RResidents in Japan

Hit and run in manshon parking lot

  • May 19, 2026

If you crash into another car in a manshon parking lot and leave without notifying anyone or leaving a note, is that a crime in Japan or just a civil matter?

If it is a crime, what is it called and what is the likely penalty?

UPDATE: we found the guy (senile man living in the same building). Hilariously he came back from fishing as the police were doing their thing at the scene of the crime.

Police refused to let me press charges for hit and run and just dealt with it as a normal accident. Their excuse was that accidents in private parking lots are not treated the same as accidents on public roads and the man claimed not to have noticed that he hit our car, despite him being on video stopping and getting out to look at the damage.

The guy doesn't know if he has volungtary insurance (not a good sign) and is barely able to communicate/understand things (or is pretending). Seems to have dementia. The police talked to his wife and encouraged her to stop him driving.

My insurance company recommended waiting to see if his insurance contacts us (until the weekend), then going ahead and getting it fixed then sending him the bill, and if that fails we can use their lawyers to contact him.

What a total waste of time this has been.

by sendaiben

13 comments

  2. Similar thing happened to me, but I believe the driver didn’t notice that her car scratched ours. But we had it on camera. Went to koban and they contacted her. She apologized and her insurance (I think) covered the repairs and rental car for us.

  4. It’s a crime in Japan and basically every other country there is. It’s called a hit-and-run

    That said, it’s **当て逃げ** (properly damage hit and run) not **ひき逃げ** (hit and run where a person is hurt)

    I think you can get a very short prison term (like a few months) or small fine for 当て逃げ, plus issues with your license. But assuming you’re a long-term foreigner whose entire life is here that’s hardly what matters most. What matters infinitely more is the fact that there’s probably a lower bar to getting kicked out the country for “low-level”crimes now that Japan is in anti-foreigner crackdown mode

    DO NOT DO IT

  5. Actually no. For manshion parking lot this is perfectly legal. You’re only protected in appato parking. Sorry OP.

  7. 公道じゃなくても警察呼んで下さい。マッポが派出所から自転車乗ってくるから

  8. I think your understanding of hit and run is misunderstood.

    No people involved? It’s a car accident; 当て逃げ

    And yes – it’s a crime.

    edit: thank you to u/sendaiben for the correction.

  9. Most of my friends with new-ish cars add a rider to their policies for this, and their insurance costs generally do not increase. Honestly, this coverage should already standard on every policy, but it is not.

    With the growing number of older drivers and what feels like increasingly lax policies and enforcement, I do not see the situation improving anytime soon.

  10. Well, TIL that the situation described is a crime, tho maybe not clearly so since it’s on private property and not public roads.

    If it was me who had been hit, I’d prefer it to be solved and settled to my satisfaction between the parties concerned, rather than lawyers or formal charges being involved (or threatened).

    And I sure hope this older driver stops driving.

    PS–in the US the insurance for this is called ‘uninsured motorist’ insurance/coverage. There is also a no-fault insurance system in some states, mostly pertaining to injuries (vs repairing damage).

  12. If it’s not a public road it is property damage incident (物損事故), which is a civil matter. Filing a police report was the right thing to do.

    You need as much evidence as possible to avoid him lying or conveniently forgetting afterwards. Good pictures of the damage, surveillance video, etc.

    If he doesn’t have voluntary insurance, you will need to get it fixed and deliver the bill to him. If he doesn’t pay, your insurance company will threaten to sue, then finally sue on your behalf.

    Good luck!

  13. I saw your blog post and wanted to me tion that when I got hit by an old guy while riding my bike, I had to take time off work to go to the hospital and the other parties insurance company covered my time off work.
    If you had to take time off of work then you might be able to get the time covered and not have to use paid leave.

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