Keep in mind that gas (petrol) prices are relatively high.

Driver’s licenses

International licenses

If you have a foreign license issued by a country that signed the 1949 Geneva Convention, you can drive a car in Japan using an international driving permit for up to one year from the time you first enter Japan. After you have been in Japan for one year, your international driving permit becomes invalid, regardless of its expiry date. International driving permits have to be obtained in your home country, usually through the national automobile association, before you come to Japan. France, Germany, and Switzerland did not sign the Geneva Convention, but if you have a license issued in one of these countries, you can drive in Japan for up to one year with an official translation of your license.

Converting your foreign license

Alternatively, you can convert your foreign license to a Japanese one for a total cost of approximately 4250 yen. To do this, you must have lived in the country where the license was issued for at least three months after obtaining it. Here are the steps required to convert your license:

1. Get an official Japanese translation of your license, from your home country’s embassy or consulate, or for 3000 yen from the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF), Shibusawa Building 1F, 3-5-4 Shiba-koen, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 03-3578-1471. See http://www.jaf.or.jp/e/switch.htm.
2. Go to the driving-test center, taking your foreign license, the official translation, your passport and alien registration card, and a passport-size photograph taken in the last three months. If your license does not say when it was issued, you also need a certificate that shows this.
3. At the driving-test center, take eyesight and hearing tests, a written test, and a practical test. Licenses issued by certain countries can be converted with only an eye test. These countries are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, the Netherlands and the UK.

For information on converting your license, see http://www.koyama.co.jp/english/english_01_02.html.

Getting a Japanese driver's license (if you don't have a foreign license to convert)

The Tokyo police provide information in English about drivers' licenses in Japan on 03-5463-6000 or 042-334-6000. Driver’s licenses are managed by local police departments, and some of their websites also have information in English. To get a driver’s license from scratch in Japan, there are two methods. The first is to graduate from a designated driving school, which is very expensive. The second is to pass the examinations at a driving test site, which is very difficult. See http://www.koyama.co.jp/english.htm.

If you would prefer to pay someone else to take care of your license conversion, contact http://www.japandriverslicense.com/.

Renting a car

If you are only going to use a car occasionally, renting one is much simpler and cheaper than buying. Prices start at around 5000 yen a day, including insurance. There are various car rental companies with offices throughout Japan, for example:

• Nippon Rentacar, 03-3485-7196 (English), http://www.nipponrentacar.co.jp/english/;
• Hertz, 0120-489-882 (English), http://www.hertz.com/;
• Avis, http://www.avis-japan.com/.

If you want to travel by JR train and hire a car at your destination, you can use JR’s Eki Rent-a-Car service. This gives a discount if you book the train ticket and car rental together. Information is available from JR ticket reservation offices (Midori no madoguchi).

Buying a car

Foreigners can buy cars in Japan as long as they have completed alien registration. To buy a car, you need to have a parking space, and a certificate to prove this. Parking spaces can be rented for about 10,000 yen per month. You can pay for a car with a lump sum or in installments. With installments, you have to sign a contract with a credit company, and ownership is transferred when you have paid them back in full. Car purchase procedures are very complicated and usually carried out by the dealer. When registering a car you have to submit a variety of documents, including tax and insurance forms. Most drivers take out extra insurance policies. When you buy a car you have to pay acquisition tax, and if you own a car you have to pay a weight tax and a local automobile tax. There is a special category of light cars (kei-jidōsha) that incur less tax and have different-colored number plates. All cars have to pass a regular official inspection (shaken) when they are three years old, and every two years thereafter. Most people get garages to do this for them, but this can cost 150,000 yen or more. If you take your car to the test center and do it yourself, it is far cheaper, but you will need to speak some Japanese.

Car insurance

• AIU Insurance: http://www.japaninsurance.net/
• ACE Insurance, Japan: http://www.ace-insurance.co.jp/en/ipi-2.html