With the exception of Tatra87 and myself, there’s probably not a lot of other Curbsiders that have a yen (no pun intended) for a tutorial on Japanese license plates. But in the odd chance that it comes up as a Jeopardy category, here’s just a quick rundown…
Let’s start with the organization – unlike in the US where states have authority for vehicle licensing and registration, in Japan it’s all run at the national level. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism administers vehicle registration for all cars, trucks, buses, etc. The only exceptions are “kei-class” mini-cars and motorcycles where registration is done by local authorities.
Japan has forty-seven prefectures – and within those are 107 Regional Land Transportation Offices, usually referred to as “LTO’s”, where registration occurs.
Now let’s look at the plates…the basic plate used nation-wide for most regular-size vehicles is one with a white background and green characters – 330 mm (13 inches) by 165 mm (6.5 inches).
1: The prefecture or smaller region where the vehicle is registered in Kanji characters. Just FYI – Japanese uses three forms of written characters – Kanji which are traditional Chinese non-phonetic symbols, Hiragana which is phonetic, and Katakana which is also phonetic but mostly used for transplanted foreign words.
2: A numerical code designating the engine size and exterior dimensions – there are nine categories; 1 = mid-sized truck, 2 = bus, 3XX = passenger car with engine two liters and above, 4 = small truck, 5 = passenger car (non-kei) with engine size below two liters, 6 = three-wheeled vehicles, 7 = 3-series overflow, 8 = special purpose such as police and fire vehicles, 9 = heavy special purpose vehicle, and 0 = construction equipment.
3: A series of Hiragana characters that designate a privately-owned, rental car, or company-fleet vehicle.
4: Four-digit registration number.
Other categories;
Kei-class cars use a yellow plate with black characters.
Regular/large-size commercial vehicles use a green plate with white characters. Kei-sized commercial vehicles use black background with yellow characters.
A regular white plate with a red diagonal line is a temporary plate issued when the vehicle has been previously deregistered or the Japan Compulsory Insurance has expired. After buying a new JCI policy, typically you’ll have five days to get the vehicle re-inspected and re-registered.
Under the Status of Forces Agreement, the Japanese government registers privately-owned vehicles of US military-affiliated personnel – Japan denotes these with a “Y” (JDM) or “E” (non-JDM import) instead of the Hiragana character. Kei vehicles use an “A”.
Diplomatic plates used by foreign embassies are single-lined and bright blue.
Tokyo regional plate showing cherry blossoms and Tokyo Tower
Personalized Plates. Japan allows limited personalized plates at extra cost. If you want a specific four-digit number combination, you can request it. In addition, recently there are a variety of plates with added imagery showcasing regional highlights or locations. One type of personalized plate that may be unique to Japan is the “jiko-shiki” or backlighted plate.
Motorcycle plates, though dimensionally smaller, are somewhat similar.
Up to 50cc: – white small plate
Up to 90cc: – yellow plate with triangular mark
Up to 125cc: – pink plate with triangular mark
Up to 250cc: – white regular plate
Over 250 cc – white regular plate with green border
The JCI inspection sticker is also affixed to the plate, versus the front windshield for cars/trucks.
Miscellaneous. Japanese law requires both front and rear plates. The rear plate is affixed with a crimped seal over one of the retaining bolts to hinder tampering and plate switching. Plates stay on the car when it is sold or ownership transfers as long as it remains within that registration area. If you move within Japan or the vehicle is sold to someone in another prefecture, then the plates are replaced with those from that new registration region.
Fun Fact 1. The jiko shiki backlighted plate was initially approved for the northern island of Hokkaido which has long, brutal winters. Snow would collect and cover the plate – so small fluorescent bulbs were placed behind it illuminating the letters and also melting the snow.
Fun Fact 2: Some numbers are prohibited for use on Japanese license plates. Specifically, the combinations 42 and 49 at the end of plates, which are phonetically very similar to Japanese words for death (死に) and “to run over” (轢く). The number combinations 42-19 (死に行く, “proceeding to death”) and 42-56 (死に頃, “time to die”) are also restricted.
I’ve heard that the annual ‘MOT’ tests are so strict in Japan, that very few cars manage to make it past the ten year mark. One comment is that a car can be failed on a scruffy interior alone. I’m also curious what the road tax is for vehicles there? My country has a sliding scale road tax charge dependent on engine size alone. People are shocked that I pay approximately US$1,000 a year but, we have very fine transport infrastructure so worth every penny. Good to see that there is a classic car culture in Japan and I enjoy your articles. I’m guessing there’s a spot where the fan gather every weekend judging from your photographs?
I think you may have me confused with my fellow Tokyo cohort Tatra87 – he is amazingly talented in finding the many exclusive automotive gems here. To answer your questions;
1) I did a post on registration costs here in Japan a few months back – the link is
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/blog/comment-classic/curbside-commentary-the-cost-of-owning-a-vehicle-in-japan/
2) On Sundays many enthusiasts bring there cars to the “Gaien” section of downtown Tokyo – it’s a large tree-lined venue – one of the few that permits curbside parking. Tatra captures a lot of his finds there.
Thank you for this! There might be just a few Curbsiders interested in this topic, but I’m one of them, and I’m always intrigued by the license plates in Tatra87’s and your posts from Japan.
Most of what I know about the topic I’ve just pieced together from various posts, so it’s great to have this all in one place. Several things in here are completely new to me, like the backlighted plate – I’ve never seen an example of this from anywhere else.
A while ago I looked up the special-design plates (like the Tokyo cherry blossom plate you show here), and I recall that each prefecture was permitted to design its own specialty plate. Most of them are very attractive designs – some of them more on the humorous side. But I’m curious how popular these are in the real world. I rarely see them in pictures on Japanese streets, which surprises me.
Thanks for including the diplomatic plates too. Since I live not far from Washington, DC, I see US diplomatic plates pretty regularly.
Earlier this year I saw a car with Japanese Status of Forces Agreement plates – probably from a US servicemember who recently returned from Okinawa. (I think servicemembers have a few weeks to register their cars in the US… I see US Forces in Germany plates occasionally, but this is the first Japanese plate I’ve seen.) This car, obviously not a JDM vehicle, has the Y plate. I looked it up at the time, and I vaguely recall that Y is the most common SOFA prefix, and its not just limited to JDM vehicles. But it seemed very complex and I didn’t read any definitive answers about it. Also, no one is quite sure what Y stands for – legend had that it stood for Yankee, but most folks don’t believe that’s true.
Well, again, thanks for this article!
Thanks for the education, Lincolnman! I never noticed that the kei and heavy commercial plates use yellow and black like California has used on and off over the years.