Japan traffic rules and self driving car rental tips

The Complete Japan Driving and Rental Guide

Although Japan has prided itself as having the most efficient public transportation systems around large metropolitan areas around Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya, less known sceneries are definitely worth and handy exploring by car. Here is a brief guide aiming at helping you drive comfortably on Japanese roads.

Speed Limit and Traffic Signs

Driving is on the left-hand side of the road in Japan. Even though Japanese drivers are renowned for their respect of the driving rules, you should pay attention to cyclists, some of whom happen to ride on the wrong side of the road.

Speed Limit

The speed limits in Japan are between 80 and 100 km/h on expressways, 30 km/h in side streets, 40 km/h in urban areas, and between 50 and 60 km/h elsewhere unless states otherwise.

Traffic Signs

There are mainly four types of traffic signs in Japan: regulatory signs, warning signs, information and direction signs. For each type, you can find below several signs that you may not familiar with.

A typical Japanese regulatory sign generally features a red circle with a white background and blue pictograms.

Speed Limit (90 km/h)

Minimum Speed Limit (50 km/h)

No Overtaking

Road Closed to Toll

Road Closed to Vehicles

Slow down (In Japanese and English)

Japanese warning signs feature a diamond shape and yellow background.

Crossroads

Bumpy Road

Wild Animals Crossing (Deer)

Succession of More Than Two Curves to the Right

Japan_Traffic_Sign_Railway_Crossing_Ahead

Railroad Crossing Ahead

Tram Crossing Ahead

Japanese information signs feature a green background.

Emergency Telephone

Rest Area/Parking Fuel Stand, Etc.

Direction signs in Japan feature a rectangular shape with a blue or green background.

Expressway Entrance

Destination & Direction

To read more about Japanese road signs, here is a more detailed booklet.

Seatbelt and Child Safety

Seatbelt Laws

Drivers and all the passengers are required by law to wear a seatbelt. Failure to fasten your seatbelt may result in a fine.

Booster Seat Laws

Children under 6 years of age must be seated in child seats.

Parking, Fuel and Toll

Parking

· Permitted Parking

In Japan, parking cost normally depends on the size of the city and the distance from the city centre. Parking in small towns and cities is usually free.

Paid parking can be expensive in big cities, costing several hundreds of yen per hour. Parking lots in national parks or near tourist attractions sometimes charge a flat fee (typically 200 to 500 yen per use). Urban hotels usually provide parking for their guests at a flat rate (typically 1000 yen per night), while hotels outside the large cities usually offer free parking.

· Forbidden Parking

Please do not park your car indicated with the “No Parking” signs.

Japan-Traffic-Sign-No-Stopping

Also do not park the rental vehicle in a place only allowed to use by renting on a monthly basis, marked by the “Kanji” of “月極 ” or “月極駐車場”.

Japan Monthly Parking Lot

In addition, it is against the law to park a vehicle in the following places in Japan:

- In a tunnel

- On, or within five metres of the edge of an intersection

- Within three metres of the automobile entrance of a garage, car-park or similar

- On pedestrian or cycle crossings and railway lines

- Within ten metres of a bus stop or a bus stop sign

- Within five metres of the edge of an area of road works

- Within five metres of a fire hydrant, water tank or other fire safety equipment

Forbidden parking in Japan will lead to a hefty fine.

Fuel Prices

The average gasoline price in Japan in January 2018 was 141.50 Japanese Yen per litre, while the diesel price was 118.40 over the same period of time.

Toll

Most of the expressways in Japan are toll roads and you must pass through the automatic ETC (Electric Toll Collection) gate or manual gate with ticketing machine. It is highly common to rent an ETC system with the car hire company when taking a self-driving tour in Japan, and it allows you to drive through the ETC gate without stopping. ETC gate feature white “ETC 專用” characters on a purple background.5

Japan ETC Lane (Image from takingflights.com)

Japan ETC Device (Image from demflyers.com)

Alternative to ETC tolling, you may proceed to the manual gate, which is recognized by the“一般” characters written with a green background. Cash or bank cards can be used to pay the toll fee before entering the road.

