Tokyo Police Send Papers on Head of Go-kart Rental Company, After 2 Foreigners Arrested for Property Damage

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:16 JST, October 12, 2024

Police have sent papers to prosecutors on a man in his 40s for renting out go-karts in Tokyo to foreign tourists who did not have valid driving permits, it has been learned. Providing vehicles to unlicensed drivers is a violation of the Road Traffic Law.

The Metropolitan Police Department’s Azabu police station suspects that a rental company headed by the man in Ota Ward, Tokyo, has let about 50 unlicensed foreigners drive go-karts since the autumn of 2023.

According to a senior official at the police station, the man allegedly rented go-karts to two foreign tourists who did not hold driving licenses valid in Japan, allowing them to drive the go-karts on public roads in Minato Ward, Tokyo, on April 7. The man is said to have admitted the allegations. The police sent papers to the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office on Sept. 3.

Go-karts are classified as standard motor vehicles under the Road Traffic Law. If a foreigner wants to drive a go-kart in Japan, they must obtain an international driving license in accordance with the Geneva Convention.

While the two foreigners had international driving licenses, they were issued by countries that are not signatories to the convention. The company had asked its customers to send pictures of their driving licenses, but its employees reportedly did not check the validity of the licenses.

The unlicensed driving was revealed after one of the two foreigners caused property damage. The Azabu police station arrested the two foreigners at the scene of the incident on suspicion of unlicensed driving in violation of the traffic law, and also investigated the rental company. When sending papers to the prosecutors, the police station attached an opinion seeking strictness in the case and asking that the man be indicted.