What are all these mysterious Japanese car stickers?
Home of the original Mysterious Car Stickers
Back in 2006, the 3Yen uncovered a mystery: What is this mysterious Japanese car sticker?
Could this official “Blue Shamrock” car sticker mean that the Japanese driver is handicapped by too much Irish whiskey? 1
Well, I just went in to renew my Japanese drivers license and an even more mysterious official car sticker confounded me during my license renewal lecture.
Does this sticker mean the driver has butterflies in their brain? 2
Japan has even more official “marks” such as the scary teardrop of orange and yellow, which is called the Ochiba mark 
(fallen leaf mark) warning of autos full of autumn leaves. 3
The best known of all these marks is the green and yellow chevron, the so-called Wakaba mark 
(green leaf mark) that warns of budding leaves and the pollen season. 4
Ok, ok, here’s the Rest-of-the-story…
1 Japan adopted the shamrock symbol to designate handicapped drivers even though the international symbol of a wheelchair is recognized everywhere else in the world.
2
The weird butterfly mark is Japan’s “hard of hearing” symbol. Hard of hearing drivers must display these stickers, which forbids other drivers from cutting off or aggressively passing such cars. 
This butterfly-mark is an obscure, only-in-Japan symbol and other parts of the world use this easy-to-understand ear mark.
3 Officially called the Koreisha mark (kōrei untensha hyōshiki), the fallen leaf mark must be displayed by drivers over 75 (and strongly recommended for those over 70) to warn other drivers of the impending danger.
4Officially called the Shoshinsha mark (shoshin untensha hyōshiki), new drivers must display the green leaf mark for one year after getting their license to warn other drivers that the driver is not very skilled.
UPDATE:
The Mainichi reports (2009 July 23) that Police want to come up with a new design to replace the “autumn leaf” symbol which designates an elderly driver. A survey has indicated that only around half of people questioned had an idea of what it meant.
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March 2nd, 2009 at 2:27 am
Do you guys know where i could get any of these stickers they’re pretty rad.
March 2nd, 2009 at 7:23 am
Bobbleheads and their secret codes with their decoder rings are at work in J-land….
March 2nd, 2009 at 8:01 am
The most popular stickers, the Green Leaf for beginner drivers and the Autumn Leaf for elderly drivers, are available via JList.com.
The Blue Shamrock sticker for the handicapped and the Butterflies-in-the-Brains Mark for the elderly are unpopular and rare. Most handicapped drivers mark their car with the wheelchair sticker (hard-of-hearing drivers seem to ignore the law about displaying the butterfly mark).
March 3rd, 2009 at 6:26 am
Funny, clever, and useful, particularly the leaves.
March 3rd, 2009 at 8:23 am
This is great. Pictograms that aren’t so literal. Good design on the Japanese’ part.
March 3rd, 2009 at 6:23 pm
lol, very funy , and coll:)
March 5th, 2009 at 1:56 am
That’s very informative!
March 5th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
When you see the orange and yellow, be careful. I think they actually need to lower the age a bit to about 65 would be better than 75.
March 6th, 2009 at 11:29 am
That is interesting.
March 6th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Really like the shamrock as I am both Irish and disabled!
March 7th, 2009 at 3:49 am
I would love to see those on cars here in L.A. At the very least, it would humanize the drivers. We are way too used to treating other cars as mere obstacles and not people.
March 7th, 2009 at 11:34 am
hahaha, my japanese just came back from nagasaki and bought me the green leaf one for a joke! XD i’ve had my driver’s license for over 4 years!
March 8th, 2009 at 9:07 am
This is great. I LOVE the Mississippi one. How often are these created?
March 8th, 2009 at 1:20 pm
The green leaf and autumn leaf stickers are very common on Japanese roads—At least 1 in 10 cars have them as required by law. The hearing-impaired butterfly sticker has been required by law for the past year or so, but are never seen on the road. Compliance with the Japanese law must very low–no doubt the butterfly sticker is not popular with hearing-impaired.
In some states in the US, a hearing-impaired license plate is required and in others it is optional. A wild guess would be that Mississippi requires hearing-impaired drivers to use the special license plate (since it looks so elaborate).
March 10th, 2009 at 11:48 am
They look like pokemon badges..
March 11th, 2009 at 4:37 am
these symbols though not like the one used popularly in the rest of the world are actually very metaphorical and understandable if u understand them. … in conveying a sense of nature, people relate to them in a way that touches thier inner self, the japanese do that so well in their art and now in modern graphic stickers, i admire the way they always re-invent.. yes, its easier to use an ear, or a wheelchair, but these are so real too and yet so romantic.
March 11th, 2009 at 11:13 am
great website. I find very usefuk information on japanese stickers.
March 11th, 2009 at 4:23 pm
… so God decided to place them on an island…
March 15th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
thats great i think the green leaf would be an awesome thing to do in America it may even lower our insurance bills.
March 21st, 2009 at 9:03 pm
Wow!! So, you can talk to Me, in English!!
April 9th, 2009 at 8:52 am
Ha, ha, I don’t agree with it all but nice none-the-less…
April 9th, 2009 at 9:04 am
It seems as though something is missing, no?