Traffic Violation

DUI Laws

The alcohol limit in Japan is BAC 0.03%. Drink driving above the limit can result in a maximum prison sentence of 3 years or a fine of about $480,000 Japanese Yen.

Traffic Fines

Speed cameras and speed traps are used to monitor driving speed in Japan. Drivers who exceed the speed limits up to 40km/h over can be fined from 9000 Japanese Yen to 35,000 Japanese Yen, and a 50km/h excess or more over will be viewed as criminal infringement and can result in a prison sentence up to 6 months, or up to 100,000 Japanese Yen fine.

Parking in the prohibitive areas will usually cause a fine from 10,000 to 20,000 Japanese Yen.

Driving Licence and Age Requirements

Japanese law requires that all drivers who do not hold a Japanese driver’s license must hold a country of origin driver's license and an International Driving Permit issued under the 1949 Convention on International Road Traffic. Driver’s licence must be held for at least 1 or 2 years (according to different car hire company).

The minimum driver age for renting a car at a Japanese rental office is 18 years old. This age may vary according to the state and car category rented.

Guest reviews

1 /

December 20, 2024

Destination: Fukuoka

4Horrible.

They need to ensure rental cars are regularly serviced and is actually drivable.

Sophia Chiu

December 18, 2024

10Excellent

They were so efficient and thorough. Clear communication, very thoughtful interactions, overall I was extremely satisfied with the whole experience.

Alan Ang

December 8, 2024

Destination: Osaka

7Good

Manuel Anchondo

November 29, 2024

Destination: Natori

10Excellent service , and thank you YU かわい, very helpful.

Excelente

M.Joo

November 26, 2024

Destination: Tokyo

4Average

예정된 차가 아니라서 실망했습니다.

O.BLANCO

November 20, 2024

Destination: Naha

9You - I Rent a Car

Sudeep was very professional and friendly. Even with his limited English vocabulary, he was ablet to explain the key points of the rental process properly.

D.Rowling

6Average

There was no wait for the car when I picked up and the staff was very nice and friendly for the return.

J.Kok

November 19, 2024

Destination: Kirishima

9Good drive.

The service provider is actually Toyota Car Rental.

K.Chong

Pick up at terminal was smooth. Explanations were clear and concise. Vehicle in good condition. Returning was seamless. Drop off at convenient spot.

jimmy tan

November 18, 2024

Destination: Sapporo

10It was marvellous

The folks can converse in japanese as well as chinese or english.

N.Sw

November 13, 2024

Destination: Hanamaki

9使いやすい

カウンターは少し混んでましたが、2人がかりで対応していたので、そんなに時間はかからなく車も受け取れました。

C.Wong

Destination: Hokkaido

10over all good

good

Gary

November 10, 2024

10Car rental in Japan made easy

Yes. Got a bigger car. Service was excellent and staff had enough English to make pick up easy and clarify drop off location after our GPS malfunction. I would suggest that the car GPS be updated. Some Hotel locations and points of interest were just not available in the car GPS.

P.khamphounvong

October 26, 2024

Destination: Chitose

10All good

All good

Oliver

October 22, 2024

10Excellent experience

The staff were positively brilliant. Car rental companies have a very bad reputation but I could not speak more highly of the staff there. They were so incredibly friendly and helpful. She even gave my daughter a little toy! I will definitely be renting from them again.

Live2Travel

October 20, 2024

7Renting and driving in Okinawa is easy and best for groups.

There was definitely a language issue. Google translate or being able to speak Mandarin for this company would be most helpful.

October 14, 2024

9Excellent

It was Times in Fukuoka providing the rental NOT Europcar

C.Gillson

7Excellent customer service

Though the van itself had issues and had to be replace midway through our trip, the customer service at M7 was excellent. When we first picked up our van, Gus offered us umbrellas to use throughout out rental time in case of rain. Then when we had car trouble he took responsibility for it and replace our van with a new one the next morning. Gus was excellent to work with.

D.CHOI

October 12, 2024

10매우 우수한차임

매우만족

r.chan

October 10, 2024

10good service , enjoy

good service , staff helpful strongly recommend

Y.Yip

10Good experience

Nissan Note was very new and it comes with 4-wheel drive!

