Honto Japan Editorial– Author –

Japan's aviation act says an unmanned aircraft may not be used for flight unless it is on the register and carries its registration mark. That comes before any question about where you fly - and it is where most visiting drone owners stop.

Japan's indoor smoking law puts the duty on the person, not only the business - and its definition of smoking covers heated tobacco and vapor. Here is what the Health Promotion Act actually says, including how to read the signs at the door.

Japan drives on the left, but on a road with no sidewalk the traffic act tells pedestrians to keep to the right - facing the traffic. That rule, and the crossing rules that carry penalty articles, come straight from the statute.

Japanese law says a foreign national in Japan must carry their passport at all times. Short-stay visitors cannot use the exemption. Here is what the statute says, who can ask to see it, and the duty that runs the other way.

Japanese law classes a bicycle as a vehicle, which means the drink-driving ban covers it - and so does the ban on buying a drink for someone who is about to ride. Here is what the traffic act actually says.

Five kilos to Seoul is 6,400 yen. The same box to the United States is 15,100. Here is the official rate table by zone, the weight at which shipping stops making sense, and what the prices do not include.

Japan builds its long weekends on purpose - four holidays are pinned to Mondays, and a weekday trapped between two holidays becomes a holiday itself. Here are the 2026 and 2027 dates, and the one day off that buys you seven.

Japan's return rate is not a cultural accident - it is written into a law that says where a found item goes, who gets paid, and how long you have. Here is the clock you are actually racing, and the two-week rule for umbrellas.

Japanese alerts give you a shindo number, not a magnitude - and the two mean completely different things. Here is how to read the scale, why your hotel floor matters, and what the few seconds of warning are actually for.

Japan's cashless payment ratio hit 58.0 percent in 2025, up from 42.8 the year before - and the measure itself changed. Here is how much cash to actually carry, which ATMs take a foreign card, and the 50,000 yen limit nobody mentions.

Two government notices tell bathhouses that refusing someone for a tattoo alone is not appropriate, and set out what to do instead. Here is what those documents say, and why individual bathhouses still say no.

Sending your suitcase ahead costs about 1,600 to 5,130 yen within one region, and the airport service only delivers to the airport you depart from - not the one you arrive at. Here are the sizes, the deadlines and the traps.