Ride a Bicycle With Your Phone in Hand and Pay a ¥12,000 Fine: the “Blue Ticket” System From April 2026

In Japan, a bicycle is a “light vehicle” (軽車両), in the same category as an automobile as a “vehicle.” You do not need a driver’s license, but the traffic rules of the Road Traffic Act still apply in full. From April 1, 2026, when a person aged 16 or older commits certain traffic violations on a bicycle, a system began under which, just as for cars, they can be issued a “blue ticket” (青切符) and required to pay a fine.

The following is based on the National Police Agency’s “Bicycle Portal Site” and its “For the Safe and Secure Use of Bicycles — Introducing the Traffic Fine Notification System (Blue Tickets) for Bicycles” (bicycle rulebook), confirmed in September 2026.

What is a blue ticket?

According to the National Police Agency, the traffic fine notification system is a mechanism for simplifying the procedure when a traffic violation occurs. If you pay the fine within the set period, the case is handled without going through criminal trial or family court proceedings. The traffic fine notification handed to you at that point is the so-called “blue ticket.”

The process once you are handed a blue ticket is as follows.

• You receive from the officer a “blue ticket” describing the violation, and a “payment slip” for paying the fine.
• If you admit the violation, you provisionally pay the fine at a bank or post office counter, in principle within 7 days of the day after the enforcement action. Paying provisionally means the case does not move to criminal proceedings, and you are not prosecuted.
• If you do not pay provisionally, you report to the Traffic Fine Notification Center on the date written on the blue ticket, receive the notification and payment slip there, and pay within 10 days of the day after the notification.
• If you do not pay the fine, the case moves to criminal proceedings.

The National Police Agency explains that, if you pay the fine, you do not need to appear for questioning or trial, and you do not end up with a so-called “criminal record” from being found guilty. This applies to riders aged 16 or older. For violations by someone under 16, in most cases it is still, as before, handled with guidance and a warning.

What gets you enforced against

The National Police Agency states that, when officers find a bicycle violation, they basically give guidance and a warning on the spot. They make an arrest only for a malicious or dangerous violation that could cause a traffic accident and poses a high risk or nuisance to pedestrians or other vehicles. As an example, it cites continuing to ride against traffic on the right side after being warned by a police officer.

Violations fall into two kinds: “finable offenses,” for which you pay a fine under a blue ticket, and serious violations that go to criminal proceedings under a “red ticket.” Drunk or impaired cycling, obstructive riding (so-called road-rage-style riding), and using a mobile phone in a way that actually creates a traffic hazard, are handled as criminal matters. According to the bicycle rulebook, impaired cycling is subject to imprisonment of up to three years or a fine of up to ¥500,000. Encouraging someone to drink before cycling, or lending a bicycle to someone who has been drinking, can also be punished.

The main violations subject to a blue ticket, and the fine amounts, are shown in the bicycle rulebook as follows.

The National Police Agency states that the ¥12,000 fine for using a mobile phone while holding it is the highest among the bicycle fines. Riding while holding an umbrella, or riding with earphones in such that you cannot hear sounds around you, are banned in every prefecture under the Public Safety Commission’s regulations, and riding with an umbrella is listed among the violations subject to a blue ticket.

Rules to follow day to day: the Five Rules for Safe Bicycle Use

The National Police Agency sets out the “Five Rules for Safe Bicycle Use” as the basics of riding a bicycle.

• The roadway is the rule, keep to the left. The sidewalk is an exception, and pedestrians come first
• At intersections, obey signals and make a temporary stop, and check that it is safe
• Turn your light on at night
• Drunk cycling is banned
• Wear a helmet

According to the bicycle rulebook, on a road where the sidewalk and roadway are separated, a bicycle should, in principle, use the roadway, keeping to the left side of the road. The Immigration Services Agency’s 生活・就労ガイドブック explains that, besides a sidewalk marked as “sidewalk riding permitted” or similar, a child under 13, a person aged 70 or older, and a person with a physical disability may use the sidewalk, and that on a sidewalk you should keep toward the roadway side and ride slowly enough to stop immediately.

A helmet is an “effort obligation”

Wearing a helmet when riding a bicycle is set out as an “effort obligation” (努力義務) under Article 63-11, Paragraph 1 of the Road Traffic Act. Not wearing one is not a traffic violation, and there is no fine. That said, the National Police Agency notes that, among people who suffered a head injury while riding a bicycle between 2020 and 2024, the fatality rate for those not wearing a helmet was about 1.4 times that of those who were, and recommends wearing one.

Insurance, and when an accident happens

The 生活・就労ガイドブック warns that, for “bicycle liability insurance” (自転車損害賠償責任保険等), which covers you if you injure someone in a bicycle accident, enrollment is mandatory in many areas, including Tokyo and Osaka Prefecture. Whether it is mandatory is decided by each prefecture’s ordinance, so check in the prefecture where you live.

The licensing procedure for riding a moped or a car in Japan is covered in the article on using a Ukrainian driver’s license in Japan.

Materials you can read in Ukrainian

The blue-ticket information leaflet produced by the National Police Agency comes in three languages — Japanese, English, and Chinese (simplified) — with no Ukrainian edition (as of September 2026).

The Ukrainian edition of the Immigration Services Agency’s 生活・就労ガイドブック (7th edition), in Chapter 9, “Дорожній рух” (“Traffic”), under “Про що слід пам’ятати під час їзди на велосипеді” (“What to Remember When Riding a Bicycle”), lets you read the basics such as the Five Rules for Safe Bicycle Use. However, this edition was produced before the blue-ticket system began, and it does not explain blue tickets or fines. The Japanese 8th edition (based on the system as of August 1, 2025) also does not include an explanation of blue tickets. You need to check the fine amounts and procedures using the National Police Agency’s Japanese- and English-language materials.

Summary: before you ride a bicycle

• Keep to the left side of the roadway. You may use the sidewalk only where signs allow it, and even then, give way to pedestrians and ride slowly
• Do not ride while holding a smartphone (fine: ¥12,000)
• Obey traffic lights and “Stop” signs. Turn your light on at night
• Do not ride after drinking (subject to criminal penalty)
• Wear a helmet (an effort obligation)
• Check whether bicycle insurance is mandatory in the prefecture where you live

The fine amounts and procedures in this article were confirmed from the National Police Agency’s published materials in September 2026. This article does not judge whether a particular action counts as a violation.