Parking in Tokyo

Hey i have a quick question regarding the parking situation in Japan. Me and my friends plan on going to japan at the end of september for 2 weeks and we plan on renting a car aswell. From what i heard there are not alot of parking spots that are free of charge but rather pretty expensive which is not an option for us since we will mainly use it to navigate through japan and also visit smaller villages around the big cities like Tokio, Osaka, Kyoto, and Hiroshima.

Does someone know any good spots to leave our rented car at (preferably at the center) or generally just free parking spots? Does also someone know what the average pricing for parking is in japan per hour? Thanks in advance!

28 comments
  1. Driven in japan and specifically Tokyo.

    Honestly here’s the deal: renting and driving, even in Tokyo, is perfectly fine.

    But you’re right, the parking (and also tollways) add up. I don’t think there’s really going to be any tricks other than that you have to find overnight parking or whatever. Some hotels have spaces but they may not have a lot.

    Like the place I typically stay in at higashi shinjuku has about 8-10 spaces in the back.

    Meanwhile a hotel I stayed in before in Takasaki had one of those indoors, elevator style parking garages (you drive the car onto a platform, take your stuff out, then the operator closes the elevator door and presses some buttons, and then your car gets taken up to an empty spot somewhere above.

    I don’t think you need to rethink driving but you should definitely be prepared for the cost.

  2. Free overnight parking in Tokyo is pretty much non-existent. Your best bet will be to find hotels that offer parking.

  3. I went to Japan pre-pandemic to spectate a racing event. We rented the car the day before a huge typhoon was coming. We used the car to get to the event and returned it when we returned.

    If we waited for the morning we needed to leave, the rental car depot would have been closed due to the typhoon. A bus would have likely meant we didn’t make it to the event we went to Japan for due to road closures from the typhoon.

    If you want the freedom and autonomy of a personal car, rent a car for going out of the big cities. Return the car when you’re in the big cities.

  4. I’m not from Japan but have driven a bit there last year, most places have parking spaces if you’re going to go remote, because they use cars there too, and also most parking spots offer free parking for the first 30 minutes or so, and could then charge around 250-500 yen per hour, something around that, you can also park for free outside 7 eleven’s for a bit , but most remote places you could just find a spot and park, it’s no problem, but if you are going to major cities or famous tourist spots which are well connected, then it would be wiser to stick to trains. I drove from Tokyo to Hakone and didn’t pay for parking once, and rented a car in Okinawa too, there I only paid for it once outside a tourist spot.

  5. I have two friends that live in Tokyo/Yokohama and neither of them have cars. One is going to Kyoto this weekend. No car.

  6. Why not say where you are going and your itinerary and people can help you understand if you need a car or not?

  7. I’m with the majority here. Use the train to get around to other cities and rent a car as needed in the area you are trying to reach. It will save you time and money, especially if it’s your first time in Japan.

    I used the shinkansen from Tokyo to Yamagata then rented a car to get around the area. It would have cost considerably more if I rented a car in Tokyo and drove to Yamagata. The gas and tolls alone add up too.

  8. Why do you need a car for the whole entire stay? Just rent one for the days you need it.

    Also worth noting that you will need an international driver’s license to drive in Japan.

  9. What is your luggage situation? Is there a huge amount? Is this why you can’t fathom a train or bus?

  10. https://www.parkme.com/tokyo-jp-parking

    Good luck. There are a lot of places I would drive. Large new Japanese metropolitans is not one of them. All of the cities you’ve listed are major hubs with tremendous public transport available. Unless you have an actual itinerary that has you going to these out of the way spots its a risk of convenience.

    I have a trip where I am planning to rent but only for a leg of the trip going into the countryside.

    Again, good luck

  11. You’re really hurting yourself and doing a disservice to you experience by renting a car just for a couple of “hidden gems” that you can feasibly find a bus or a taxi to take you to.

    My guy, do what you will but you’re getting sound advice from everyone here. Public transportation is better than cars where you’re going.

    Edit: autocorrect mistake

  12. We drove around the main cities – from Osaka to Kyoto.. parking overnight in cities 1000- 1300 yen, Nara , Fushimi we’re free parking . Also the bamboo forest was free. In Tokyo, our hotel had free parking, also in Mt Fuji base 4 . In Sapporo ( Hokkaido- north island, we drove to small towns around- free parking . Did not drive in Hiroshima- long trips between the big cities were by Shinkansen- green car. Car hire was from Toyota directly..
    Had a lovely trip.
    Wish you all a fun trip !
    Rebecca

  13. Might have a better time using public transit, ditching the car rental plan, and using DiDi or another rideshare service for the other parts. Although I can’t imagine ‘smaller villages’ near those metropolitan areas being unreachable by bus, noting you’ll be in what’s arguably the best place in the world for public transit

  14. Everyone is telling you to not rent a car because Japan has world class train service and yet you continue … I’d listen to them personally!

  15. We’ve had a hire car (family of 3) multiple times (around 9 trips) in large cities in Japan.

    Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Nagano, Nagoya, Kanazawa etc etc. Largest trip we’ve done was 3000kms over 35 days.

    For a family of 3 its far cheaper and easier than using shinks and PT to get around.

    I never found parking to be that expensive in Tokyo in comparison to say here in sydney.

    Toll roads/petrol add up. Thats for sure. However in comparison to 3 x shink tickets. The car is always cheaper.

    The flexibility it offers is awesome. You get to see places and experience things that people wizzing by on the shink or bus will just miss.

    As for Tokyo traffic. Compared to driving in Europe or North America. Man its chill. It all just moves along.

