Can I drive with the Australian driving license in Japan?

While renting a car in Japan it is uncertain whether our Australian license will be accepted. We will clear the uncertainty in this article.

Suppliers

Please select your rental company branch

Differnet rental branches may ask you to show an IDP.
Please select your upcoming trip rental branch for the most accurate guidelines.

At this point in time, we have not yet collected the rental terms of rental companies in Japan. Please visit us again in a later time to get more specific details.

Do I need an IDP?

Full laws breakdown for driving with the Australian license in Japan

To determine with confidence whether you need an IDP or not, we check multiple data sources. Please review the following legal terms of: the Australian laws, the local laws in Japan, the rental company requirements and real life reports we collected from other Australian travelers in Japan.

What do the Australian laws say about driving in Japan with the Australian driving license?

We have not yet collected the Australian laws. Please visit us again in a later time.

What do the laws in Japan say about driving with a foreign driving license?

The laws in Japan say the following:
An international driver's license that can be used to drive in Japan is an international driver's license issued by a country that is a party to the Geneva Convention and conforms to the format specified by the convention. Even if an international driver's license is issued by a country that is a party to the Geneva Convention, you cannot drive in Japan with an international driver's license issued in a format based on other conventions (Vienna Convention, etc.).
Source: Public Relations Division, General Affairs Department, Metropolitan Police Department

It means that:
1. You can drive in Japan without an International Driving Permit.
2. You will not need an International Driving Permit.

What are the rental agency terms for driving with a foreign license?

Different rental agencies might still require an IDP even while the local laws do not require it. Please find your appropriate local supplier in the list above to verify.

What do Australian travelers report after being pulled over by the local police in Japan?

We don't have any real life reports by Australian travelers in Japan.
If you've been there and was pulled over by the local officials, please share your experience with us and we will publish it to help others.

 Where can I get an IDP?

Facts check reviewed on 6 March 2024 at 10:51 pm by PaapmPaapm editorial team.

Help us get it right!

Have you found a mistake or rented a car and can report with an up-to-date status?

Please help us helping other travelers with recent actual requirements of your rental agency or after being pulled over by the local police.

Why we created this website?

For years there's uncertainty of whether the driving license can be used abroad as is. We see travelers taking the effort of driving to the offices to purchase it, which is sometimes a non trivial effort, and at the end - nobody asks them to show the IDP.
This is frustrating as the IDP wasn't cheap or easy to get.

Some travelers say that they didn't need it while others say their trip was ruined due to the fact that they didn't hold an IDP in hand and the rental company refused to rent them the car. Some have reported that they've also lost their rental car pre-payment completely due to not holding an IDP.

The truth about the IDP is that there are multiple legal factors by the destination country laws, the rental agency rental terms and what happens in real life, when you meet with the local police or rental company agent. Sometimes real life is different from what the laws or terms state.

We hope that if an agent of the law or the rental company asks you for an IDP which you don't hold, you may refer them to the laws and rental terms we have collected here. Our experience shows that most of the time, the agents get confused and don't know the requirements, so showing them the proper snippet might help you out.

Please help us and report back whether our information is correct or not, so we can keep it up to date for other travelers like you!

Hold an IDP to be on the safe side

If you have the time, we always recommend to purchase an IDP, even if the information on our website says with confidence that you won't need one.

You better hold an IDP during 2024