Japan on a French Licence — Your IDP Won't Work; Get the JAF Translation

The usual advice for French visitors, grab an International Driving Permit and go, fails in Japan. Acting on it means driving without valid papers, which is why this is the first thing to settle.

Why your French IDP is useless in Japan

Japan recognises IDPs issued under the 1949 Geneva Convention. France issues the 1968 Vienna version, so the permit you would pick up through the préfecture is not accepted. What works is an official Japanese translation of your French licence, issued by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) or through your embassy. You carry the translation with your original licence and your passport. A rental desk in Tokyo or Osaka will ask for exactly that set. Arrange it before you rent, because a missing or wrong document means no car.

Quick answers to the common questions

The legal age to drive a car in Japan is 18, as in France. The alcohol limit is 0.03, where France allows 0.05, so a drink that is legal on the way home in Lyon is not in Kyoto. Emergency numbers also differ: 110 for police and 119 for fire and ambulance, against France’s 17, 15, 18 and the European 112. Readers also arrive here comparing France with Japan directly, so this table puts the main figures side by side.

The flip to the left

Japan drives on the left. The first hour is where reflexes betray you: pulling out of a car park into the wrong lane, swinging wide on a left turn, glancing the wrong way at a junction. Spend it somewhere quiet rather than in central Tokyo. The pace helps. Expressways top out at 100 km/h, with 120 only on some designated stretches, and narrow residential roads have defaulted to 30 km/h since September 2026 according to our record. Cameras are fixed and mobile, so treat the posted number as a ceiling, not a suggestion. Rain, snow or fog calls for slower driving than the sign says.

What a ticket looks like

Japan’s penalties are lighter in euro terms than you might fear, but the criminal line is close. Speeding up to 15 km/h over costs JPY 9,000 for an ordinary car, 16-20 over JPY 12,000, 21-25 over JPY 15,000, 26-30 over JPY 18,000 and 31-35 over JPY 25,000. Past 30 km/h over on ordinary roads, or 40 on expressways, you move into criminal territory with licence suspension. A handheld phone is JPY 18,000 plus 3 points and a red light JPY 9,000 plus 2 points. Not wearing a seatbelt brings a warning and 1 point for a first offence.

France is different in structure. A French radar ticket for up to 20 over is a fixed EUR 68, and a seatbelt or phone offence costs EUR 135 with points for the phone.

Your first day with the car

Pick the car up with the licence, the translation and the passport laid out on the counter. Do a lap of the car park before you join a road, keep the first drive short, and avoid the busiest streets of the city for that first hour. Remember the criminal threshold: 30 km/h over the limit on ordinary roads is already a different category of offence from a small excess.

Kit and signs

Japan’s list requires a warning triangle only. France additionally demands a reflective vest, which you will not be asked for in Japan. Signage mixes kanji with romaji on major routes, but some rural junctions are kanji-only, so a map app set to your language is useful.

The Japan driving guide covers the rest of the rulebook, and the driving permit checker shows which document your nationality needs.

Sources

• Japan Automobile Federation (JAF), translation of foreign licences: jaf.or.jp