Vehicle registration plates of Japan

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In Japan, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of the national government issues license plates for motor vehicles through Land Transportation Offices nationwide. However, certain vehicles with small engine displacements register with the local municipality rather than the national government. Broadly speaking, passenger automobiles with engine displacements less than 2000 cc receive 5-series license plates, while passenger automobiles with gasoline engines having displacements of 2000 cc or more receive 3-series license plates. The number on the top line begins with a "5" or a "3" to indicate the series. Additional criteria include length, width and height of the vehicle. Official vehicles of the Imperial household, the Self-Defense Forces, foreign diplomats, and the U.S. military in Japan are exempt from the requirement to display such plates.

The plates are installed in 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 has reached the end of service and has been sold for scrap. New vehicles are not delivered to the purchaser until the plates have been attached at the dealership. Japan does not use temporary registration. White plates for private vehicles were offered starting in the late 1980's with the green lettering replaced with molded green plastic that could be illumiated from behind the plate when the license plate lights were switched on, and, recently, specific numbers can also be requested if the numbers are not already in use.

Contents

1 Appearance
2 Transportation Offices and Markings
3 Gotōchi numbers
4 See also
5 External links

[edit] Appearance

Class Engine (cc displacement) Plate color Text color
Private vehicle >660 White Green
Commercial >660 Green White
Lightweight Private (Keicar) <660 Yellow Black
Lightweight Commercial <660 Black Yellow
Private, 2 wheel 0–49 White* Blue
Private, 2 wheel 50–89 Yellow* Blue
Private, 2 wheel 90–124 Pink* Blue
Private, 2 wheel 125–249 White Green
Private, 2 wheel =>250 White, green border Green


* These plates are about half the size of standard plates and are issued by municipal governments.


private vehicles commercial vehicles
Ordinary vehicles
and
Motorbikes
(displacements <250 cm³)
light vehicles

Please note that, to avoid any claims of invasion of privacy, the artist has deliberately selected a leading hiragana character that is not compatible with the color scheme. This would represent a forged plate in Japan!

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 zeros are replaced by centered dots.

White plates can have the following hiragana:

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

and for rental vehicles

れわ

Green plates can have the following hiragana:

あいうえかきくけこを

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. [1]), * is a number from 0 to 99 (pre-1971 license plates will omit this), and # is a number from 0* to 9 (*leading zeros are replaced by centered dots).

Vehicles owned by personnel with the United States military in Japan under the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) have a "Y" on white plates, or 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 and was left-hand drive. Since the 1980s, servicemembers assigned to Japan have been discouraged from shipping their vehicles from the U.S. into the country. Many opt to purchase second-hand domestic vehicles through used car dealers off-base, and from other servicemembers departing Japan at on-base "lemon lots".[2]

[edit] 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 a motorist wishes to bring their vehicle with them while traveling abroad, the Ministry of Transport will issue to them a plate with the hiragana and kanji scripts replaced with 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500き21-41) would then read TKA 500 KI 21-41 (TKA for Tokyo Adachi) .

[edit] Transportation Offices and Markings

Those in brackets are formerly used markings.

[edit] Aichi Prefecture

[edit] Akita Prefecture

  • Akita : 秋田 ATA (秋 AT)

[edit] Aomori Prefecture

[edit] Chiba Prefecture

[edit] Ehime Prefecture

[edit] Fukui Prefecture

[edit] Fukuoka Prefecture

[edit] Fukushima Prefecture

[edit] Gifu Prefecture

  • Gifu : 岐阜 GFG (岐 GF)
  • Hida : 飛騨 GFH

[edit] Gunma Prefecture

  • Gunma : 群馬 GMG (群 GM)

[edit] Hiroshima Prefecture

[edit] Hokkaidō

[edit] Hyōgo Prefecture

[edit] Ibaraki Prefecture

  • Mito : 水戸 IGM (茨城 IGI) (茨 IG)
  • Tsuchiura : 土浦 IGT

[edit] Ishikawa Prefecture

[edit] Iwate Prefecture

  • Iwate : 岩手 ITI (岩 IT)

[edit] Kagawa Prefecture

  • Kagawa : 香川 KAK (香 KA)

[edit] Kagoshima Prefecture

[edit] Kanagawa Prefecture

[edit] Kōchi Prefecture

  • Kōchi : 高知 KCK (高 KC)

[edit] Kumamoto Prefecture

[edit] Kyōto Prefecture

  • Kyōto : 京都 KTK (京 KT)

[edit] Mie Prefecture

  • Mie : 三重 MEM (三 ME)

[edit] Miyagi Prefecture

  • Miyagi : 宮城 MGM (宮 MG)

[edit] Miyazaki Prefecture

[edit] Nagano Prefecture

[edit] Nagasaki Prefecture

[edit] Nara Prefecture

  • Nara : 奈良 NRN (奈 NR)

[edit] Niigata Prefecture

[edit] Ōita Prefecture

[edit] Okayama Prefecture

[edit] Okinawa Prefecture

[edit] Ōsaka Prefecture

[edit] Saga Prefecture

  • Saga : 佐賀 SAS (佐 SA)

[edit] Saitama Prefecture

[edit] Shiga Prefecture

  • Shiga : 滋賀 SIS (滋 SI)

[edit] Shimane Prefecture

[edit] Shizuoka Prefecture

[edit] Tochigi Prefecture

[edit] Tokushima Prefecture

[edit] Tokyo

  • Adachi : 足立 TKA (足 TOA)
  • Hachiōji : 八王子 TKH
  • Nerima : 練馬 TKN (練 TON)
  • Shinagawa : 品川 TKS (品 TOS) (東 TK) (no marking)
  • Tama : 多摩 TKT (多 TOT)

[edit] Tottori Prefecture

[edit] Toyama Prefecture

  • Toyama : 富山 TYT (富 TY)

[edit] Wakayama Prefecture

[edit] Yamagata Prefecture

[edit] Yamaguchi Prefecture

[edit] Yamanashi Prefecture

[edit] Gotōchi numbers

In 2006, several new location names have started to appear on plates. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport approved these applications for places that want 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 will appear on plates for vehicles registered in certain specific cities, towns and villages in or near the places named below.

Here are the new locations for 2006 (and their former location names):

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Vehicle Code System since 1962 - Japanese License Plates.
  2. ^ How to Purchase and Register a Vehicle, Web site of the USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62).

[edit] External links

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Vehicle registration plates of Asia

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1 Transcontinental country.  2 Only recognised by Turkey.  3 Not fully independent.
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