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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“I think I am one of those who can manage not to take on a completely different appearance under their own glance.”
—Jean Rostand (1894–1977)
“Hence, the less government we have, the better,—the fewer laws, and the less confided power. The antidote to this abuse of formal Government, is, the influence of private character, the growth of the Individual; the appearance of the principal to supersede the proxy; the appearance of the wise man, of whom the existing government, is, it must be owned, but a shabby imitation.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“This mesa plain had an appearance of great antiquity, and of incompleteness; as if, with all the materials for world-making assembled, the Creator had desisted, gone away and left everything on the point of being brought together, on the eve of being arranged into mountain, plain, plateau. The country was still waiting to be made into a landscape.”
—Willa Cather (1873–1947)