‘A foreigner is driving’ car stickers gain widespread attention in Japan

The sticker reads, “A foreigner is driving.” Image: Twitter/@hakocro

Japan has been hard at work preparing for the 2020 Olympic Games. One of the main goals is to make the streets more accommodating to foreign drivers.

Adding English text to street signs is one of the ongoing efforts. Another is the increased use of car stickers which read “A foreigner is driving.”

As reported by Norimono News via SoraNews24, these stickers are supposed to inform Japanese drivers that they are on the road with a driver who may not be completely familiar with some local traffic regulations.

The stickers have been in use in Okinawa and Hokkaido for a while now, but the looming 2020 Olympics has turned more attention to these stickers in anticipation of a tourist influx when the games commence.

However, there might just be a slight risk to using these “foreigner stickers.” In the same way that these stickers inform law-abiding local citizens of who they are driving with, they could also mark foreigners for criminal elements who might take advantage of them.

Fortunately, the stickers that car rental companies issue are more like “sticker magnets” which can be removed easily when needed. As per reports, the number of foreign drivers in Japan overall has risen by 400 percent between 2011 and 2015. Alfred Bayle/JB

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