK, you can apply at your post office, or apply online for the United States, Canada and online for Singapore.

TIP: Your country not listed here? Do an internet search for you country’s name + “automobile association” and that should do the trick. There are fake IDP sites out there, so make sure to use your country’s official one.

Current driver’s licence & passport

Your valid driving licence from home is required, as the IDP isn’t an actual licence itself; just a translation of your existing one. Your passport may also be checked against the IDP. Don’t forget to pack and bring these documents with you (plus these other things you may be forgetting on my Japan packing list).

Tips when applying for an IDP to drive in Japan

• Double check with your country’s official Automobile Association website for times, but usually allow 1-2 weeks for your IDP to be processed and mailed to you before your trip.
• According to the 1949 Geneva Convention, IDPs expire after 12 months/one year so you will need to renew it for additional trips thereafter.
• When you receive your IDP, turn to the back photo page. Ensure the red stamp covers both your photo and the backing card together, otherwise it may be rejected by your car rental company in Japan. If it doesn’t, request a correction immediately.

TIP: If you plan on doing the street kart tours you will need an IDP to participate (formerly Mario Kart, however they have been marred with issues including local resentment, so I personally do not recommend them).

How to rent a car in Japan

Here on my blog, I only recommend products/services I have personally used and can speak genuinely about. Therefore, I always use Toyota Rent-A-Car as its English website is straightforward and clear. I’m not affiliated with them or anything, just have had continual great service and never any issues.

I also like them because they have over 1,100 stores, it’s possible to pick up your car in one location and drop it off in another.While this does incur a fee, it’s super handy to not have to drive all the way back to your pick-up spot if you’re doing a road trip.

TIP: In my Japan Off the Beaten Path Facebook Group, Nissan and Niconico also come highly recommended. For campervans, the choice seems to be Japan Campers.

I’ll discuss the rental process with Toyota Rent-A-Car, but I would assume it is similar for other rental car companies as well:

1. Head to Toyota Rent A Car’s website and book online in advance for your dates.
2. Select your type of car – small, mid-sized, SUV, etc. Smaller cars have a cheaper daily rate.
3. Add an ETC card (Electronic Toll Collection) to your rental for a few hundred yen. This looks like a credit card with a chip, and is inserted into a slot near the steering wheel. It will save you fumbling around for change to pay at tolls on highways. Just pay the bill for any tolls when returning your car.
4. Add navigation, as newer cars have GPS screens built-in. They can be pre-loaded with English navigation to make things easier.
5. Add any extras such as car seats/booster seats for children (over 4 is not required by law, but is still a safe option for younger children depending on their height).
6. Add insurance as this is compulsory in Japan. Your travel insurance may also cover car hire, but personally I just like to use the one with the hire car company directly.
7. Confirm your reservation. No credit card payment is required in advance with Toyota, only when picking up the car.
8. Print out or show the reservation number for your confirmation email at the rental reservation desk in Japan.
9. Complete the in-store paperwork. This basically confirms all your supplied English information in Japanese for their records. They will confirm the number of people driving, so this is where you can add another driver if needed. When signing, remember Japanese dates are year-month-date (YYYY-MM-DD).

NOTE: You may be asked to put Japan’s Era Calendar as the year (eg instead of 2024, you may need to write the year since the current emperor ascended — the Reiwa Era is in year 6 in 2024).

TIP: If planning on driving in Okinawa, rental cars are in short supply and high demand. Bookings open 3 months in advance, and you need to book right away to avoid disappointment.

TIP: Some airports such as Kumamoto, Izumo and Matsue have a shuttle service to take their customers from the airport or station after the rental car is returned.

Japan driving laws and rules

How old do you need to be to drive in Japan? What side of the road do they drive on in Japan? How to navigate around Japan when driving? What about petrol stations and parking? Let’s find out!

Driving age in Japan

• The driving age in Japan is 18. You may see these symbols on cars that indicate new, elderly or hearing impaired drivers.