M.Hairol Besri

Overall very good

S.MIN

Destination: Kunisaki

10우리나라와 차선이 반대인 것은 본인이 주의 해서 운행하면 되지만 좌/우회전 신호체계는 좀더 설명해 주시면 여행에 많은 도움이 되겠습니다.

차량 렌트 장소와 반납장소가 다른 경우에는 렌트비용이 증가하니 여행 경비에 이점을 예산에 반영 해 주세요

H.Rowlands

September 29, 2024

8Giod

Staff spoke little English but otherwise happy with the service

S.AMIN

Nice van clean perfect

K.Tongpong

September 27, 2024

10Good

บริการดี ติดต่อง่ายเมื่อไปถึงจุดรับรถ

Excellent staff - very helpful.

N.Zepina

September 26, 2024

10Exceeded all expectations,highly recommend

The Car exceeded our expectation, the service also, highly recommended. If you are planning to drive there make sure to take the card for road tax as you will be constantly paying it and there won’t be other option in some cases than the automatic payment.

S.Kim

September 24, 2024

Destination: Hiroshima

10I'll have it again

Everything is good

Z.Chen

September 9, 2024

6Not a pleasant experience at the end

I expected that I might be late in return the car when I rented it because I was travelling with 2 kids. As QEEQ suggested, I checked with Times staff when I rented the car. Times staff at the airport counter told me that JPY880 per hour, JPY1760 for 2 hours. However, when I returned the car at Times store, another Times staff charged me 6000 JPY. They said 2-hour is within 1-6 hour range, so that 6-hour charge applied. No time for me to argue as I was rushing to the airport.

C.CHU

September 3, 2024

Destination: Shinjuku-ku

10Perfect

Perfect

August 31, 2024

Destination: Kitasaku

9Will use it again.

Counter staff could not speak much English so translation app useful.

G.Wheeler

August 25, 2024

9Easy

The car exceeded our expectations. Miscommunication with pick up time. We had booked for 9am. Didn’t get car till 12pm. However, staff member was apologetic and gave kids a box of biscuits. The car itself was brilliant, ETC was great.Drop off went very smoothly and quick

August 13, 2024

10เรียบร้อยดี

ดีที่รับรถตึกอาคารจอดได้เลย ไม่ต้องนั่งรถไปที่ร้าน ควรมี Whatapp ไว้ ร้านจะติดต่อมา 1วันก่อนรับรถ ส่วนเรากังวลลองadd เบอร์ร้านในWhatsApp ทักไปก่อน 3วันล่วงหน้า ก็ตอบคำถามได้ดี

August 7, 2024

スタッフ対応はGOOD 車両の装備がいまいち（撥水加工、USB種類）

August 3, 2024

3DISAPPOINTED

QEEQ changed my booking from Eurocar to Times. The Times staff was nice on the pick-up and drop-off but TERRIBLE with their flexibility.

Martina Beck

August 1, 2024

Destination: Nagoya

8Very good

Everything was good except they wouldn't lend me an ETC card.

Wright Beaufort

Pretty good

S.Chong

July 30, 2024

9Overall very good.

When returning the car, the service staff is a bit rushing...could be because it's 7:30pm?

Aldrich Lloyd

July 29, 2024

Renting the car was easy, but returning it was difficult.

Theobald Swinburne

Extremely satisfied

Modesty Martin

Excellent service

Sheila Warren

July 28, 2024

The entire team was attentive, responsive, and provided effective information.

Warner Sassoon

July 25, 2024

Very satisfied

Lambert Jennings

July 23, 2024

The staff was friendly and good-looking.

Richard Clement

July 22, 2024

Friendly and good service with instructions.

Meredith Flynn

Destination: Kobe

The car I got was a Mazda2, not the model I reserved, with over 70,000 kilometers on it.

Vanessa Lew

I got a Mazda2 instead of the model I reserved. The car had over 70,000 kilometers on it.

Bernie Faraday

July 21, 2024

Returning the car was relatively convenient, but the reception took some time.

Hunter Pollitt

July 20, 2024

Very satisfied!

Japan Car Rentals