Shaken in Japan: car inspection costs and buying a car

Shaken in Japan (車検) is the compulsory vehicle inspection, and every car on the road needs a valid one. If you own a car in Japan, or you are thinking of buying a car in Japan, shaken is the largest fixed cost after the car itself, and letting it lapse brings criminal penalties, not just a fine. Here is how often it comes round, what you pay, where to get it done, and the paperwork for buying a car as a foreign resident.

Everything below was checked against pages from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) and its regional transport bureaus, the Light Motor Vehicle Inspection Organization, the National Agency for Automobile and Land Transport Technology, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, the Tokyo Metropolitan Tax Office and Shinjuku City on 31 October 2026.

How often you need shaken in Japan

The inspection certificate (車検証, shakenshō) has an expiry date. To keep using the car after that date, you take it for a continuing inspection (継続検査). MLIT's validity table for private passenger cars is:

New car: the first certificate lasts 3 years.
After that: every 2 years.

The same table puts kei trucks at 2 years every time, and taxis, rental cars and trucks on shorter cycles.

You do not have to wait until the last week. Since 1 April 2025, you can take the car for inspection from 2 months before the expiry date without losing the remaining months. Before that the window was 1 month. MLIT asks drivers to avoid the end of the financial year (March), when inspection centres and garages are busiest.

What shaken costs

The bill has two parts: fixed legal costs that are the same wherever you go, and the garage's charge for checking and repairing the car, which varies a lot. The legal costs are:

Automobile weight tax (自動車重量税)

Paid for the whole period of the new certificate. The Ministry of Finance gives this example for a private passenger car: ¥4,100 per 0.5 tonne per year for a car under 13 years old, so a 1.4 tonne car pays ¥24,600 for a 2-year shaken. The rate rises to ¥5,700 after 13 years and ¥6,300 after 18 years (per 0.5 tonne per year). Cars that meet the fuel and emission standards for the eco-car reduction pay less.

For a kei car, the Light Motor Vehicle Inspection Organization lists ¥6,600 for 2 years (private use), ¥8,200 after 13 years and ¥8,800 after 18 years, with lower amounts for eco-cars.

Compulsory insurance (自賠責保険, jibaiseki)

Every car must have it, and it must cover the whole period of the new certificate. New rates apply to policies starting from 1 November 2026. On the main islands (Okinawa and remote islands have separate rates), a 24-month policy costs:

Private passenger car: ¥18,560 (25 months: ¥19,070)
Kei car: ¥18,660 (25 months: ¥19,170)

For comparison, the rates for policies starting up to 31 October 2026 were ¥17,650 and ¥17,540 for 24 months. Compulsory insurance pays for injury or death you cause to others, up to set limits. Voluntary insurance (任意保険), if you have it, only pays the part above those limits.

Inspection fee

MLIT raised the inspection fees on 1 April 2026. If you take the car to the inspection centre yourself and apply at the counter, it is ¥2,600 for a normal-size car, ¥2,500 for a small car and ¥2,500 for a kei car. When a designated garage has already checked the car and issued a certificate of compliance, the fee is lower (¥2,100 at the counter, ¥1,850 online).

Where to do your car inspection in Japan

A dealer or garage. The easiest route. They check and repair the car, handle the paperwork and add their own charge on top of the legal costs. Ask for an itemised quote that separates the legal costs from parts and labour.
User shaken (ユーザー車検). You take the car to the inspection centre yourself. Normal cars go to the transport bureau's inspection lanes, run by the National Agency for Automobile and Land Transport Technology. Kei cars go to the Light Motor Vehicle Inspection Organization.

For user shaken, you must book first. For normal cars, bookings go through the online inspection reservation system, which needs an email address and takes bookings up to 14 business days ahead, with no weekend or holiday slots. Kei cars use their own booking site. You are also responsible for servicing the car beforehand so it meets the safety standards. On the day, the agency asks that only the driver is in the car, that you empty the boot, take off any wheel covers and make the chassis number visible. If the car passes, you collect the new certificate and windscreen sticker at the counter.

What to bring for user shaken

Your current inspection certificate (shakenshō)
The application form, fee stamps, and the weight tax form with weight tax stamps (the stamps can be bought at the inspection site)
A compulsory insurance certificate covering the new period
Your car tax payment certificate. In Tokyo, the transport bureau can now check payment electronically, but it can take up to about 10 days after you pay to show up, so keep the paper certificate if your inspection is close to the payment date. For kei cars, the payment check has also gone electronic in most cases.
Your periodic maintenance record, if the car was serviced before the inspection

What happens if shaken expires

Do not drive the car, even to the garage. An MLIT transport bureau notes that driving a car without a valid inspection can lead to up to 6 months in prison or a fine of up to ¥300,000. In practice the compulsory insurance has often run out at the same time. MLIT states that driving without it can lead to up to 1 year in prison or a fine of up to ¥500,000, plus 6 penalty points and an immediate licence suspension. Just failing to carry the insurance certificate can mean a fine of up to ¥300,000.

