Preparing a trip to Japan: visa, driving license, money and weather

To prepare a trip to Japan, three things are settled before you leave and not once you are there: the ninety-day visa-free count, the driving document that matches your license if you rent a car, and insurance that covers medical costs and repatriation. The rest, the weather, cash, the baths, is handled in Japan, provided you know about it when you arrive.

This article brings together the practical information from our twelve regional travel books for Japan, with what changes from one region to the next.

Entry requirements and practical info at a glance

Topic	What you need to know
Entry	Valid passport, no visa for a tourist stay of 90 days maximum
License	Depends on where your license was issued: a 1949 Geneva-format International Driving Permit (US, UK, Canada, Australia, among others) or an official Japanese translation (France, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Monaco)
Health	No compulsory vaccinations, insurance for medical costs and repatriation essential
Money	Yen; cash essential outside the big cities, withdrawals at 7-Eleven and post office cash machines
Electricity	Type A sockets, 100 volts: bring an adapter
Tipping	None
In town	Rechargeable IC card, Suica or Pasmo in Tokyo, for the metro, trains and buses
Typhoons	From late August to October, especially in the south

No visa for Japan for up to ninety days, and not a day more

With a valid passport from a visa-exempt country, the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and France among them, a tourist stay needs no visa, up to a limit of ninety days. As a rule, this exemption cannot be extended from within Japan. You may be asked for your onward ticket on entry: keep it to hand throughout your stay.

A trip of more than three months is therefore done as two stays separated by leaving the country. Keep a margin below the ninety days: a flight postponed by a typhoon is enough to eat into it, and the return flight is anything but optional. Keep your boarding pass and your exit stamp: they prove you actually left before the second entry.

The rule can change. Check it with the Japanese embassy in your country before each departure.

Driving license in Japan: the step many only discover at the rental desk

This is the most expensive administrative trap of the trip. The document you need depends on the country that issued your license. With a US, UK, Irish, Canadian, Australian or New Zealand license, among others, you need an International Driving Permit in the 1949 Geneva Convention format, obtained in your own country before you leave (in the United States, from the AAA). With a French, Belgian, Swiss, German or Monégasque license, the International Driving Permit is not recognized: you must present your license together with its official Japanese translation, issued by the JAF, the Japanese automobile club, or by another approved body. Either way, you may drive for up to one year from your entry into Japan, within the validity of the document.

For the translation, the JAF only handles applications submitted from within Japan. To have it in hand on arrival, you therefore need to have it drawn up before you leave, by someone close to you who is there or by an agency. Without the right document, no agency will hand over the car.

Watch out: have your passport stamped on arrival. The automatic gates at airports do not do it by default, and a rental company may require the entry stamp. Ask the officer for it.

The stakes are far from marginal: a car is essential in Hokkaidō, the San’in and Shikoku. In Tokyo and Kyoto, on the other hand, it is of no use at all. You drive on the left, highways are expensive, and gas stations close early in eastern Hokkaidō, the Kii peninsula and the San’in: fill up every morning.

Japan weather and climate: it changes more from region to region than from month to month

The country stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk to subtropical islands. Here is what our travel books record about the weather, region by region:

Region	What to expect
Hokkaidō	Mild summers, 20 to 26 °C (68 to 79 °F), cool nights in the mountains; largely escapes the rainy season
Tōhoku	Short rainy season in late June, humid heat in August on the coast
Japanese Alps	Sharp cold at altitude even in summer: Murodō, on the alpine route, is at 2,450 m (8,040 ft)
Tokyo	Very oppressive summer, 33 °C (91 °F) and high humidity
Kyoto	A city in a basin: 35 °C and high humidity in July and August, damp cold in January; Nara, in the same basin, is just as oppressive in summer
Mount Kōya	Ten degrees cooler than the plain, snow in winter
San’in coast	Gray and rainy for much of the year, snow in winter at Kinosaki and Tottori
Inland Sea	One of the sunniest regions in Japan
Pacific coast of Shikoku	The wettest in Japan, very exposed to typhoons
Kyūshū	Mild in winter, oppressive in summer, a marked rainy season in June and July
Okinawa	Subtropical: 16 °C (61 °F) in January, 29 °C (84 °F) in July
Yakushima	It rains more or less all the time at altitude

Typhoons are the constraint that breaks the most itineraries. From late August to October, they cut the roads of the Kii peninsula, Shikoku and Kyūshū, and are the first to cancel the Yakushima flights and the Okinawa ferries, where the peak falls in September.

Watch out: never place a tight international connection right after an island.

Money and payments in Japan: cash is still essential

Cards are accepted in hotels, the big chains and almost everywhere in Tokyo. But many temples, small restaurants, country parking lots and rural inns only take cash.

The cash machines at 7-Eleven and post offices accept foreign cards.

Tip: outside the towns, cash machines are scarce. In the San’in, the Iya valley or on Yakushima, withdraw before you go.

The benchmarks from our travel books, at the time of writing in September 2026: ¥900 to ¥1,500 for lunch, ¥2,000 to ¥3,500 for dinner in most regions, up to ¥5,000 in the evening in Tokyo or Kyoto. Two lines are often added to the room price: the onsen bathing tax, from ¥150 to ¥300 per night, and an accommodation tax in several cities, to be paid in cash on arrival in Kyoto. No tipping, anywhere.

Health and safety in Japan: the risks are mostly natural

No vaccinations are compulsory; Japanese encephalitis is worth discussing with a doctor for a long stay in rural areas. The healthcare system is excellent but expensive without cover: insurance with medical costs and repatriation is essential. On Yakushima, serious emergencies are evacuated to Kagoshima.

Tokyo is one of the safest cities in the world. The risks our travel books flag are mostly natural:

• bears, brown in Hokkaidō, black in the mountains of Honshū: a bell, no food left out, trail closures respected;
• volcanoes: the Aso crater, the Ebino plateau and Sakurajima close on the day itself depending on the alert level, and sulphurous gases mean you must respect the closed zones at Ōwakudani, Zaō or Beppu;
• earthquakes: evacuation instructions are posted in every hotel.

The etiquette that saves you a faux pas

• At the baths: you wash sitting down before getting into the pool, the towel stays out of the water, hair is tied up. Tattoos are still refused at several establishments: check when you book, or choose a private bath.
• At temples: shoes come off at the entrance to the halls, photos are forbidden inside many of them. Bring clean socks and shoes that are easy to take off.
• In town: a rechargeable IC card is all you need. In Tokyo, the Suica or the Pasmo, also available in your phone’s wallet, covers the metro, JR trains and buses. The last train runs around midnight, after that it is a taxi.

So, what to sort out before leaving for Japan?

• The ninety-day rule, checked, and the onward ticket.
• The driving document that matches your license, International Driving Permit or official translation, as soon as a region is done by car.
• Insurance for medical costs and repatriation.
• In your bag: a card accepted at 7-Eleven and post office cash machines, a type A adapter, and a rain jacket and trousers for Yakushima or the mountains of Hokkaidō.

For a first trip without a car, Tokyo, Hakone, Kyoto in 12 days follows the classic route by train. Our two two-week routes are done by car, the right driving document compulsory: Hokkaidō from Sapporo to Hakodate, detailed in how many days you need for Hokkaidō, and the San’in coast and Shikoku, described in Japan without the crowds. For three months, Japan from north to south in 88 days fits within the visa limit. The rest is on the Japan page.

For the rest of the preparation, the budget for a trip to Japan breaks down the main costs, and JR Pass or regional passes settles the question of transport.