Driving in Japan on a Dutch Licence — Why Your IDP Won't Work

Most Dutch travellers plan a Japan road trip assuming the routine works: get an International Driving Permit from the ANWB, pick up the car, drive. In Japan that routine fails at the rental counter. Japan only recognises IDPs issued under the 1949 Geneva Convention, and the Netherlands switched to the 1968 Vienna Convention — so a Dutch IDP is worthless there. This single mismatch is the thing that strands more European visitors in Japan than anything else.

What you need instead is an official Japanese translation of your Dutch licence. It is issued by the Japan Automobile Federation (JAF), or by a Dutch embassy or consulate, and you carry it together with your original licence and your passport. JAF can turn it around in a few days in Japan, but if you want to drive from the moment you land, arrange it before you leave. Without that paper, no rental company will hand you keys, and driving on it is illegal.

Clear that hurdle and the second adjustment is physical: Japan drives on the left. Coming from the right-hand traffic of the Netherlands, the danger window is the first day — wrong-side pull-outs, mirror checks over the wrong shoulder, and the wipers-instead-of-indicators reflex in a right-hand-drive car. Start somewhere quiet, not central Tokyo.

The pace is gentle by Dutch standards. Urban limits are a low 40 km/h, rural roads 60, and expressways top out at 100 km/h — and those expressways are tolled, often heavily, so budget for it or get an ETC card with the rental. Speed cameras are everywhere and unforgiving; about 10 km/h over typically costs JPY 9,000 (roughly EUR 55) plus a licence point. Drink-driving is treated far more seriously than at home: the limit is 0.03 BAC versus the Dutch 0.05, and penalties can extend to your passengers and to whoever served you. Don’t drink at all if you’re driving.

Check the Japan driving guide for parking, signage and the kanji you’ll meet on expressway boards, confirm your documents with the Driving Permit Checker, and if a fine does follow you to the rental return, our note on who pays driving fines abroad explains how it’s collected. The emergency number for police is 110; for ambulance and fire it’s 119.