Driving in Japan on a US Licence — IDP Mandatory, Drive on the Left

The good news for American travellers is that Japan recognises your International Driving Permit. The US signed the 1949 Geneva Convention, the same treaty Japan accepts, so an IDP from AAA (or AATA) is valid — unlike permits from Vienna-Convention countries, which Japan rejects outright. The catch is that the IDP is mandatory, not optional: your home-state licence on its own gets you nowhere at the rental counter. AAA issues the permit in roughly ten days and you cannot obtain one inside Japan, so this is a before-you-fly task. Carry the IDP, your US licence and your passport together.

With the paperwork sorted, the adjustment that actually catches Americans is the one rental manuals barely mention: Japan drives on the left. Everything reverses — pulling out of a car park, the give-way logic at junctions, the side you overtake on, even the wiper-versus-indicator stalk in a right-hand-drive car. The first day is the dangerous one, so take your opening hour somewhere quiet rather than dropping straight into Tokyo or Osaka traffic.

Speeds feel low after American highways. Ordinary roads default to 60 km/h, or 30 on streets without a centre line, and expressways cap at 100 km/h — and those expressways carry real tolls, so factor in an ETC card with your rental. Enforcement is dense and automated: fixed and mobile cameras blanket the major roads, and going 20+ km/h over can mean JPY 15,000–18,000, with around 10 km/h over still costing about JPY 9,000 (roughly EUR 55) plus a point.

The sharpest legal difference is alcohol. Japan’s limit is 0.03 BAC against the US 0.08 — effectively a different universe — and the penalties reach passengers and the person who supplied the drink. Don’t drink and drive at all. Read the full Japan driving guide for signage and parking rules, run your documents through the Driving Permit Checker, and if a camera ticket surfaces at car return, our guide on who pays driving fines abroad explains the chain. Police: 110. Ambulance and fire: 119.