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

Most “driving in Japan” advice tells French visitors to grab an International Driving Permit and go. For a French licence, that advice is wrong — and acting on it means driving illegally. This is the one detail to get right before anything else.

Japan only recognises IDPs issued under the 1949 Geneva Convention. France issues the newer 1968 Vienna version, which Japanese authorities do not accept. So the permit you would naturally pick up at the préfecture is useless here. Instead, you need an official Japanese translation of your French licence, issued by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF) or a French consulate, and you carry that translation together with your original licence and passport. JAF has counters at the main airports and in major cities, and the translation is what rental desks in Tokyo and Osaka will ask to see. Sort it early — a missing or wrong document means no car.

With the paperwork settled, the road itself asks for a mental flip. Japan drives on the left, the mirror image of France, and the first hour is where reflexes betray you: pulling out of a car park onto the wrong side, drifting wide on left turns, glancing the wrong way at a junction. Take that first stretch somewhere quiet rather than central Tokyo. The good news is the pace is gentle — 100 km/h on expressways, often 40 km/h in town — and traffic is orderly and disciplined.

A couple of things will surprise you. Expressway tolls are genuinely expensive over distance, so a rental ETC card is worth requesting to avoid fumbling at booths. The alcohol limit is 0.03, stricter than France’s 0.05, and Japan enforces it hard — passengers can even be penalised for letting a driver drink, so treat it as zero. Speeding is watched by widespread fixed and mobile cameras; about 10 km/h over typically costs around JPY 9,000 (≈€55) plus a penalty point.

Signage mixes kanji with romaji on major routes, but rural junctions can be kanji-only, so a navigation app set to your language earns its keep. Emergencies are 110 for police, 119 for fire and ambulance. For the full rulebook before you set off, see our Japan driving guide, and confirm exactly which document your nationality needs with the driving permit checker.