Japanese License Plates Explained
JAPANESE LICENSE PLATES EXPLAINED
Cars in Japan have license plates. In Japanese they are called namba- pure-to.
These license plates are issued by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport of the National Government for most vehicles while ones with smaller engines are issued by the local municipality.
The top line contains a Prefecture character and a 2 or 3-digit code show vehicle purpose (vehicle class code).
ABOUT PREFECTURES
Japan is divided into 9 regions, which are split into 47 smaller prefectures. Prefectures of Japan (都道府県, todōfuken) are one of the basic local entities of Japan. They are the 47 subdivisions of the country. Prefectures are the governmental bodies of Japan which are larger than cities, towns, and villages. At present, there are a total of 106 different issuing municipalities covering the 47 prefectures, territories and metropolises of Japan, each with their respective names displayed in Kanji (plate name) but the Japanese Ministry of Communications also allows some of the more representative municipal divisions of the city to their own smaller city name listed in the “plate name”.
ABOUT VEHICLE CLASS CODE
Meaning of first digit:
1 - mid size truck
2 - microbus and bus
3 - passenger car above two liter engine
4 - small trucks
5 - passenger car up to two litre engine
8 - special purpose vehicle
9 - heavy, special purpose vehicles
0 - construction equipment
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.
ABOUT HIRAGANA
There are certain regulations for using Hiraganas such as れ and わ for rental cars.
あ・い・う・え・か・き・く・け・こ and を are reserved for cars for business use such as taxis and so forth.
The Roman letters E・H・K・M・T・Y or hiragana よ are reserved for vehicles owned by US military personnel instead of Hiragana.
JAPANESE LICENSE PLATE TYPES
Have you ever wondered why some Japanese license plates have red lines through them? And why some plates are yellow? Here’s a quick run-through of what different plates mean:
Depending on the type of vehicle, Japan’s license plate background is distinguished by four colors: white, yellow, green, and black.
White License Plate - Passenger Vehicle
This is the Japanese license plate for passenger vehicles with engines over the stated 660cc limit. The White License Plate are use for regular cars.
Yellow License Plate - Passenger Vehicle
This is the Japanese license plate for commercial vehicles with engines under the stated 660cc limit. The yellow License Plate are use for Japan's lightweight class of vehicle. The small cars are called Kei Cars in Japan.
Green License Plate - Commercial Vehicle
This is the Japanese license plate for commercial vehicles with engines over the stated 660cc limit. The Green License Plate are use for trucks.
Black License Plate - Commercial Vehicle
This is the Japanese license plate for commercial vehicles with engines under the stated 660cc limit. The black License Plate are use for microvans, courier vans, etc. These cars are also known as kei-cars (mini cars).
Temporary License Plate
White License Plate with a diagonal red stripe called "kari number" (仮ナンバー, "Kari" means temporary).
These plates are only ‘temporary’ – they basically allow an illegal or unregistered car to drive on public roads without a valid road permit for a short period of time. This license plate can be used from 3 to 5 days. It is basically allows you to drive pretty much anything on the road.
Rising Sun Japanese License Plate
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Carbon Japanese License Plate
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