Renting a car in Japan: what it costs, which licence you need, the companies with English booking and when a car beats the train

Do you need a rental car in Japan?

In the three cities most visitors start with, no. Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto have dense rail networks, parking that the Japan National Tourism Organization describes as expensive, and traffic that turns a 10 km drive into an hour. Outside them the balance shifts quickly. JNTO's getting-around page says that beyond the major cities "renting a car is sometimes the most convenient and economical form of transport, especially if you are traveling in a group", and that is the honest summary: a car is for Hokkaido's distances, Okinawa's beaches, the Kyushu and Shikoku coastlines, the Japanese Alps and the onsen towns where the bus runs four times a day.

The arithmetic favours a car once there are three of you. Two adults on trains pay two fares; four adults pay four, while the car costs the same and stops wherever you like. Against that, a Shinkansen covers Tokyo to Kyoto in a little over two hours and the drive takes five with 10,000 yen in tolls, so the usual pattern is rail between regions and a car for a few days inside one.

The licence rule: what you must bring

This is where rentals fail at the counter, so take it literally. The Japan Automobile Federation (JAF), which administers the rules for foreign drivers, sets out three routes:

1. An International Driving Permit under the 1949 Geneva Convention, carried together with your home licence and your passport. The IDP must be the paper booklet: JNTO's driving page says that card-type and smartphone IDPs are not valid in Japan. An IDP is good for one year from issue, and JAF adds that it may be used only for one year from your entry into Japan, whichever ends first. Permits issued under the 1968 Vienna Convention are not valid, which affects some travellers whose countries issue both; ask your motoring organisation for the 1949 version.
2. A licence from Switzerland, Germany, France, Belgium, Monaco or Taiwan with an official Japanese translation, obtainable from JAF or from the country's embassy or consulate in Japan, again valid for one year from entry.
3. A Japanese licence, for residents.

If your country issues neither a 1949 IDP nor one of the six accepted licences, you cannot drive in Japan as a visitor; some countries' nationals can drive only after converting their licence as residents. Check JAF's page under Sources before you book anything.

Two further details. First, the one-year rule is checked against your passport, which is why JNTO advises arriving visitors who plan to drive to use the staffed immigration counter rather than the automated gate, so that the passport receives an entry stamp. Second, the counter staff will want to see all three documents, so keep the originals together; photocopies are not accepted.

What a rental car costs in Japan

JNTO's driving page publishes guide prices for a 24-hour rental with unlimited mileage, basic insurance included: sub-compact 5,000 to 11,100 yen, compact 9,000 to 13,500 yen, intermediate 14,000 to 30,000 yen, and standard 29,500 to 31,000 yen. The spread reflects season and location as much as the car; a kei car in Hokkaido in June is at the bottom of its band, a minivan in Okinawa in August at the top. Vans, campervans and automatic-only premium cars cost more, and this site does not quote company-by-company prices that change weekly.

Budget for the extras, which can match the rental itself:

Expressway passes for foreign visitors

Japan's expressways are tolled, and the tolls add up fast: JNTO puts Tokyo to Kyoto at about 10,070 yen one way. Four regional flat-rate passes, sold only to drivers who hold a non-Japanese passport, cap the cost for touring. They are sold through participating rental-car companies together with a rented ETC card; the car hire and the ETC card fee are extra. The nationwide Japan Expressway Pass is gone: JNTO's expressway-passes page, updated in January 2026, says it is no longer available, so ignore older blog posts that recommend it.

The prices are the operators' published figures as of the date at the top of this page and apply per car, not per person. Whether a pass pays depends on your route: a loop that uses the expressway every day clears the price easily, a stay around one city does not. Each pass page under Sources sets out the conditions and the roads covered, and the rental company applies the pass when you collect the car.

Which companies rent cars to visitors

JNTO's list of companies that serve foreign visitors runs to Budget, Hertz, Japan Campingcar Rental Center, JR Rent-A-Car, Niconico, Nippon, Nissan, Orix, Times and Toyota. JAF's driving-tips page links the English booking sites of six of them: Toyota Rent a Car, Nissan Rent a Car, Times Car Rental, Nippon Rent-A-Car, Orix Rent-A-Car and JR's Eki Rent-A-Car, which has counters at major stations. All of them take bookings in English months ahead, which matters in Hokkaido in summer, Okinawa in school holidays and anywhere over Golden Week, when cars sell out.

