Pedestrians, Bicycles and Sidewalks in Japan: The Rules That Decide Right and Wrong

May I drive over a footpath in Japan?

You may drive across a footpath, but never along it — and you must come to a complete stop immediately before entering it. Article 17(1) requires vehicles to use the roadway wherever a sidewalk or roadside strip is marked off from it. Article 17(2) then creates the only real exception: to enter or leave premises beside the road, you may cross the sidewalk, but you must stop just before it and must not obstruct pedestrians.

Slowing down is not enough. This is the single most common wrong answer in the topic, because it is exactly what most drivers actually do at a car park entrance. The Rules of the Road repeat the duty in plain terms, and it applies to a roadside strip as well as a raised sidewalk.

Those two are not the same thing, and the distinction is tested: a sidewalk (歩道) is separated by kerbstones, a fence or similar structure, while a roadside strip (路側帯) is marked off by painted lines only, on a road that has no sidewalk.

Practise it: vehicles use the roadway, crossing a sidewalk requires a stop, the same for a car park entrance, what a sidewalk is, what a roadside strip is.

Can I ride a moped or an e-scooter on the sidewalk?

No. A moped (原付, gentsuki) is a vehicle, so Article 17(1) puts it on the roadway, and no exception lets it use the sidewalk. The exceptions that do exist are written for bicycles and for e-scooters, and each comes with conditions.

Bicycles must use the roadway in principle. Article 63-4 lets an ordinary bicycle ride on a sidewalk in three situations: where a road sign permits it, where the rider is a child under 13 or aged 70 or over or has a qualifying disability (Enforcement Order Art. 26), or where the state of the roadway or of the traffic makes using the sidewalk unavoidable for the cyclist’s safety. Even then, the bicycle must keep to the roadway side of the sidewalk’s centre, proceed at jokō speed, and stop completely whenever it would obstruct a pedestrian. Note the exact figures — under 13 and 70 or over, not "under 16 and 65 or over".

E-scooters (特例特定小型原動機付自転車, a specified small motorized bicycle in footway-permitted mode) may use a sidewalk only where a sign says so (Art. 17-2), must keep to the roadway side of the centre, must stop rather than merely slow when pedestrians would be obstructed, and are held to 6 km/h.

Practise it: the roadway principle for bicycles, when a sign permits the sidewalk, which side of the sidewalk, stopping for pedestrians, the age 70 rule, the wrong ages, e-scooters need a sign, the 6 km/h limit.

The vehicle ahead of you has stopped at a pedestrian crossing — what must you do?

You must stop as well, before you pass it. Article 38 states that when a vehicle is stopped at or before a pedestrian crossing, a driver who wants to pass alongside it and move ahead of it must come to a complete stop before doing so. Slowing down is not sufficient, and this is the wording the test uses to catch people.

The reason is a blind spot. The stopped vehicle is almost always stopped for a pedestrian you cannot see, and the passing driver arrives at the crossing with no view of it. The same article carries the primary duty: where a pedestrian is crossing or about to cross, you stop just before the crossing and do not obstruct them.

A third layer sits in front of both: on approaching any pedestrian crossing, unless it is clear that nobody is crossing, you must slow enough to be able to stop before it. So the sequence is slow on approach → stop for the pedestrian → stop again before overtaking a stopped car.

Practise it: stopping before you pass a stopped vehicle, stopping for the pedestrian, slowing on approach.

Pedestrians with white canes and guide dogs — what should you always do?

You must always stop or slow down so they can pass safely. Sounding the horn and driving past at the same speed is expressly not an option. Article 71(ii) lists the people this covers: a person using a mobility device for the disabled, a blind person carrying the designated white or yellow cane or accompanied by a designated guide dog, a deaf person or a person with a qualifying disability carrying the designated cane, and an unaccompanied child or infant.

The Rules of the Road extend the same duty to an elderly person whose walking is impaired — using a cane or a walking aid. In every case the choice is between a complete stop and jokō; "paying attention" while keeping your speed is a wrong answer.

The other side of the rule is a duty on pedestrians: a blind person using a road must carry a white or yellow cane or be accompanied by a guide dog (Art. 14(1)). Either one is enough — you do not need both.

Practise it: why the horn is not enough, stop or slow down, the same for impaired elderly pedestrians, the pedestrian’s own duty.

Is diagonal crossing allowed in Japan?

No, unless a sign or marking allows it. Article 12(2) prohibits pedestrians from crossing a road diagonally at an intersection except where road signs permit it.

The permitted case is the one everybody has seen: the scramble crossing (スクランブル交差点), where all vehicle signals go red at once and pedestrians may move freely, including diagonally, under the pedestrian signal. The permission is carried by a marking, and that marking is an instruction marking (指示標示), not a regulatory one — it grants something rather than forbidding it.

For a driver the practical consequence is at a scramble crossing: pedestrians will be crossing on paths your mirrors are not aimed at, so do not begin a turn on the assumption that they travel only parallel to the kerb.

Practise it: diagonal crossing needs a sign, scramble crossings, the marking is an instruction marking.

Do you have to stop at an intersection without a stop sign?

Usually not a full stop — you slow down and give way. A complete stop is required only where a 一時停止 (stop) sign or marking says so. Three rules stack up at an uncontrolled intersection.

1. Article 36(2) — yield. If the crossing road is a priority road, or is clearly wider than yours, you must not obstruct vehicles on it. Being on the narrower road means you give way, however light the traffic.
2. Article 36(3) — slow down. In the same situation you must jokō: reduce speed so you could stop immediately. Not a full stop.
3. Article 42 — slow down where you cannot see. At an intersection where the view to left and right is blocked, you must jokō — unless traffic there is controlled by signals or you are on a priority road.

Where the roads are of similar width, the rule is priority to the left: you must not obstruct a vehicle, or a streetcar, coming from your left.

Practise it: yielding to the wider road, slow down, not stop, blind intersections, priority to the left, you still have to slow.

FAQ

Can I sit in the driver’s seat without a licence in Japan?

Article 2 defines "driving" as using a vehicle on a road according to its intended purpose, so simply sitting there is not driving. But Article 64 bans an unlicensed person from driving a vehicle on a road — and it counts driving while your licence is suspended as unlicensed driving too. With a provisional licence you may drive only with a qualified supervisor in the seat beside you. Article 64 also makes it an offence to ask an unlicensed person to drive you and then ride along, so the passenger is not safe either.

You may drive over a footpath — true or false?

True only in one sense: you may cross a footpath to enter or leave premises beside the road, and only after stopping completely immediately before it and without obstructing pedestrians. Driving along a footpath is never permitted.

Can a moped ride on the sidewalk in Japan?

No. A moped is a vehicle and must use the roadway. Sidewalk exceptions exist only for ordinary bicycles (by sign, or for riders under 13, aged 70 or over, or with a qualifying disability) and for e-scooters in footway-permitted mode where a sign allows it at 6 km/h.

A vehicle ahead of you has stopped at a pedestrian crossing. You —

must come to a complete stop before passing it and moving ahead of it. The stopped vehicle is usually stopped for a pedestrian hidden from your view, so slowing down is not enough.

Pedestrians with white canes and seeing-eye dogs should always —

be given a complete stop or jokō (slowing to a speed at which you can stop immediately) so that they can pass safely. Sounding the horn and maintaining speed is expressly not permitted.

Do pedestrians have to use the sidewalk?

Yes. Where a road has a sidewalk or a sufficiently wide roadside strip, pedestrians must use it, unless it is unusable because of road works or similar.