In Japan, the national government issues vehicle registration plates for motor vehicles through the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Land Transportation Offices nationwide. However, the local municipality rather than the national government registers certain vehicles with small engine displacements.
The number on the top line is a vehicle class code which begins with a 0 through 9 to indicate specific vehicle classification. This is signified by the length, width and height of the vehicle as well as engine displacement. Broadly speaking, passenger automobiles with engine displacements at or smaller than 2000 cc receive 5-series plates, while passenger automobiles with engine displacements larger than or more receive 3-series license plates.
Official vehicles of the Imperial household are exempt from the requirement to display such plates. Official vehicles of the Self-Defense Forces and foreign diplomats are required to display other plates.
The plates are installed on both the front and rear of the vehicle, with the rear plate permanently attached to the vehicle with a prefecture seal completely covering one of the attaching plate bolts. The plate is only removed when the vehicle is sold secondhand to someone from a different prefecture, has reached the end of service and has been sold for scrap, or exported. New vehicles are not delivered to the purchaser until the plates have been attached at the dealership.
Since November 1, 1970, a "jikō-shiki" (字光式) plate has been offered for private vehicles at the owner's request. The green characters on this type of plate are replaced with molded green plastic that can be illuminated from behind the plate. From May 19, 1998, specific numbers can also be requested if the numbers are not already in use. From 2010, these are also available in blue version of vehicle registration plates started in 1973.
The international vehicle registration code for Japan is J.
Appearance Ordinary private vehicles have white plates with green text, while commercial vehicles have green plates with white text.
Lightweight private vehicles (kei cars) have yellow plates with black text, while lightweight commercial vehicles have black plates with yellow text.
Private, two-wheeled vehicles with engine displacements exceeding 250 cc have white plates with green text;
commercial two-wheeled vehicles with engine displacements exceeding 2000 cc have green plates with white text.
Private, lightweight two-wheeled vehicles with engine displacements of 250 cc or less have white plates with green text;
commercial, lightweight two-wheeled vehicles with engine displacements of 250 cc or less have green plates with white text.
ClassEngine (cc displacement)Plate colorText colorPlate dimensionsPrivate vehicle>660WhiteGreenMedium or largeCommercial vehicle>660GreenWhiteMedium or largeLightweight private (kei car)<660YellowBlackMediumLightweight commercial<660BlackYellowMediumMicrocar0–49Sky BlueBlueExtra smallno limitGreenBlackExtra small2 wheel0–49WhiteBlueExtra small2 wheel50–89YellowBlueExtra small2 wheel90–124PinkBlueExtra small2 wheel125–249WhiteGreenSmall2 wheel≥250White, green borderGreenSmall
Large
(for over 8 tons vehicle, or capacity of 30 people or more) Medium
Small
Extra small about (differs according to each municipality)
Until December 31, 1974, kei cars had small green and white license plates. After this date, they received medium plates, now in black and yellow to distinguish them from regular cars.
Private vehiclesCommercial vehiclesCompact or Large vehicles and motorbikes (displacements <250 cm3)Kei car2-wheeled vehicle ≥250 cm3
The illustration shows what a plate might look like. The top line contains the name of the issuing office (Tama, shown, is in Tokyo) and a vehicle class code. The bottom line contains a hiragana character and a four-digit serial number divided into two groups of two digits separated by a hyphen. Any leading zeroes are replaced by centered dots.
White plates can have the following hiragana (bold indicates rental vehicle characters):
さすせそたちつてとなにぬねのはひふほまみむめもやゆよらりるろ れわ
Green plates can have the following hiragana:
あいうえかきくけこを
Yellow plates can have the following hiragana:
あいうえかきくけこさすせそたちつてとなにぬねのはひふほまみむめもやゆよらりるれろわを
Black plates can have the following hiragana (bold indicates rental vehicle characters):
り れ
Some characters, including ones with a dakuten or a handakuten, be used on any plates, including the yellow and black ones:
ばだがぱざびぢぎぴじぶづぐぷずべでげペぜぼどごぽぞ
In addition, these hiragana cannot be used on any license plates due to various reasons explained below.
おしへゑゐん
The hiragana お is not used because it is too similar to the hiragana あ especially if there is a car crash.
The hiragana し is often thought to represent the kanji 死, which means death so it is not used.
The hiragana へ is often thought to represent the kanji 屁, which means fart so it is not used.
The hiragana ゑ and ゐ are very old and are not used commonly so to avoid confusion they are not used.
The hiragana ん, which is pronounced n, is hard to get across quickly over the phone so it is not used.
