Appearance
| Class | Engine (cc displacement) | Plate color | Text color | Plate dimensions |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Private vehicle | >660 | White | Green | Medium or large |
| Commercial vehicle | >660 | Green | White | Medium or large |
| Lightweight Private (Keicar) | <660 | Yellow | Black | Medium |
| Lightweight Commercial | <660 | Black | Yellow | Medium |
| Microcar | 0–49 | Sky Blue* | Blue | Extra small |
| 2 wheel | 0–49 | White* | Blue | Extra small |
| 2 wheel | 50–89 | Yellow* | Blue | Extra small |
| 2 wheel | 90–124 | Pink* | Blue | Extra small |
| 2 wheel | 125–249 | White | Green | Small |
| 2 wheel | ≥250 | White, green border | Green | Small |
* These plates are issued by municipal governments.
- Large
- 44x22 cm (17.3x8.7 inch)
- (for over 8 tons vehicle, or capacity of 30 people or more)
- Medium
- 33x16.5 cm (13x6.5 inch)
- Small
- 23x12.5 cm (9x4.9 inch)
- Extra small
- about 20x10 cm (7.8x3.9 inch)
- (differs according to each municipality)
| Private vehicles | Commercial vehicles | |
|---|---|---|
| Compact or Large vehicles and motorbikes (displacements <250 cm³) | ||
| keicar | ||
| 2-wheeled vehicle =>250 cm³ |
Please note that, to avoid any claims of invasion of privacy, the artist of these pictures has deliberately selected an invalid combination of characters.
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.), * 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).
Read more about this topic: Vehicle Registration Plates Of Japan
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—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
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