Driving in Japan

International Driving License

To drive in Japan, you MUST have an international driving license based on the 1949 Geneva Convention.

This permit must be obtained from the National Automobile Association, which issued your original driver's license before arriving in Japan. It must be a physical booklet type, not a digital translation, photograph, or copy of your license.

Please check with the Toyota Rent-A-Car's website or the International Driver's License Portal website to ensure you have the proper permit.

Vehicle Suitability

To drive safely in the snowy winter conditions in Japan, it is essential to hire a vehicle with 4WD and winter tyres.

If you hire from local car hire outlets in the ski resort, all vehicles will fit these criteria.

If you hire from a Major Airport or Train Station, please make sure that you specify that you require a vehicle with 4WD and winter tyres to allow you to drive safely. Not all vehicles in their inventory will have these features.

Resort Information

Samurai Snow offers accommodation in a choice of 8 different ski resorts.

If you have not yet decided on your preferred ski resort, please check out our Japan Ski Resorts page, which has a wealth of information on the ski resorts that we offer.

Niseko and Hakuba are the largest ski resorts each with multiple villages to choose from.

You can search for accommodation in all of the villages within Niseko or Hakuba by selecting “Niseko – Any Village” or “Hakuba – Any Village” OR you can search by village, for example “Niseko – Hirafu or Hakuba – Happo One.

More information on each Niseko and Hakuba village can be found on our village guide for each ski resort:

Room Availability Information / Booking

The light blue bar at the top of the page shows the price and availability status of the accommodation (Available OR Enquire for Availability) for the stay dates listed.

When changing the stay dates, be sure to click the Update button to get the price and availability status of the new dates.

Where a discount is on offer, the pricing shown has the discount already applied.

Checking Availability

If the availability status is “Enquire for Availability” you can check availability by clicking on the “Enquire Now” button and submitting the accommodation enquiry form.

Please ensure you select “I/we would like to Check if this accommodation is available” in the first field of the form.

We will respond to you via email to confirm the availability status within 24-48 hours.

Booking

To proceed with booking the accommodation, click on the “Book Now” button and submit the accommodation enquiry form.

Please ensure you select “I/we would like to Book this accommodation” in the first field of the form.

Within 24-48 hours, we will send instructions to you on how to pay the deposit required to secure the booking.

The price of bookings is fixed in Japanese Yen but you can pay in your home currency.