Japan Driving Guide
Road signs, fuel & parking
$4.99 · Designed for iPad. Not verified for macOS.
Renting a car unlocks the Japan that trains can't reach — and then the road starts speaking kanji. Stop signs shaped like nothing back home, parking lots with steel flaps that grab your wheels, three pump colors and a fuel called "light oil" that is definitely not for your little car. This app decodes all of it, completely offline.
DRIVE
Seventy plain-English entries on how driving here actually works. Driving 101: the left side, what documents you need, the zero-tolerance alcohol rule, real speed limits. Renting: the counter flow, insurance options translated into plain English, why you want the ETC card, kei cars and what actually fits your luggage. Rules of the road: the full-stop culture, railroad crossings, why nobody turns on red, center-line colors, the hazard-light thank-you. Expressways: toll tickets, purple ETC lanes vs green general lanes, service areas worth planning a trip around. City driving, countryside single-lane etiquette, wildlife hours, winter rules — and a calm, step-by-step chapter for accidents, breakdowns and the day you put the wrong fuel in.
ROAD SIGN DECODER
The 36 signs and road markings that actually matter to a visiting driver, drawn as clear illustrations and filterable by category: the inverted red stop triangle, no-entry circles, the yellow warning diamonds, the mysterious painted white diamond on the asphalt, ETC-lane purple, route-number "rice balls" and more. Tap any sign for what it means — and what to do about it.
PARK & FUEL
The two stops every driving day includes. Parking Decoder: the kanji on every signboard (full, vacant, monthly-contract, hourly, maximum charge), how flap lots and gate lots work, and why that empty "monthly" lot is not for you. Pump Decoder: the nationwide nozzle colors (red regular, yellow high-octane, green diesel), full-service phrases, self-service walkthrough including the static pad, and the famous kanji trap that puts diesel into kei cars.
PRE-DRIVE CHECKLIST
Twelve things sorted before you take the wheel — documents, child seats, ETC card, offline maps, cash — with your progress saved on the device.
PHRASES
30 sentences for the rental counter, the gas station, parking machines, police stops and trouble. Tap any one for a full-screen version you can simply show.
Plus full-text search across the whole guide, and a star list for the things you want to remember.
Works on a mountain road with no signal. No account, no ads, no network access, and nothing about you is collected. This is a reference guide — rules change and vary, so posted signs, officials and your rental company always have the final word.
Ratings & Reviews
- This app hasn’t received enough ratings or reviews to display an overview.
The developer, SHIN HOMMA, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy .
Data Not Collected
The developer does not collect any data from this app.
Accessibility
The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports. Learn More
Information
- Seller
- SHIN HOMMA
- Size
- 2.7 MB
- Category
- Travel
- Compatibility
Requires iOS 14.0 or later.
- iPhone
Requires iOS 14.0 or later. - iPad
Requires iPadOS 14.0 or later. - iPod touch
Requires iOS 14.0 or later. - Mac
Requires macOS 11.0 or later and a Mac with Apple M1 chip or later. - Apple Vision
Requires visionOS 1.0 or later.
- iPhone
- Languages
- English
- Age Rating
13+
- 13+
- Infrequent
Alcohol, Tobacco, Drug Use or References
- Copyright
- © 2026 Shin Homma