Japan driving side

• Japan is one of the 76 countries that drive on the left hand side of the road, remember to always stick to it! If in doubt, just follow the car in front.
• When it comes to Japan left side driving, I like to remind some folks that it’s not the wrong side of the road, just the opposite to what they are used to at home.
• For our friends who drive on the right-hand side of the road at home, note that the steering wheel will be on the right side of the car in Japan instead of left. If you’re used to driving a European or American car, the indicators and wipers are on the opposite sides in Japanese cars (indicator on the right side of steering wheel, wipers on the left). It won’t take too long to get used to it.

Navigating in Japan

• Google Maps will be your best friend! I find it to be quite accurate with timings. Hire a pocket wifi here or SIM/eSIM cards here to stay connected (my guide to renting wifi in Japan has you covered).
• TIP: Do bring a powerbank for your phone if using it to navigate, and the USB charging cord of your phone’s charger. Some rental cars have USB ports so you can keep your phone plugged in when driving. It won’t charge quickly, but will prevent the battery draining.
• As mentioned earlier there are built-in GPS in newer cars, and we can search for destinations by phone number as pictured below – very handy.
• Speed limits vary depending on the environment so follow the recommended signage.
• Major road signs have Japanese with English beneath, so it’s quite straightforward.
• Other signage follows an international standard but be sure to brush up by checking the traffic rules, signs and their meanings with the Japan Automobile Federation here.
• If driving with an ETC card, make sure to go through the toll gates marked ETC on highways.

NOTE: Smoking and vaping in rental cars is prohibited.

Petrol/gas stations in Japan

When searching for petrol stations in Japan (gas stations for our North American friends), the names to search for are Cosmo, Eneos, Apollo, Jomo, Shell, Cygnus, and Idemitsu. They are known as ガソリンスタンド gasorin stando – gasoline stand (petrol station) in Japanese.

At full-service petrol stations, staff are on hand to help fill your car. It is a prepaid system where you pay at the bouser rather than walking inside to a cashier to pay afterwards. The bouser itself is all in Japanese.

Some petrol stations are self service, so this is where Google Translate’s camera option may come in handy, or just memorise a few words below.

Handy Japanese petrol station words

• カード kado – Insert your payment card
• レシート resh*to – Receipt
• ハイオク hai oku – High octane gasoline
• レギュラー regura – Regular petrol/gasoline
• 軽油 keiyu – Diesel/light oil
• 満タン mantan – Full tank

Personally when I pull into a petrol station, I politely ask the staff taskete, onegaishimas たすけて, おねがいします (could you help me, please). They then direct me to the next bouser and fill the tank for me. To pay, I simply say kado, kudasai カード, ください (card, please). And always finish with arigato gozaimas ​​ありがとうございます or a quick doumo どうも (thank you very much).

TIP: You can read my guide to Japanese phrases for tourists to learn more basics and download my free PDF cheat sheet for offline use!

Some things to note about refilling petrol:

• Most car rental companies will want the car returned with a full fuel tank.
• When picking up your car from the hire car company, staff will tell you which fuel to refill.
• The red bouser is regular unleaded petrol, which is the most common.
• Remember to keep your receipt and show it when dropping your car back.

TIP: You may have heard of michi no eki 道の駅 known as roadside stops in Japan. These don’t sell fuel, but have everything needed for a rest break such as eateries, restrooms, local souvenirs etc. Be sure to check them out during your road trip!

Parking in Japan

Unlike other countries, in Japan we can’t park on the side of the road where we see fit. We need to find designated coin parking or free parking lots.

Coin parking will have a bar that is raised beneath the car a few minutes after you park. Usually you can type in your parking spot number, pay, then the bar is dropped which allows you to drive out.

TIP: If you’ll be needing parking at your accommodation, be sure to ask when you make your room reservation. Some accommodations offer free parking, at a discount rate at a coin parking nearby or will charge a fee per day to park on-site.

