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Road Rules and Traffic Regulations in Japan - Driving Nuances
1. In Japan, drivers will be literally shocked when they see perfect quality of roads and diversified road infrastructure. However, they will be even more surprised with the disciplined behavior of local drivers. It won’t be a lie to say that Japan is a country where traffic rules are followed to the fullest extent by both motorists and pedestrians.
2. Tourists, who plan to travel in the country a lot, will surely notice that all roads in Japan are of the same high quality. The structure and color of asphalt surface on main roads and on small suburban roads has absolutely no differences. The same applies to road marking.
3. All roads in the country are equipped with curbs. There are also excellent storm sewers along them. Even during heavy rains driving on local roads is very comfortable. It should be noted that storm sewers on the roads are constructed with amazing geometrical precision, so even in a heavy rain you will not see any puddles on the asphalt.
4. This peculiarity of local roads explains the fact why many Japanese cars are simply not equipped with beam washers. Local motorists can hardly imagine why someone may need this device.
5. All roads, regardless of their location, have all road markings. Road markings in Japan indicate not only different lanes, but also parking spaces, so driving in the country is really simple. The only roads that have no road markings are gravel roads. They are located, as a rule, in the western part of the country, in the mountains.
Nuances of Car Rental in Japan
To save on your rental, we advise to book your car in advance. You will save the most if you do this several weeks or even several months prior to your trip. Rental offices in Japan usually raise rental prices over time, based on the number of cars left available for the accounting period.
When looking for an exotic car (cabriolet, minivan or limousine), we advise to check in the rental offices located at airports, as they usually provide much wider choice comparing to offices in urban areas.
Upon receipt of invoices, bills and documents for your car at the rental location, please compare the obtained data with your voucher. Quite often, employees of rental offices in Japan try to add optional charges or services without informing customers.
It is very important to pick up your car at the rental office in Japan in a correct way. Prior to leaving the office, carefully inspect the car for various defects, and ensure that all the discovered defects are mentioned in your rental documents. In case of a non-compliance found, place a demand for correction to the rental officer.
You can always check our car actual rental offers in Japan. Simply use the search form at the top of the page. We guarantee that you will not find better prices anywhere else!
7. As many as 99% of intersections in Japan have traffic lights. Traffic lights are used to define the priority while crossing roads. The so-called interyard driveways usually have spherical mirrors, but one can rarely see them in large cities.
8. On city roads the maximum distance between traffic lights is 100 meters, and on some roads they are installed every 50 meters. Surprisingly, such a number of traffic lights don’t contribute to the formation of traffic jams. On the contrary, thanks to them the traffic becomes very well-organized.
9. A huge number of traffic lights is also a great way to make all drivers follow the speed limit. Japanese drivers are already well-disciplined, but such frequent traffic lights at intersections completely eliminate the possibility of breaking the speed limit.
10. Taking into consideration all of the above mentioned features and the fact that the majority of roads in large cities are quite narrow, the absence of heavy traffic jams on highways seems almost paradoxical. During "rush hours" the traffic on busy city roads is really slow, but comparing to other multimillion cities, traffic jams in Japan seem a mere trifle.
11. Accidents are very rare on local roads. In order not to be added to the sad statistics, foreign visitors are recommended to behave responsibly and accurately comply with all traffic rules.
12. If we look at the flow of cars in big cities, we will easily define that the leaders on Japanese roads are Toyota and Nissan cars. These cars can be seen literally at every intersection. Honda branded cars are somewhat less common.
13. When it comes to describing specific characteristics of the local traffic rules, left driving is, surely, the main difference. An interesting fact - local drivers do not consider right-hand drive cars dangerous in this type of traffic. Local people buy the cars they like, often without paying any attention to such a trifle as the location of the steering wheel.
15. There are no "financial" priorities on local roads. All drivers have the same rights, regardless of the model and price of the car. Arrogant behavior and rudeness on the road is simply unacceptable in Japan, and will surely be regarded as a sign of bad upbringing.
16. It is worth noting rather a peculiar behavior of the traffic police. The police in Japan do not have the goal of "catching" offenders and issuing heavy fines. Despite the fact that the police are on duty literally everywhere in the country, the main task of law enforcement is to prevent violations in time and not to punish drivers.
17. Video surveillance system in Japan is considered one of the best in the world. Even if a clever driver manages to exceed the speed, this will never be left unnoticed. Most likely, the driver will receive a heavy fine bill.
18. Bicycle remains a popular form of transport in Japan. However, drivers of the two-wheeled transport move exclusively on sidewalks in the country. There are also special parking lots for bicycles only, the majority of which are paid.
19. Almost all major cities suffer from a critical shortage of parking spaces. So called multi-storey car parking areas have become very popular in the country. If you leave a car or a bicycle in the wrong place, most likely you will have to pay a large fine. The vehicle in this case may be transported to penalty parking.
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