    Driving on the IC is insane. The speed limit is 80. No one does 80.

    Many people knock the idea of hiring a car in Japan without ever doing it.

  16. Honestly public transport is so good in Japan and Tokyo traffic can be so bad, I can’t understand why anyone would rent a car in Japan

  17. The point of going to new places is to try new things and experience new cultures. Take the trains!

  18. You should decide on what you want to see and do first. Only then do you decide if a car is worth it or not. If it’s your first trip, 2 weeks is not enough to see the non-hidden gems, much less spend time tracking down the hidden ones.

    I’ve driven around in Hakone, and from memory parking costs 300 yen per hour. Never driven in the cities but people do park on the side streets. I don’t know what the conditions to do that legally are, but cars do get towed. I’ve seen videos and instances where they write some instructions on the street in chalk after towing your car. Presumably those are instructions on how to pick up your car but it’s in Japanese so I don’t know how useful it’d be if you couldn’t read it.

    If you are renting a car, the other major costs you need to factor in are tolls and return fees (if you are not returning the car to the original store). Both are quite expensive.

  19. Don’t use a car in Tokyo, you’ll hate it and it’s faster to use the metro and trains.

    However, if you leave Tokyo it’s definitely handy to see the smaller villages like in Gifu or Nagano prefecture. However, since you’re just seeing Toyko, Osaka, Kyoto, and Hiroshima, which are all major cities well-connected by shinkansen, I recommend just using the trains.

  20. Due to my job I’ve driven quite a lot in Japan, particularly in Tokyo, and let me tell you: it’s an absolute pain in the arse having to park a car in any Japanese city, let alone the capital. Free on-street parking does exist in Tokyo, but it’ll be useless to you as you can’t leave a car in them overnight. Good luck trying to find them anyway, they’re far from abundant.

    I understand WHY you’re wanting to rent a car, as I’ve definitely found that having a car gives amazing access to areas that are simply impractical to visit via public transit. However, Osaka, Kyoto, etc are not among them. Sure, you’ll save some money on shinkansen tickets if you’ve got a lot of people to share the car costs with, but if you’re taking a direct route via expressways then it’s going to be pretty boring and slow IMO. Then, when you reach your destination, you’ll have the dilemma of where to park it. Japanese public car parks often charge in half-hourly blocks, and daily maximums are REALLY high. If you’re in a particularly congested or wealthy party of the city, then RIP your wallet. I once had to pay the equiv of $40 for 50 mins of parking in Daikanyama.

    Is there free parking outside of major cities? Yes and no. You have to get remarkably remote before you can just plonk your car anywhere, as the majority of roads in Japan simply aren’t wide enough to allow kerbside parking, even in the countryside. You’ll often see “no stopping” and “no parking” signs in the middle of nowhere, and paid parking is often still the only way to legally park a car in regional towns of interest like, say, Kamakura or Ito. Parking a car on the street overnight is essentially illegal, and you’ll receive a ticket for it.

    Oh, there’s also the absolutely bonkers relocation fee that car rental companies charge if you return a car to a different office to where you rented it from, and it usually scales by distance. Renting a car in Tokyo and returning it in Osaka will be incredibly expensive, so you’d want to make all of your car rentals a round trip.

    My advice: if you can ensure that ALL of your accommodation in those major city stopovers have free (or at least cheap) parking that will allow you to just leave your car while you go to tourist things, then go for it. Have fun. If not, then that car will be an expensive thorn in your backside until you hand it back to the rental desk.

  21. O yeah… parking is very easy to find and very inexpensive in Tokyo! Especially places like Shinjuku and Ginza👍

  22. You ask reasonable questions but you’re heavily downvoted just because you want to drive…

    I drive quite a lot in Japan, including Tokyo, I have been driving here for over two decades. Driving is a perfectly acceptable and pleasurable way of visiting, the important point is that you should adapt your trip. You could and should mix car and public transportation. It is absolutely true that there are super nice places, more remote, where not having a car is a gigantic pain in the ass (try visiting the Western coast of Izu peninsula or Sado island without a car….). There are also places in Tokyo proper that are quite tricky to reach by public transportation, there are some drives in the city that are also fun (driving the shuto expressway by night), and some trips that would take an eternity by subway or train. There are nice drives even near Tokyo. In the countryside and even in Kansai, there are shitloads of extremely nice temples, some of them national treasures, that are unreachable without your own transportation (bonus point as there are way, way, way less tourists, making the visits more enjoyable). Also, trafic in cities is usually extemely fluid, most companies forbid their employees to commute by car (because parking is lacking), and it shows. So overall, it’s a very pleasant experience.

    HOWEVER if you want to visit the “typical” touristic stuff that you see in this sub (say, Shibuya, Shinjuku, Asakusa in Tokyo, and then Arashiyama or Gion in Kyoto, peace park in Hiroshima…), then doing it by car will be more expensive and not adapted. It will be…expensive…

    In cities, curb parking on the street is usually not possible, and free parking is extremely rare and usually inconvently located when it exists (quite far from a station, etc.). Parking for free near the center in Tokyo… hum…. if you are lucky enough to find some curb parking spots (those are marked), and you stay less than one hour, it will sometimes be free… Some shopping centers in the outskirts have free parking, but normally parking is free only if you purchase above a certain amount (that can be quite high). Some hotels have free parking (not all, ask your place, for many it’s paid parking reserved to guests).

    And overall, a trip by car can be very, very expensive. Tolls on the highways, parking, gasoline, etc., add up very quickly.

    So first things first, check your itinerary with your friend and confirm that it makes sense to have a car. Another option would be to rent a car only for the legs outside of cities…

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