Japan did not sign the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, effective 1977, just like China, USA, and many others. Other than Korea they make exceptions.

Japan acccepts Carnet de Passage but claims authentification of German CdP by Japan Automobile Federation. Import of German plated vehicles requires inspection and registration in Japan for temporary import, similar to China. But other than China Japan does not make a difference between temporal and permanent import and the registratio and inspection process is the same. We obtained quotes of several professional vehicle importers, the lowest price quote amounted to 5.000 USD – with no guarantee for import at all.

We are quite sure that our 20 year old truck won’t meet current emission, noise or saftey standards…