①Whenever a person engaged in the business of importing motor vehicles or parts of motor vehicles has imported a motor vehicle or a motor vehicle chassis or motor, the person must notify the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of the form of its chassis number and motor model and other matters specified by Order of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism within 20 days from the date of importation.

②Where a person referred to in the preceding paragraph has notified the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism of the matters specified by Order of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism under paragraph (2) of the preceding Article concerning the chassis number or motor model of the motor vehicle or motor vehicle chassis or motor that the person intends to import, attaching a document of the manufacturer of that motor vehicle or motor vehicle chassis or motor that is sufficient to prove the fact, the person need not make the notification under the preceding paragraph.

No person may obliterate the stamping of the chassis number or motor model of a motor vehicle, or otherwise act so as to make it difficult to identify the chassis number or motor model; provided, however, that this does not apply where, in a case of particular necessity for maintenance or other unavoidable circumstances, the person has obtained the permission of the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism or has received an order under the following Article.

Where a motor vehicle falls under any of the following items, the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism may order its owner to have the chassis number or motor model stamped or to have the stamping obliterated, or may personally obliterate the stamping of the chassis number or motor model or stamp it:

①A person who transfers a motor vehicle must deliver to the transferee a certificate of transfer stating the following matters:

②Two or more certificates of transfer under the preceding paragraph must not be issued for one motor vehicle that is the subject of a transfer.

③A person who transfers a motor vehicle must, if the person holds a certificate of transfer under paragraph (1) already issued with respect to that motor vehicle, deliver it to the transferee.

④A person who transfers a motor vehicle (excluding those specified by Order of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism) may, in lieu of delivering a certificate of transfer under paragraph (1), as provided by Cabinet Order and with the consent of the transferee, provide the matters to be stated in the certificate of transfer to a registered information processing body by electronic or magnetic means (meaning a method using an electronic data processing system or any other method using information and communications technology that is specified by Order of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism; the same applies hereinafter).

⑤When the matters to be stated in the certificate of transfer have been provided to a registered information processing body pursuant to the preceding paragraph, the person who transfers the motor vehicle referred to in that paragraph is deemed to have delivered the certificate of transfer to the transferee.

①When a motor vehicle that has received permission for temporary operation is put to operation in accordance with the purpose and route stated in the temporary operation permit for that motor vehicle, the provisions of Article 4, Article 19, Article 58, paragraph (1) and Article 66, paragraph (1) do not apply to that motor vehicle.

②The permission for temporary operation referred to in the preceding paragraph is granted by the Director of a District Transport Bureau, the head of a city or special ward, or the head of a town or village specified by Cabinet Order (hereinafter referred to as the "administrative agency"; the same applies in the following Article).

①The permission for temporary operation referred to in the preceding Article may be granted only where a test drive of the motor vehicle is to be conducted, where delivery is to be conducted for the presentation necessary to file an application for new registration, new inspection, continuing inspection of a motor vehicle whose motor vehicle inspection certificate is not valid, or any other inspection, or where there is otherwise a particular necessity.

②Permission for temporary operation is granted with a validity period attached.

③The validity period referred to in the preceding paragraph must not exceed five days; provided, however, that this does not apply in the case of delivery requiring a long period or in other particularly unavoidable cases.

④Upon granting permission for temporary operation, the administrative agency must issue a temporary operation permit and lend a temporary operation permit number plate.

⑤The temporary operation permit referred to in the preceding paragraph must state the purpose and route of the temporary operation and the validity period referred to in paragraph (2).

⑥When the validity period referred to in paragraph (2) has expired, a person who has received permission for temporary operation must return the temporary operation permit and the temporary operation permit number plate to the administrative agency concerned within five days from that date.