April 28th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Can you recommend a decent forum or focus group to join that cover this topic. Also, I really appreciate the fact that you approach these topics from a stand point of knowledge and information instead of the typical “I think” mentality that you see so much on the internet these days.
April 28th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Try http://www.fuckedgaijin.com
May 15th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Since else has said a single thing about it, so I will just go through with it and ship you one of these cloverleaps stickers via parcel post. Call it our secret.
July 23rd, 2009 at 4:51 pm
The National Police Agency has added a new “taima” sticker shown on the bottom right, ha, ha.
July 23rd, 2009 at 4:54 pm
I can’t help wondering if using shamrocks as a ‘disabled’ symbol and butterflies for ‘hearing impaired’ isn’t more an attempt to keep disabilities (and the disabled) out of sight.
July 25th, 2009 at 2:08 pm
I’m not doubting what you say is true — but how can you prove the the shamrock car stickers mean ‘Beware of Colorblind Drunk Irish’?
August 2nd, 2009 at 9:01 pm
How tall are you now?
September 2nd, 2009 at 9:26 am
Def some good info in japan here – keep it coming
September 2nd, 2009 at 9:30 pm
All of these stickers are available at the local Japanese hardware store. Mine happens to be Nafco. I’ve bought a few to bring back to the states (if I ever care enough to return). If you don’t live in Japan, good luck!
September 22nd, 2009 at 6:35 pm
I finally know what the symbol of koreisha and wakaba mean.In Malaysia I’ve seen people sticking these symbols on the front and back of their cars and I asked myself “what’s up with these strange symbols?” I asked around but nobody have a clue, even the car owners who sticks them.They just said it is some japanese logo and they stick it for fun and because they look good. When I saw the same emblem on the character Tamama of Keroro Gunso anime…I’m determined to find the truth which led me to this site…
September 22nd, 2009 at 7:09 pm
Kool!
Glad to be of help and thanks for your positive feedback.
Maybe I ought to do another story about the lack of Japanese license plates (number plates) on overseas cars. In the USA and Japan you often see a German license plate on imported Benz cars above the regular license plate, but you never see a Japanese license plate displayed (along with a regular license) on Japanese cars outside Japan.
(Hint: Japanese license plates belong to the Japanese Government, not the car owner. Any plate not attached to a car and not in the hands of the government is felony theft of government property.)
November 2nd, 2009 at 6:28 am
Blah blah blah that’s what everybody says about “Pasties for Cars.”
August 11th, 2010 at 3:48 pm
The Japanese sticker looks lovely. It’s really a great idea where you will know who is driving (handicap or senior citizens or for new drivers). This is a best idea and such things really count a lot. But you need to follow such symbols and other fellow drivers which will be safer from accidents.
carinsurancetemporary.co.uk
August 14th, 2010 at 5:53 am
Number one reason deaf drivers haven’t installed new stickers….
They didn’t hear about it.
October 30th, 2010 at 5:07 am
Bloody awful design. Using kanji would be more practical than this, particularly with the first two.
November 18th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
Ohaiyo gozaimasu. Sumimasen kaite kudasai
March 20th, 2011 at 10:53 pm
i never thought that my second name was useful elsewhere; in Japan and am in Kenya.
March 31st, 2012 at 1:37 pm
If you live in Sapporo Japan, this link will show you how to get a Japanese Drivers license:
best-of-sapporo-japan.com/japanese-drivers-license
I was a bit late getting mine (you’re supposed to renew your license like a week after your birthday or something) I went 3 weeks after so I think maybe I had to pay extra. It cost me about 6,000 yen for everything to renew my license.
August 17th, 2012 at 9:16 am
Home of the original Mysterious Car Stickers
Somebody has plagiarized this post, meh, hence the new tagline above. However, in the process of looking into the plagiarism, I discovered a droll, unrelated YouTube of the “Mysterious Car Stickers” of Japan…
August 17th, 2012 at 4:23 pm
You ask, “What are all these mysterious Japanese car stickers?” and you got it have right for a horographer. I mean, what time is it really?
August 22nd, 2012 at 12:23 pm
This kind of system (sticker identification) should be implemented here in the Philippines. Actually even the state/ prefecture marks on license plate would be useful for managing Philippine Transportation.
August 23rd, 2012 at 12:04 am
I just discovered a totally wacked, foreign meaning for the Japanese “green leaf” sticker (R) that is used in Japan to warn of new, unskilled drivers.
An odd explanation of how Japan’s the car-sticker-of-shame for noob drivers, “green leaf” sticker, is somehow cool overseas…
September 9th, 2012 at 5:49 am
I should state that you can observe a lot just by watching. If I could be a bird I think I’d be a Pengu1n because then I could walk around on two feet with a lot of other guys like me.
October 18th, 2012 at 4:01 am
Surprising to think of s0mething like that.
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November 7th, 2012 at 9:18 pm
Dats a dead-on composed article about car stickers and Japanese panda murder! In fact it was a funny account of it. Really enjoyed reading through.
March 3rd, 2013 at 1:08 am
Do you know where i can get this in tokyo?
March 3rd, 2013 at 1:21 am
Anywhere in Japan you can buy these Japanese car stickers at major car parts centers such as AUTOBACS or YELLOW HAT.
http://www.autobacs.com/index.html
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http://www.yellowhat.jp/