In this post we share our experience Renting a car and driving in Japan. All four of us travelled in July 2025. You’ll find our itinerary here.
We had a rental car for two of the three weeks we had in Japan. While the Shinkansen train is convenient and also the fastest way to travel between bigger cities, the car allowed us to get into the nature of Shikoku and Kyushu.
The speed limit is 80 km/h on most large roads in Japan, so driving takes time. On Shikoku and Kyushu we drove through small viallges and on mountain roads, where the limit was often 50 or 60 km/h.
We used Google Maps for navigation, which worked flawlessly. Traffic signs are both in Japanese and English.
You drive on the left side. It took Peter a few days before it became routine.
The levers for controlling the blinkers and windscreen wiper are on opposite sides of the steering column compared to cars driving in the right side. When turning I sometimes unintentionally used the wiper lever to blink, which made the boys chuckle every time.
Drivers are respectful of each other, and we mostly did not experience much traffic. Hiroshima was the busiest place we drove, and also here it was not hectic.
Construction works are well sign-posted.
We booked the var from Budget via klook. Budget has an office conveniently located next to the Hiroshima Shinkansen train station. We had booked a Toyota Fielder station car, but the car they had for us was a Toyota Premio, which felt like a downgrade. But it could hold our luggage, and it seemed to be within the category we had booked, so we did not make a fuss.
The car came with an ETC card, which is the card that is used to automatically pay highway tolls. We used it frequently, and the system is smooth. When entering or leaving a highway, there will be lanes marked with ETC that direct you to the correct toll booth.
The agent at Budget thoroughly introduced us to the paperwork, and the traffic regulations of Japan.
An International drivers license is required for renting a car and driving in Japan.