"Which car rental is best" has a dull answer: the big domestic names are much alike in cars, prices and conditions, so choose by pickup location (an airport or Shinkansen-station counter saves a taxi), by whether the branch can drop the car somewhere else, and by the English support offered if something goes wrong. Comparison sites that bundle the same companies are fine, but read the fuel and one-way terms before paying a deposit. This site has no commercial relationship with any of them.

Booking tips that save money and trouble

1. Book an automatic, which is the default. Nearly every Japanese rental car is automatic; a manual gearbox is the special request. Hybrids are common and cut the fuel bill.
2. Consider a kei car for two people. The small yellow-plate cars sit in the cheapest class and are enough for two adults with cabin bags on country roads, but struggle with four people, big suitcases and mountain passes. The regional expressway passes price kei cars lower.
3. Reserve child seats when you book. Japan requires a child seat for every child under six. Ask for the seat by the child's age and weight; our guide to Japan with kids covers the rest of a family trip.
4. Say when you need winter tyres. In snow regions such as Hokkaido and Tohoku rental cars are fitted with winter tyres in the cold months; elsewhere you must ask. JAF warns that some roads require chains or winter tyres when snowbound, and JNTO lists winter tyres among the things to confirm with the rental company.
5. Ask for English navigation, and collect phone numbers or Mapcodes. Rental satnavs switch to English, and JNTO's road-trip checklist notes that destinations are entered by telephone number or Mapcode rather than by address, so copy those for each hotel and attraction before you go.
6. Take the ETC card. The electronic toll card lets you use the purple ETC lanes without stopping and is required for the regional expressway passes; the tolls are settled when you return the car.
7. Check the fuel policy and return time. Cars go out full and come back full, with a receipt from a nearby station; returning on fumes means a refuelling charge at the branch's rate, and lateness is charged in blocks.
8. Photograph the car at pickup, including the wheels and the underside of the bumpers, with the staff member present, and confirm which damage waiver you have taken.

Filling up: how a Japanese petrol station works

Fuel is sold by the litre, and JNTO's guide figure of about 170 yen per litre dates from 2022; prices move, so expect a little either side of that. At a staffed station the attendant asks three things: which fuel, how much and how you will pay. The answer most visitors need is "regular, mantan" (full tank). JNTO's checklist and JAF both record the colour code at the pump: regular petrol has a red nozzle, high-octane (premium) is yellow and diesel is green. Rental cars almost always take regular; the fuel type is printed inside the fuel flap. Self-service stations are common, and JAF reminds drivers to touch the static-discharge pad before handling the nozzle. In the countryside stations close in the evening and some close on Sundays, so fill up in the afternoon before a mountain or coastal stretch.

When a car makes sense, and when it does not

Rent a car for Hokkaido outside Sapporo, Okinawa's main island and its outlying islands, the Kyushu circuit of Fukuoka, Aso, Kumamoto, Kagoshima and Miyazaki, Shikoku, the Noto peninsula, the Japanese Alps between Matsumoto and Takayama, the Izu peninsula, the San'in coast and any trip built around onsen villages, beaches and michi-no-eki roadside stations, of which JNTO counts more than 1,160. Skip it for Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Nagoya, Fukuoka city and Sapporo city, where trains are faster and parking is the most expensive line in the budget, and for the Tokyo to Kyoto to Hiroshima corridor, where the Shinkansen wins on time and often on cost once tolls and fuel are counted. The practical pattern is to arrive by rail, rent at the regional station or airport for two to four days, and return the car before the next train. The rules of the road, from the left-hand traffic to the 30 km/h limit on narrow roads and the alcohol thresholds, are covered in the companion guide to driving in Japan.

To cite or link to this page: Renting a car in Japan: what it costs, which licence you need, the companies with English booking and when a car beats the train — Japan Pocket Guide, https://japanpocketguide.com/plan/car-rental/ Copy