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Get ready for yuru-kyara car plates! Japan to lift ban on colourful regional license plates

Fran W Jan 26, 2015
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In larger countries like Australia and the United States, vehicle registration is carried out at the state level. This has long allowed each state to produce distinctive designs, including slogans or iconic imagery on number plates. In little Japan, however, vehicle registration is issued by the national government, so car owners have had no option to show their local pride with a regional license plate…until now.

The Ministry of Transport has announced that from next year, local authorities will be free to put colourful character designs on car number plates. Let’s have a look at some of the potential ways to pimp your Japanese numberplate!

Until this latest announcement, the rule surrounding Japanese car registration plates have been pretty tight. For private vehicles, the plate must be plain white, with green lettering. Characters and non-standard designs are not currently permitted, due to concerns about the numbers becoming difficult to read.

▼ A typical plain green and white old-style license plate, as issued in Tama (多摩), Tokyo.

Strela290/Wikimedia

From 2016, however, the Ministry of Transport plans to drop the ban on decorated plates such as those featuring character designs, paving the way for gotōchi-kyara mascots such as Kumamon and Gunma-chan to adorn license plates across Japan. Unlike more professional-looking corporate mascots and commercial characters, gotōchi-kyara (ご当地キャラ) are regional mascots, often defined by simple and amateur-looking designs.

While car owners will have to wait until 2016 to get their hands on a new-style colourful plate, scooter riders have been able to use character plates like this for years. Here are some of the personalised local plates available for lower CC bikes already. They should give us an idea of what might be in the pipeline!

▼ From Sukugawa City, birthplace of the “God of Special Effects”, Ultraman creator Eiji Tsuburaya.

gotōchi plate

▼ These Lupin motorcycle plates were released to celebrate the 60th year of Sakura City, Chiba, which also happens to be the birthplace of Monkey Punch, creator of Lupin III.

Sakura City

▼ Shinhidaka in Hokkaido, where this plate is from, is known as the birthplace of horse racing in Japan.

gotōchi plate

▼ And the city of Katsuyama, Fukui, is home to a popular dinosaur museum.

Web Katsuyama

▼ Gosho Aoyama, creator of Case Closed, was born in Hokuei, where this Detective Conan registration plate was made.

Hamatani Metal

▼ Of course you might land with a little-known character like Kusuppi, the mascot of Miyama city, Fukuoka. Cute plate though!

Miyama City

Chances are you won’t be seeing a Funassyi number plate any time soon though – despite his international notoriety, Japan’s favourite pear character is an unofficial mascot of Funabashi City.

Sources: Sankei, Nikkei, Naver Matome, Japan Economic Research Institute