Licence plates in Japan
Small, nearly square plates
A small, nearly square plate with a place name in kanji and large numbers is Japanese.
- Small, almost square plates.
- Place name in kanji on top, big numbers below.
- Private cars are white with green text; small kei cars are yellow.
10 photos, grouped by the clue they show.
Key clue Square plate with kanji 9
Key clue Yellow kei plate 1
Japan: what its plates look like
Japanese plates are small and nearly square. The place name is written in kanji on top, with a class number, and a large number below.
Private cars have white plates with green text. Small kei cars have yellow plates with black text.
The place name tells you which office registered the car, like 品川 (Shinagawa) in Tokyo.
Look-alikes: how to tell them apart
Japan vs 
South Korea
South Korean plates are long and European-size, with a Hangul syllable.
Questions about plates in Japan
Why are some Japanese plates yellow?
Yellow plates are for kei cars, small cars with engines up to 660 cc.
Why are Japanese plates square?
Japan uses its own smaller plate size, much squarer than European plates.