Driving in Japan Tips: Tourist Checklist, Pick-up to Return

Most road-trip blogs give you a list of personal tips. This guide is written by a rental operator at Haneda Airport and follows the order of your trip: before you fly, at pick-up, on the road, parking and fuel, expressways, fines, accidents and return. Every rule is checked against Japanese police, ministry and expressway sources (as of November 2026; rules and prices can change). A printable checklist is at the end.

Japan's tourism and transport authorities are paying close attention: accidents involving rental cars driven by visitors on foreign licences or international permits rose from 47 in 2020 to 212 in 2025, and right-turn crashes make up about 2.7 times the share seen with Japanese drivers (MLIT and Japan Tourism Agency, July 2026). Most of the tips below exist to avoid exactly those mistakes.

Before you fly: licence, booking and route

• Licence: you need either an International Driving Permit under the 1949 Geneva Convention, or (for licences from Switzerland, Germany, France, Belgium, Monaco and Taiwan) the original licence plus an official Japanese translation. Either is valid for up to one year from entry. A licence alone is not accepted. Check yours in our foreign licence guide or with the licence checker.
• Book at least 48 hours ahead: Go on Rent-a-Car takes bookings up to 180 days ahead. You upload your passport, licence and permit or translation online before arrival; our AI and staff check them, so the handover takes about 30 minutes.
• Plan around the handover hours: pick-up and return are only at Haneda Airport Terminal 3, P5 car park, 8th floor, from 9:00 to 20:00. If your flight lands late, plan to collect the car the next morning.
• Ask about an ETC card before your trip if you want to use expressway ETC lanes (see the toll section below).
• Winter (December to February): snowy roads need winter tyres, and our rental terms prohibit driving on snow without our consent. If your route goes to snowy areas, contact us before booking. Read our winter driving guide.

At pick-up (Haneda Terminal 3)

1. Walk about 5 minutes from the arrivals lobby to P5, 8th floor. There is no shuttle bus.
2. Bring the originals: passport, licence and IDP or translation. You must carry them whenever you drive.
3. A credit card for the ¥50,000 deposit, which is a hold on the card, not a charge.
4. Walk around the car with the staff and photograph any marks.
5. Check the essentials: the car is a Volkswagen Golf Variant TSI Lounge (5 seats, automatic) that takes high-octane petrol. In many Japanese cars the indicator stalk is on the right; in European cars it is usually on the left. Try the indicators and wipers before you leave the car park.
6. Set the navigation to your language and enter your first destination before moving. Phone use while driving is illegal.

On the road: the rules that catch visitors

The full rulebook is in our Japan road rules guide.

Mistakes drivers from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Korea make

Taiwan and Korea (right-hand traffic at home)

• Turning right into the wrong lane. In Japan a right turn crosses oncoming traffic, like a left turn at home. After turning, it is easy to drift into the right-hand (oncoming) lane. Say "small left, wide right" out loud. This is the crash type the ministry is now marking with coloured paint and rubber poles at airports.
• Pulling out of car parks and petrol stations. The first few minutes after pick-up and every exit from a car park are where muscle memory sends you to the wrong side. Look right first.
• Turning on red out of habit. If you are used to turning on red at home, that habit does not apply here: in Japan you turn only on green or a green arrow.
• Wrong licence document. Taiwanese licences need the official Japanese translation, not an IDP. Korean drivers need a 1949 Geneva IDP together with the Korean licence.

Hong Kong (left-hand traffic at home)

• Driving on the left will feel normal, but the stop sign is an inverted triangle, not an octagon, and you must stop before every railway crossing, which surprises many drivers.
• Expressways charge tolls almost everywhere, and many Tokyo entrances now accept ETC only (see below).
• Residential lanes are narrow, often without pavements, and since September 2026 default to 30 km/h.

Signs explained without reading Japanese

You can recognise most signs by shape and colour alone.