Things that may surprise foreigners driving in Japan

While this list is by no means exclusive to Australians, I can only speak for my fellow country folk. But anyone from other countries could find these things different to their home country too:

• Zero blood alcohol limit – In Japan, there are big fines if any alcohol is detected in your system when driving.
• Japanese people drive way above the speed limit – 19 km/h over seems to be fine, 20km/h could get you a driving ban. Just don’t be the fastest driver.
• Japanese drivers are patient and accommodating – Happy to allow easy merging, overtaking, are calm and allow time for reverse parking etc.
• Come to a complete stop at stop signs – Not a rolling stop (this is the rule in NSW anyway, but some other parts of Australia may be different).
• Japanese roads are super narrow in some places, so hiring an SUV isn’t always a good idea depending on where you’re going (I’m from Sydney where most of us drive these mid-size cars, and I did have some trouble in very narrow streets!).
• Traffic lights are high and at the other side of intersections – The road signs are pretty straightforward, but just note Japan’s traffic lights can be on the other side of the intersection rather than where you stop beforehand, so it can seem like you have more space to stop than there really is.
• Can’t turn right on a red light if you’re already in the intersection as the light changes.
• No speed cameras or highway patrols every few kilometres like in my native NSW. That’s not to say there aren’t any, but I haven’t seen any thus far so it was a relief to not have to stress about them constantly.

When I’d recommend driving in Japan as a tourist (& when not to)

If you’re wanting to explore off the beaten path in Japan, it will certainly help to have a car to reach those lesser-known spots and avoid crowds!

Is driving in Japan easy? I’d recommend it for:

• Rural areas as day trips – including around Mt Fuji in areas that aren’t Hakone or Kawaguchiko (but perhaps not drive there from Tokyo and instead take public transport to the outskirts to pick up a car there, as I have done).
• Multiple-day road trips in non-urban areas, such as the Japanese Alps, Kyushu (pictured below), Shikoku, Hokkaido outside of Sapporo, and parts of Okinawa.
• Travelling with children or people with mobility issues in these areas.

When I would not recommend Japan driving for tourists

• If you’re only visiting major cities such as Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima as I’ve shared in my two week Japan itinerary. These cities can be very busy, and traffic congestion could be stressful as well as finding parking. They are also well connected by public transport to make getting around easy.
• Driving super long distances that are better covered by bullet trains. Don’t underestimate distances because Japan looks like a small island on a map – driving from Tokyo to Osaka is 500 kilometres (about 7 hours!) plus the tolls are very expensive (around 11,000 yen / 75 USD / 114 AUD from Tokyo to Osaka).
• If your day trip destinations are easily covered by public transport, such as Nikko, Kamakura, Kawagoe, Nara, Uji, Himeji, Kobe, Gala Yuzawa.
• Driving over 2 hours by yourself without a break. Sometimes it can be easy to feel drowsy if there’s no one else with you. This is compounded when you don’t understand what they’re talking about on the local radio either, heh. Do stop off somewhere and take a break every hour if you feel you need it.

Concluding this guide to driving in Japan for foreigners

Now you know what you need to rent a car in Japan, some suggestions for where to hire one, what to know about navigating, petrol, parking and more, I hope you have a fantastic time driving around this incredible country! Allow plenty of time to get to your destination and enjoy the journey.

Having previously hired cars to drive in the UK, Ireland, New Zealand and the United States, I can say that driving in Japan is not too much different. I hope if you have been on the fence about hiring a car in Japan, these tips help to put your mind at ease!

With this advice, would you now consider hiring a car in Japan? If you’ve driven before, do you have any tips to add for driving around Japan as a foreigner? I’d love to hear in the comments below.

While you’re here, find more lesser-known destinations like this beyond the Golden Route on my detailed Japan travel blog, including my ultimate guide to planning a trip to Japan to cover all your bases. Find inspiration for places to visit in Japan based on your travel type, the best Japan travel guide books, the landmarks of Japan not to miss, Japanese souvenirs and much more!

Feeling social? Explore beyond the main touristy sights with my dedicated Facebook to group Japan Off the Beaten Path or come and join me on Facebook,Pinterest, TikTok and Instagram for more travel inspiration!

Until next time,