A license plate in Japan thus follows this format: KK?*H##-## (e.g., 足立500き21-41), where KK is the name of the issuing office in kanji, H is a hiragana, ? is a 5 for vehicles less than 2000 cc and a 3 for vehicles greater than 2000 cc (other numbers are less common—1 for large trucks, 2 for buses, etc.), * is a number from 0 to 99 (pre-1971 license plates will omit this), and # is a number from 0* to 9 (*leading zeroes are replaced by centered dots).
Special use plates
Vehicles owned by personnel with the United States military in Japan under the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) have a "Y" on white plates and an "A" on yellow plates, where the hiragana character is normally displayed. Earlier versions of the SOFA license plate displayed the letters "K", "M", "G", "H" and "E". These letters indicated the car was imported into Japan under SOFA. Today, cars with an "E" indicate that Japanese sales tax has not been paid and the vehicle will not remain in Japan when the military member departs. Since the 1980s, military commands have discouraged servicemembers assigned to Japan from shipping their vehicles from the U.S. into the country, so this is rarely seen. US military and US government members that retire in Japan are no longer under the SOFA and have standard Japanese plates issued. How to Purchase and Register a Vehicle , Web site of the .
The official imperial cars have a special number plate with the kanji 皇 and a one-digit number below.
Out of country plates
Because the Japanese writing system, particularly the kana, is unique to Japan, standard-issue Japanese license plates are considered unacceptable for international travel. If motorists wish to take their vehicles abroad with them, the Ministry of Transport will issue them with plates with the hiragana and kanji scripts replaced by Roman letters. The hiragana prefix is replaced by a Kunrei-shiki romanization of that character. The kanji prefecture/office code is replaced by a two- or three-letter abbreviation, the first two letters representing the prefecture, the third (if present) representing the office within the prefecture. All the numerical portions of the plate remain the same.
Using the example given above, the plate (足立50Kき21-41) would then read TKA 50K KI 21-41 (TKA for Tokyo Adachi).
Vehicle class code system
In addition to plate size and color, Japanese plates since 1962 have identified the vehicle type (signified by length, width and height as well as engine displacement) by use of a vehicle class code signified by a number on the top line of the plate for all vehicles with three or more wheels. The vehicle class code system is not widely understood outside of Japan, and as a result, Japanese vehicles displaying "vanity" Japanese license plates at overseas shows and events are often unwittingly misrepresented.
Motorbikes and other two wheeled vehicles do not use this system.
In 1967, double digit vehicle codes were introduced for the first time, once all previous possible combinations were used. For example, 3 would become 33, and then 34, 35, etc. This began in October 1967 in the more populous prefectures initially for the most common vehicle classes such as 3 and 5. In April 1971 all vehicle codes become double digit across the country. Double digit codes finally stopped being issued in 1999.
By the early 1970s, three-wheeled passenger cars were no longer in production and some prefectures began to issue the double digit codes 77, 78 and 79 as an 'overflow series' for passenger cars 2000cc and under. This practice stopped in 1999.
By May 1998, some prefectures were beginning to run out of all possible combinations of double digit vehicle codes for the most common classes (notably 599 and 799) and began issuing triple digit vehicle codes.
+1962-711967-99 1998-Description111, 1x1xxTruck that exceeds any of the limitations placed on 4-number vehicle types222, 2x2xxSmall to medium bus333, 3x3xxPassenger car with displacement larger than 2000 cc, or exceeding length and width regulations for compact cars444 through 494xxTruck, van, or other light commercial shorter than 4.7 metres, narrower than 1.7 metres, lower than 2 metres, and (if petrol-engined, no limit for diesel or LPG engines) with displacement not exceeding 2000 cc. 555, 5x5xxPassenger car with displacement under 2000 cc and shorter than 4.7 metres, narrower than 1.7 metres666, 6xThree wheeled truck with displacement less than 360cc7Three wheeled passenger car77, 7xPassenger car with displacement from 660cc to 2000cc and shorter than 4.7 metres, narrower than 1.7 metres ('overflow' series)888, 8x800Special vehicle requiring yearly inspection with displacement greater than 660cc999900Tractor or forklift000000Construction equipment
Transportation offices and markings Japanese registration plates indicate the transportation office that issued the plate, known in Japanese as . Until 1964, this was indicated with a single kanji character like 沖 for Okinawa. Starting in 1964, the place name is printed in full with up to four characters, for example 沖縄 for Okinawa.
In 2006, several new location names, numbers, were approved by the MLIT for places that wanted to increase their recognition for purposes such as tourism. Criteria included the need for 100,000 vehicles in the area and the avoidance of an imbalance in the prefecture. The new locations began appearing in 2006 on plates for vehicles registered in certain specific cities, towns and villages in or near the places marked below in green.
Since the issuing office is linked to the owner's place of residence, some markings are considered more desirable than others, with Shinagawa in inner Tokyo often considered the best.