A motor vehicle covered by permission for temporary operation must not be put to operation unless it satisfies the following requirements:

①When a person engaged in the business of delivering motor vehicles who has obtained permission from the Director of a District Transport Bureau puts to operation, within the validity period of the permission and in accordance with the purpose stated in the delivery operation permit, a motor vehicle that the person delivers in the course of that business (hereinafter referred to as a "motor vehicle being delivered") and that satisfies the following requirements, the provisions of Article 4, Article 19, Article 58, paragraph (1) and Article 66, paragraph (1) do not apply to that motor vehicle:

②The validity period of the permission referred to in the preceding paragraph must not exceed five years.

③Conditions may be attached to the permission referred to in paragraph (1), and may be changed.

④The conditions referred to in the preceding paragraph must be limited to the minimum necessary for the delivery of motor vehicles by the person who has received the permission referred to in paragraph (1) to be carried out appropriately, and must not impose any unjust obligation on the person who has received that permission.

⑤The Director of a District Transport Bureau is to issue to a person who has obtained the permission under paragraph (1), based on that person's application, the number of delivery operation permits found to be necessary, and at the same time lend a corresponding number of delivery operation permit number plates.

⑥A delivery operation permit must state the date of issue, the date on which the validity period of the permission under paragraph (1) expires, the purpose of delivery, and the number of the delivery operation permit number plate relating to that delivery operation permit.

⑦A person who has obtained the permission under paragraph (1) must return to the Director of a District Transport Bureau, within five days from that date (in the case of the revocation of the permission under the following paragraph or the receipt of an order under that paragraph, within five days after receiving notice thereof), all of the delivery operation permits currently issued to that person and the delivery operation permit number plates currently lent to that person (hereinafter in this Article referred to as "issued delivery operation permits, etc.") when the validity period of that permission expires or the permission is revoked under the following paragraph, or all or part of the issued delivery operation permits, etc. in accordance with the order when the person has received an order under that paragraph.

⑧The Director of a District Transport Bureau may, in any of the following cases, order a person who has obtained the permission under paragraph (1) to return all or part of the issued delivery operation permits, etc., or revoke the permission under that paragraph:

⑨The Director of a District Transport Bureau may, by specifying a period of not more than six months, refrain from issuing a delivery operation permit and lending a delivery operation permit number plate to a person who has received an order under the preceding paragraph.

⑩The Director of a District Transport Bureau is not to grant a new permission under paragraph (1) to a person whose permission has been revoked under paragraph (8) until the day on which two years elapse from the date of that revocation.

①The Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism must take the measures necessary and appropriate for the secure management of the registration identification information that the Minister handles, such as preventing its leakage, loss or damage.

②A motor vehicle registration officer or other official of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism engaged in affairs relating to registration, or a person who formerly held such a position, must not divulge any secret concerning the creation or management of registration identification information that the person came to know in connection with those affairs.

①The provisions of Chapter II and Chapter III of the Administrative Procedure Act (Act No. 88 of 1993) do not apply to registration.

②The provisions of Chapter II of the Administrative Procedure Act do not apply to dispositions concerning motor vehicle registration number plates and their seals, or to the issuance of certificates of registered particulars, etc.

③The provisions of the Act on Access to Information Held by Administrative Organs (Act No. 42 of 1999) do not apply to the motor vehicle registration file.

④With respect to retained personal information recorded in the motor vehicle registration file (meaning the retained personal information prescribed in Article 60, paragraph (1) of the Act on the Protection of Personal Information (Act No. 57 of 2003)), the provisions of Chapter V, Section 4 of that Act do not apply.

The provisions of Article 15, paragraph (6) and Article 18 of the Administrative Complaint Review Act (Act No. 68 of 2014) do not apply to a request for review concerning registration.

①If a request for review concerning registration is well-founded, the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism must make a correction to the registration to which that request for review relates, and notify the interested parties concerning that registration to that effect.

②The provisions of Article 10 apply mutatis mutandis to the case where a correction has been made under the preceding paragraph.

①Matters concerning the correction of registration and other matters necessary for the implementation of registration are prescribed by Cabinet Order.

②Detailed matters concerning motor vehicle registration number plates, their seals, certificates of transfer, temporary operation, and the permission under Article 36-2, paragraph (1) are prescribed by Order of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.