Tokyo is known for its exceptional public transportation and next-level walkability. Yet if you’re planning a trip to the world’s most populous city, or anywhere else in Japan, you might benefit from adding other transportation options to your excursions.
While these options are popular with foreign tourists, they could prove tricky if you don’t have a Japanese phone number or can’t read Japanese.
Here’s some guidance on your choices, along with their payment and registration methods, to make your travel experience in Tokyo — and the rest of Japan — smoother.
Electric scooters
Electric scooters — otherwise known as electric kickboards — are growing more popular worldwide, and Japan is no exception.
Starting July 1, e-scooters became rideable without a license, and are now classified as “specified small motorized bicycles,” according to Japan’s National Police Agency. Those under 16 years old, however, are not allowed to ride them.
The new rules also require that a rider is covered by liability insurance and that the scooters have license plates. Scooters must also remain on roadways or bicycle paths and not sidewalks.
LUUP is a highly popular e-scooter rental service that is available in many Japanese cities, including Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, and beyond.
With its turquoise and black branding, LUUP e-scooters can be rented with a ¥50 base fee to unlock a bike, plus ¥15 per minute to ride. However, you’ll have to pass a quick traffic test and submit proof of identification on the app in order to begin renting.
The e-scooter service Bird, which is already popular abroad, is also available in Tokyo. This service will require you to verify your ID as well. Foreign credit cards are also accepted.
Both services are accessible by downloading the smartphone apps, regardless of specified region.
Bikeshare
Bikeshare is another popular rental transit option, with thousands of stations situated around and beyond Tokyo. Their availability and easy smartphone access make it one of the most widely used services.
While bike tour companies offer a similar experience, renting from bikeshare stations offers a rider more flexibility, as the bike doesn’t have to be returned to the starting point.
Hello Cycling has roughly 2,000 stations located across Tokyo. The company partners with local bikeshare services across the country, offering some bike options to riders wherever they go with about 6,700 stations nationwide as of July.
Hello Cycling’s base fee is ¥130 for the first 30 minutes and then ¥100 per every additional 15 minutes in Tokyo and Yokohama, or ¥1,800 for 12-hours in most areas.
Docomo Bike Share is another app-based service with over 2,800 stations nationwide and over 1,200 across Tokyo. The service charges ¥165 every 30 minutes, or ¥1,650 for a 1-day pass.
The Docomo app requires a Japanese smartphone number for rider registration on the app, making it difficult for foreign tourists to use.
Registration will require authentication via SMS (short messaging service), but the app does not work with overseas numbers.
Along with e-scooters, LUUP also offers bikes, although it's slightly more expensive with an unlock fee of ¥50 and a charge of ¥15 per minute. Both Japanese and foreign phone numbers can be used to register a rider on the app, however it will also require confirmation by text.
You’ll have to provide a valid form of identification and get a perfect score on a quick traffic test — offered in Japanese and English — in order to rent their vehicles. Don’t worry though: they give you all the tools to study fast right on the app.
Depending on the service, you may be able to rent more than one bike. For example, Hello Cycling permits rental of up to four bikes at once from one app. However, depending on your payment method, you could be limited to one.
All accept most major international credit cards, but an official at LUUP noted that some card companies may have their own restrictions or specific settings, which may result in some cards being rejected on such apps. In addition, an official at Docomo stated that depending on the regional station a rider chooses, international payment methods may not be accepted.
Some bikeshare apps may not accept debit cards, so make sure to keep that in mind as you try them out. And while helmets aren’t required, Japanese law stipulates that all bicycle riders are advised to wear one. These apps will likely encourage you to wear a helmet.
And lastly, in order to have the smoothest experience, ensure that your app store region is set to Japan.
Electric mopeds
Shaero’s is perhaps the most uniquely designed transit option — being a collapsible moped.
If you have a smartphone, a moped license, and can read Japanese — as the app is not available in other languages so far — this service may be a good option.
The app is only offered in Japan’s app store or by changing region settings to Japan, and it currently does not allow international driving permits. However, at the approximately 500 stations across the Kanto region, international credit cards are accepted.
For ¥200 for 15-minutes or ¥2,000 for 24 hours, riders can take advantage of a bright red moped and a light blue helmet to travel across Tokyo.
Car rental
While travel via rail or air may be popular for long-distance travel, or trips to more rural areas, car rental might sometimes be an affordable alternative.
If you’re thinking of renting a car in Japan though, don’t forget that international driving permit. Japan’s major car rental operators — Times Car Rental, Avis, and Nippon Rent-a-Car — require users to provide an international driving permit and a license from your home country.
According to the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO), the average rate for 24-hour car rental with unlimited mileage is anywhere between ¥5,000 and ¥31,000 depending on the size of car, plus the cost of fuel, insurance and expressway tolls.
To make life easier on the road, tourists can rent an ETC toll pass for a few hundred yen per day for highways. Fees will be charged when returning the car.
ETC — which stands for the Electronic Toll Collection system — is installed on highways to help keep drivers flowing through the country's many toll booths. With a rented pass inside the vehicle, you can avoid having to use clunky change for road trips, and waiting in line to pass through.
Taxi
And finally, one of the tried-and-true options is, of course, getting around via taxi.
One of Japan’s most trusted smartphone hailing apps is Go, but it isn’t the most convenient for foreign travelers just yet.
While the app is available in English, it’ll prompt you to add a Japanese phone number upon downloading. And to follow, it prompts registration of a Japanese payment method.
That said, Go is expanding cooperation with other ride-hailing apps across Asia — such as Grab, Kakao T, Alipay, and Ctrip — so that foreign tourists can hail a Go-linked taxi from those respective apps in Japan, and hopes to expand to other apps in the future.
It’s also worth noting that even if you have a Japanese credit card, Go does not accept debit cards or prepaid cards for payment.
When all else fails, if you’re accustomed to using Uber abroad, it can also be used to hail a taxi in Japan using foreign credentials, just as you’d hail an uber ride overseas.
JNTO also recommends using the S.Ride, Uber and Didi, alongside Go, as apps that offer English services.
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