Germany on a Japanese Licence — The Side Switch & Autobahn Reality

Most Japanese visitors come to Germany for the same reason: the Autobahn, the Romantic Road, an Alpine loop down to Bavaria. The licence paperwork is simple. The thing that genuinely catches Japanese drivers is the same one that catches no European — Germany drives on the right, and you are coming from the left.

That side switch is the whole game on day one. The reflexes built over years in Japan all point the wrong way here: you glance the wrong direction at a junction, drift toward the kerb that is now on your passenger side, and meet roundabouts that flow clockwise instead of anti-clockwise. Pick the car up somewhere quiet, not at Frankfurt or Munich airport in rush hour, and give yourself an hour of deliberate, slow driving before you trust your instincts again.

Your Japanese licence is valid, but it must travel with a 1968 International Driving Permit. Japan issues licences in Japanese script, so the IDP is the certified translation German rental desks and police rely on — arrange it in Japan before you fly, because you cannot get one here. Carry the IDP, the licence and your passport together.

Then there is the Autobahn, which is less lawless than its reputation. Long sections carry an advisory 130 km/h rather than a legal ceiling, but a great deal of the network is signed with firm limits and monitored by section-control cameras. Where you see a number, it is real, and creeping a little over inside a town costs around EUR 30. The bigger discipline is lane behaviour: keep right except to overtake, check your mirror before pulling out because a car two lanes back may be closing at 200 km/h, and never undertake. Full figures sit on our Germany driving guide.

The drink-drive limit is 0.05, marginally looser than the 0.03 you know, but not worth testing — penalties escalate fast. The car must carry a warning triangle, hi-vis vest and first-aid kit, and the emergency number is 112. Petrol runs near EUR 1.95 a litre.

Before you set off, confirm the permit position with our Driving Permit Checker, and if a speed ticket arrives after you fly home, our guide to who pays driving fines abroad explains how rental firms pass them on.