Japanese for Taxis and Getting Around by Road

Getting a taxi in the first place

There are three normal ways to get a car: a taxi rank at a station or hotel, a raised hand on a street where taxis pass, or a booking made by a hotel or by app. Availability differs enormously between a city centre at midday and a small town at night, and in quieter areas booking ahead is often the only realistic option. The lit sign in the windscreen tells you whether a passing taxi can stop for you, so learning three short words saves a lot of waving.

The door that opens by itself

The rear kerbside door of a Japanese taxi is commonly opened and closed by the driver from the front seat. Stand a step back, wait for it to swing out, get in, and leave it alone when you arrive. Reaching for the handle is the classic visitor reflex and the one thing drivers gently correct all day. Luggage goes in the boot; the driver will usually get out for a heavy case if you ask.

Giving your destination three ways

You can name a place, read an address, or show a screen, and the third is often the kindest to everyone. Japanese addresses run from large to small and are not laid out along streets, so digits read aloud in a moving car are hard work. A district name plus a landmark gets a driver moving in the right direction immediately, and the exact number can be sorted out at the end.

Made onegai shimasu is the single most useful pattern here: any place name plus made onegai shimasu is a complete, polite instruction. Note that made marks the end point of the journey, so it works equally with a station, a hotel name, or kono jūsho for this address.

The driver's questions and your answers

Drivers ask a small number of things, usually in the first thirty seconds and again at the end. They are asked quickly and in casual polite speech, so recognising the shape matters more than the exact words. Omakase shimasu, meaning I leave it to you, is the answer that resolves any route question you do not have an opinion about.

Kōsoku is short for kōsoku dōro, the expressway. Taking it is often faster but adds a toll to the fare, and the driver is asking because the choice costs you money. If you have no preference, say makasemasu or omakase shimasu; if you want the cheaper option, say shitamichi de onegai shimasu, meaning by the ordinary roads.

How long, how much, and which way

Fares are metered and the structure differs between companies and regions, including night surcharges and waiting time, so treat any figure a driver gives as an estimate. Asking daitai ikura before you set off is normal and not rude; drivers give a rough number readily, and it lets you decide whether the train is the better idea after all.

Stop here, go a bit further, change of plan

The last two hundred metres are where you actually need to speak. Japanese has a neat pair for this: koko de for here and mō sukoshi saki de for a little further on. Both take tomete kudasai, please stop, or simply onegai shimasu. Drivers cannot always stop exactly where you point, so expect a suggestion in return and accept it with daijōbu desu.

Paying, cards, and the receipt

Payment happens with the door still shut, so have your method ready before you arrive. Large notes are usually fine but a driver at the start of a shift may be short of change, and asking first is polite. If the fare goes on expenses, say ryōshūsho o onegai shimasu; a plain reshīto is a till slip, while a ryōshūsho is the formal receipt with a space for a company name.

When the driver cannot find the place

This happens to residents too, because small buildings are numbered by block rather than along a street. The useful move is to give the driver something to call or something to see: a phone number, a pin on a map, or a landmark. Getting out a street early is also perfectly acceptable, and often faster than circling.

A full ride from the kerb to the receipt

Here is the whole scene in order. Cover the English column and answer the driver aloud; the ride only contains about six sentences of yours, which is why it is such a good first real conversation to have in Japan. Run it once at reading speed, then once at the pace a driver would actually use.

Buses, and paying on the way out

Outside the big city centres, many local buses work back to front compared with what most visitors expect. You board at the rear door, take a small numbered ticket from a machine as you get on, and pay when you leave by the front door, matching your ticket number to the fare shown on a display above the driver. City buses with a flat fare often work the other way, boarding at the front and paying on entry. Systems vary by operator and by route, so watch the passenger ahead of you.

Recorded announcements name the next stop, and a button on the handrail tells the driver you want it. If you have no small change, the fare box usually has a note changer, and asking the driver is normal. An IC card works on many routes but not all, and coverage changes, so keep coins for the ones that do not.

Hiring a car in a few lines

For rural travel a hire car is often the only sensible option. Traffic drives on the left, and what licence documents a visitor needs differs by the country that issued the licence and changes over time, so confirm with the rental company and the relevant authority well before you travel. At the counter the exchange is short, and the phrases below cover most of it.