Parking and fuel

• Street parking is prohibited almost everywhere. Use coin car parks, hotel car parks or the car park at your sightseeing spot, and pay before you leave. See our Tokyo parking guide.
• Fuel: our Golf takes high-octane petrol. Many stations are self-service; our refuelling guide explains the pumps and nozzle colours. Never put diesel in a petrol car.

Expressways, tolls and ETC

Most expressways charge tolls, which the customer pays. Without ETC, take a ticket at entry in a lane marked "General" and pay at the exit in yen cash or by credit card. With ETC, insert the card and slow down to below 20 km/h through the ETC lane (NEXCO Central).

On the Tokyo Shutoko network, ordinary cars with ETC pay by distance, from ¥300 to ¥2,130 since the revision of 1 October 2026; cars without ETC generally pay the ¥2,130 maximum. In fiscal 2026 Shutoko is turning 44 more entrances ETC-only, for 134 in total. If you enter one by mistake, go to the support lane and follow the intercom; never reverse, make a U-turn or get out of the car. Details are in our tolls and ETC guide.

Fines and what happens with a rental car

Police can stop you and issue a ticket on the spot, and cameras and parking wardens also report violations. Typical fines for an ordinary car (Tokyo Metropolitan Police, November 2026):

What happens next:

• Ticket handed to you: pay at a bank or post office by the deadline on the payment slip (within 7 days from the day after the ticket). If you do not pay, the case can go to criminal proceedings.
• Larger offences are crimes, not fines: speeding beyond the bands above (30 km/h or more over on ordinary roads, 40 km/h or more on expressways) and any drink-driving go through the criminal process. Penalties for drink-driving reach up to 5 years in prison or ¥1,000,000.
• Parking ticket (yellow tag on the car): go to the police station written on it and pay. If the driver does not come forward, the police send the penalty to the car's registered user, which is us. We pay it and charge it to you with our handling fee, from your deposit or your card.
• Speed camera: the notice reaches us weeks later, and we must tell the police who was driving.

Fines, fuel, tolls and parking are never covered by insurance. Please pay any fine before you return the car and show us the receipt.

If you have an accident or a breakdown

1. Turn on the hazard lights and move to a safe place if you can.
2. Call 119 if anyone is hurt, then always call the police on 110, even for a scrape. Without a police report the insurance does not pay.
3. Do not agree to pay anyone at the scene. Call us, then send photos and your location from the emergency guide on your phone or your booking page.
4. Breakdown or flat battery: JAF Road Service #8139 runs 24 hours with a free interpreter (at your cost).

With the Safety Pack (¥1,650 per day, included) you pay ¥0 for covered accident damage. Read the full steps in our accident guide and the cover in our insurance and NOC guide.

Sample day: Haneda to Lake Kawaguchi and back

A common first road trip from Tokyo is Lake Kawaguchi at the foot of Mt Fuji. A rough guide for a day without heavy traffic:

Lake Kawaguchi is cold in winter and the area can have snow and ice from December to February: contact us before booking if your dates fall then. For stops, parking and a two-day version with Hakone, see our Haneda to Mt Fuji and Hakone guide.

Return checklist

• Fill up with high-octane petrol near the airport and keep the receipt. Otherwise we charge the fuel used plus a ¥2,000 refuelling fee.
• Return to Terminal 3, P5, 8th floor by 20:00. If you will be late, call us: late return costs ¥2,000 per hour, subject to availability.
• Photograph the car from four sides plus the fuel gauge and odometer.
• Take your belongings and the ETC card (if any) out of the car, and show us receipts for any fines you paid.

Printable checklist

Keep our emergency and driving guide on your phone during the trip.

Book your car at Haneda

Go on Rent-a-Car rents a Volkswagen Golf Variant TSI Lounge (5 seats, automatic, high-octane petrol; not a Japanese JDM model) at Haneda Airport Terminal 3. Prices start from ¥14,650 per day including tax and the Safety Pack, as of November 2026; prices vary by date, so check your dates on the site. Mileage is unlimited. Booking, emails and the emergency guide are in 7 languages. Check availability and book at Haneda.