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.
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1 Appearance |
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]
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) .
Transportation Offices and Markings
Those in brackets are formerly used markings.
Aichi Prefecture
- Mikawa : 三河 ACM
- Nagoya : 名古屋 ACN (愛 AC)
- Owarikomaki : 尾張小牧 ACO
- Toyohashi : 豊橋 ACT
Akita Prefecture
- Akita : 秋田 ATA (秋 AT)
Aomori Prefecture
Chiba Prefecture
Ehime Prefecture
- Ehime : 愛媛 EH
Fukui Prefecture
- Fukui : 福井 FI
Fukuoka Prefecture
- Chikuhō : 筑豊 FOC
- Fukuoka : 福岡 FOF (福 FO)
- Kitakyūshū : 北九州 FOK
- Kurume : 久留米 FOR
Fukushima Prefecture
Gifu Prefecture
Gunma Prefecture
- Gunma : 群馬 GMG (群 GM)
Hiroshima Prefecture
Hokkaidō
- Asahikawa : 旭川 AKA (旭 AK)
- Hakodate : 函館 HDH (函 HD)
- Kitami : 北見 KIK (北 KI)
- Kushiro : 釧路 KRK (釧 KR)
- Muroran : 室蘭 MRM (室 MR)
- Obihiro : 帯広 OHO (帯 OH)
- Sapporo : 札幌 SPS (札 SP)
Hyōgo Prefecture
Ibaraki Prefecture
Ishikawa Prefecture
- Ishikawa : 石川 IKI (石 IK)
Iwate Prefecture
- Iwate : 岩手 ITI (岩 IT)
Kagawa Prefecture
- Kagawa : 香川 KAK (香 KA)
Kagoshima Prefecture
Kanagawa Prefecture
Kōchi Prefecture
- Kōchi : 高知 KCK (高 KC)
Kumamoto Prefecture
- Kumamoto : 熊本 KUK (熊 KU)
Kyōto Prefecture
- Kyōto : 京都 KTK (京 KT)
Mie Prefecture
- Mie : 三重 MEM (三 ME)
Miyagi Prefecture
- Miyagi : 宮城 MGM (宮 MG)
Miyazaki Prefecture
- Miyazaki : 宮崎 MZ
Nagano Prefecture
Nagasaki Prefecture
Nara Prefecture
- Nara : 奈良 NRN (奈 NR)
Niigata Prefecture
Ōita Prefecture
- Ōita : 大分 OT
Okayama Prefecture
- Okayama : 岡山 OYO (岡 OY)
Okinawa Prefecture
Ōsaka Prefecture
Saga Prefecture
- Saga : 佐賀 SAS (佐 SA)
Saitama Prefecture
- Kasukabe : 春日部 STB
- Kumagaya : 熊谷 STK
- Ōmiya : 大宮 STO (埼玉 STS) (埼 ST)
- Tokorozawa : 所沢 STT
Shiga Prefecture
- Shiga : 滋賀 SIS (滋 SI)
Shimane Prefecture
- Shimane : 島根 SN (嶋 SM)
Shizuoka Prefecture
Tochigi Prefecture
- Tochigi : とちぎ TGC
- Utsunomiya : 宇都宮 TGU (栃木 TGT) (栃 TG)
Tokushima Prefecture
- Tokushima : 徳島 TST (徳 TS)
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)
Tottori Prefecture
- Tottori : 鳥取 TTT (鳥 TT)
Toyama Prefecture
- Toyama : 富山 TYT (富 TY)
Wakayama Prefecture
- Wakayama : 和歌山 WKW (和 WK)
Yamagata Prefecture
Yamaguchi Prefecture
- Yamaguchi : 山口 YUY (山 YU)
Yamanashi Prefecture
- Yamanashi : 山梨 YN
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):
- Aizu: 会津 FSA (Fukushima)
- Ichinomiya: 一宮 ACI (Owari Komaki)
- Izu: 伊豆 SZI (Numazu)
- Kanazawa: 金沢 IKK (Ishikawa)
- Kashiwa: 柏 CBK (Noda)
- Kawagoe: 川越 STG (Tokorozawa)
- Kurashiki: 倉敷 OYK (Okayama)
- Narita: 成田 CBT (Chiba)
- Nasu: 那須 TGN (Utsunomiya)
- Okazaki: 岡崎 ACZ (Mikawa)
- Sakai: 堺 OSS (Izumi)
- Sendai: 仙台 MGS (Miyagi)
- Shimonoseki: 下関 YUS (Yamaguchi)
- Suwa: 諏訪 NNS (Matsumoto)
- Suzuka: 鈴鹿 MES (Mie)
- Takasaki: 高崎 GMT (Gunma)
- Toyota: 豊田 ACY (Mikawa)
- Tsukuba: つくば IGK (Tsuchiura)
See also
References
- ^ Vehicle Code System since 1962 - Japanese License Plates.
- ^ How to Purchase and Register a Vehicle, Web site of the USS Fitzgerald (DDG-62).
- Motor Vehicle Registration System of Japan (2004-03-27). Retrieved on 2007-01-24.
External links
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