Japan to lift ban on colorful regional license plates

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 colorful character designs on car number plates.

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.

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 "gotochi-kyara" mascots such as Kumamon and Gunma-chan to adorn license plates across Japan. Unlike more professional-looking corporate mascots and commercial characters, "gotochi-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 colorful 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.

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

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