The money risk is bigger. If you cause an accident without compulsory insurance, you pay what it would have paid. MLIT's example: for a death, compulsory insurance pays up to ¥30 million, and without it that amount is yours to cover. To drive a car with an expired inspection to the inspection centre, you need a temporary operation permit (臨時運行許可) from a city office that handles them or a transport bureau. It covers a set route for a few days (5 at most), it needs compulsory insurance for that period, and using it for any other trip counts as driving without inspection. A transport bureau also notes that ownership of a car with an expired inspection cannot be transferred.

Buying a car in Japan as a foreigner

If you buy a new car, or are buying a used car in Japan, a dealer can usually handle the registration for you with a proxy form. Even so, some documents have to come from you.

The parking certificate (shako shōmeisho)

For a normal car, you must prove you have a parking space before the car can be registered in your name. This is the shako shōmeisho (車庫証明, parking space certificate), issued by the police station that covers the parking space. The Tokyo Metropolitan Police lists the conditions: the space is off the road, it is no more than 2 km from your home (the car's base of use), the car can get in and out and fits completely, and you have the right to use it.

In Tokyo you submit an application form, a location map and layout of the space, and either a self-declaration (if you own the land) or a parking-use consent certificate from the owner or management company. The fee is ¥2,400 at the counter (¥2,300 online), it takes 3 to 7 days, and the certificate should go to the transport bureau within about 1 month.

Kei cars are different. Instead of a certificate before registration, you notify the police after you get the car. In Tokyo this notification is free, and some areas do not need it at all. In Tokyo these include several western cities and towns and the islands. Other prefectures have their own lists, so check your police force's page. Penalties for not notifying, or for using the road as your garage, are set by law (in Tokyo's summary, up to ¥100,000 for not notifying, and up to 3 months in prison or ¥200,000 plus 3 points for keeping a car on the road).

Registration documents

For a normal car changing owner, an MLIT transport bureau lists for the new owner: a seal registration certificate (印鑑証明書) issued within 3 months, and the registered seal itself (or a proxy form stamped with it if a dealer applies for you), plus the parking certificate. If you do not have a registered seal yet, see our guide to hanko and seal registration; you register it at your city office. The transfer fee rose to ¥700 at the counter (¥600 online) from April 2026.

A kei car is simpler. The Light Motor Vehicle Inspection Organization accepts either a copy of your residence record (住民票, without your My Number on it) or a seal registration certificate, issued within 3 months, as proof of address. You get the residence record at your city office, the same place you registered your address after arriving (see our 14-day city hall guide).

Kei car or normal car?

A kei car (軽自動車) has an engine of 660 cc or less and is no more than 3.4 m long, 1.48 m wide and 2.0 m high. Besides the easier parking rules, the annual tax is lower.

Owning a car in Japan: the annual taxes

Car tax (自動車税) is a prefectural tax charged to whoever is the registered owner on 1 April. Tokyo sends the bill in early May and it is due by the end of May. In Tokyo, a private passenger car first registered from October 2019 pays ¥25,000 a year for 1 litre or less, ¥30,500 for 1 to 1.5 litres and ¥36,000 for 1.5 to 2 litres. If you register a car part way through the year, you pay by month, from the month after registration. From April 2026 this tax is officially called 自動車税 rather than 自動車税種別割.
Kei car tax (軽自動車税) is a city tax, also charged to the owner on 1 April. In Shinjuku, a private kei passenger car first inspected from April 2015 pays ¥10,800 a year, and ¥12,900 once it is 13 years old. If you sell or scrap a kei car after 2 April, you still pay that year's tax.

The extra tax that used to be charged when you bought a car (the environmental performance tax) was abolished on 31 March 2026.

Your driving licence

None of this helps if your licence is not valid in Japan. If you hold a foreign licence, see our guide to converting your driving licence before you buy.

Daruma can keep track of the dates that matter here: your shaken expiry, the 2-month window to book it, and the car tax due in May. It also scans Japanese letters, such as a car tax bill or a notice from the transport bureau, into plain English, and tells you which counter to go to and what to bring.

Useful Japanese

車検 (shaken): vehicle inspection
車検証 (shakenshō): inspection certificate
自賠責保険 (jibaiseki hoken): compulsory car insurance
車庫証明 (shako shōmeisho): parking space certificate
名義変更 (meigi henkō): change of owner

Where to confirm this

Guides are dated rather than undated: last reviewed 31 October 2026. This is an organisational aid, not legal or immigration advice — always confirm anything consequential with your ward office, the Immigration Services Agency, or a qualified professional.