Arya News - Such accidents in Niigata Prefecture almost quadrupled in number between 2022 and 2025, with many reportedly caused by visitors unused to driving on snowy roads.
NIIGATA – Recent years have seen a surge in accidents involving rental cars driven by foreign tourists in ski resort areas in Niigata and Nagano prefectures.
Such accidents in Niigata Prefecture almost quadrupled in number between 2022 and 2025, with many reportedly caused by visitors unused to driving on snowy roads. The trend has prompted the transport ministry, police from both prefectures and other authorities to launch efforts to tackle the problem.
In early August, a panel tasked with preventing winter accidents involving foreigners driving rental cars held its first discussion in Nagano City.
“A huge number of foreign travelers visit this region, and rental car accidents are a frequent occurance,” said the head of a tourism division under the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry. “We’ll work closely with the relevant entities and do whatever we can to thoroughly tackle this issue.”
According to a report by the Hokuriku-shin’etsu District Transport Bureau, which includes the tourism division, rental cars driven by foreign visitors were involved in 38 accidents resulting in property damage in Niigata Prefecture in 2022, but this jumped to 149 accidents in 2025. In 2025, three accidents resulted in a total of six people being injured, one seriously, according to the Niigata prefectural police.
Of the 149 accidents reported in 2025, 80 occurred in the three months of January, February and December — more than half of the total. These accidents tended to be concentrated in winter ski resort areas, with 73 occurring in the town of Yuzawa and the cities of Minami-Uonuma and Myoko in Niigata Prefecture.
Single-vehicle accidents were the most common, accounting for 93 cases, and there were 13 head-on collisions and 12 rear-end accidents.
The head of the general traffic safety office at the prefectural police’s traffic planning division said at the meeting, “Accidents can easily happen on snowy roads, even for locals who should be used to driving on them. People from countries that get no snow need to be especially careful when driving.”
Nagano Prefecture, too, has seen frequent accidents in places visited by many foreign skiers, such as the village of Hakuba. In July, this trend led the bureau to establish the panel, which has worked with both prefectural police forces, rental car business operators, local governments and other entities to examine the accident data. Workshops for rental car businesses in both prefectures will be held by November, and there are plans to create videos and flyers detailing safe driving tips and the dangers of driving on snowy roads for visitors from abroad.
About 24% of the rental cars that were driven by overseas visitors and that were involved in accidents in Niigata Prefecture in 2025 had license plates from the Tokyo metropolitan area.
“It’s difficult for the prefectural police to expand efforts to combat these crashes to other prefectures,” the traffic official said. “We’ll work with the bureau to help reassure our prefecture’s residents.”
The tourism division head said, “We must keep making efforts to prevent accidents on snowy roads, so the high-quality snow of Niigata and Nagano can be harnessed as a tourism resource.”