Police have referred to prosecutors their case against the manager of a Tokyo rental go-kart business suspected of renting to foreign tourists who are without a valid license and allowing them to drive on public roads, investigative sources said Friday.
The referral without detention on Sept. 3 by the Metropolitan Police Department was due to the belief that the manager, a man in his 40s, merited indictment because of the potential to cause a serious accident, the sources said.
Under Japanese traffic law, go-karts are classified as regular automobiles that require a valid driver's license to operate. Only international driver's licenses issued by a country under the Geneva Convention are valid for driving in Japan.
According to the sources, the case referred to prosecutors alleges the manager of the company in Tokyo's Ota Ward lent go-karts to two foreign tourists who did not possess valid international driver's licenses in April, allowing them to drive on public roads.
"I did not provide sufficient guidance to my employees," the manager was quoted as saying.
One of the two individuals caused property damage after colliding with a parked vehicle on the roadside. The police officer who responded arrested the individual on the spot for driving without a license.
Some 3,300 people have rented go-karts after the company started the business around the fall of last year. Its rental records showed nearly 50 people may have driven the vehicles without a proper driver's license.
According to the police, there were seven personal injury accidents and 18 property damage accidents involving go-karts between January and August.
In February, the police requested businesses in Tokyo to enforce thorough license checks and to refrain from allowing commemorative photos to be taken on public roads.
© KYODO
15 Comments
Login to comment
earsay
Is there anything more cringe than seeing weaboo tourists who rent these noisy and antisocial vehicles? Hopefully this will lead to a crackdown on them.
sakurasuki
That's only one incident, how incident being inflicted by old people in Japan? More than that.
Are they expecting people to go to expensive Japanese driving school that cost 300 thousands yen, just to drive those kart?
Hercolobus
These go cars should not be on public roads. They need to assign a confined place so adults can pretend to be children again.
BigP
Ban them completely.
WeiWei
You cannot enter Japanese driving school as a tourist and it is not required as described in the article. What you need to do, in your home country before coming to japan, is spend $10 to get the international driving permit.
Garthgoyle
Wait. The article starts by making it look like they're renting those things to people without licenses. But further into the article, it's two people. Two. All this just for two people who drove without a license.
If they're gonna bring this nuisance to court, and maybe ultimately shot them down, they've better come with more than just two people drove without a license.
sakurasuki
@WeiWei
Not all country able to issue international permit that being accepted by Japan, need to be in the list of countries that signed 1949 convention.
https://rent.toyota.co.jp/global_eng/drive/
divinda
Its not merely driving without a license, it also how the lack of license issue was discovered by the cops:
"One of the two individuals caused property damage after colliding with a parked vehicle on the roadside. The police officer who responded arrested the individual on the spot for driving without a license."
Hello Kitty 321
@ Garthgole
If you read further into the article it says nearly 50
kohakuebisu
The story should name the company involved. With no name, readers will blame every kart tour company for what sounds like slackness at the least clued-up one. Does anyone know who it is?
I only know about the one sued by Nintendo, Maricar, but they have country-by-country guide to licenses on their website. Their staff only need to read their own website to know what licenses are needed for customers from different countries. I doubt it is that company at fault here.
To ban the karts as many people would like, the police would have to change the rules. I suspect they are street legal because they pass rules intended for mobility vehicles used by old people. People rely on such vehicles, so the best approach may be to ban "formation guided tours" or something like that.
リッチ
The cart system is no problem. If people want to buzz around like Mario the let them. They stay out of the way of most people. They are better than taxi drivers. These LUUP standing scooters on the other hand need to go. People ride them everywhere without care. Feel sorry for the parked car but the guy who was riding got arrested and it should be done. Company can only go off what their customers tell them. Don’t think it’s right someone not even there is charged.
Garthgoyle
True. But the prosecutors are bringing them to court just for two people. They need to add to those charges if they want to get rid of this business.
kohakuebisu
I bet more than two people per winter will be driving cars without valid licenses in Niseko, either as customers on holiday or as seasonal staff driving every day for accommodation providers or ski rental places. International destinations like Niseko and Okinawa are inaka, so the local cops won't know much about international driving licenses either.
WoodyLee
This whole go cart thing is an absolute JOKE,
Japan with all the restrictions and rules it imposes on it's drivers allows these annoying carts on the streets of it's capital driven by people that have NO IDEA how or where to go, and yet it expect the general public to put up with it.
Someone got paid major cash to allow this.
tora
If these are indeed classifed as regular motorcars, fit for driving on regular roads, I'm in. I have a death wish you see.