When you need it
This site offers information based on guidance from road companies, public agencies, rental car companies and others, to help you get ready for your trip (as of September 2026), but tolls, discounts and the way toll booths work can change. Before you leave, always check the official guidance listed at the end of this article, and the company you’re booking with, for the latest details.
The barrier won’t open. You drove into an ETC lane without a card. You lost your ticket.
When you get stuck at a toll booth, the first thing to do is mostly the same.
First, stop where you are
Don’t back up; stop right there. You don’t need to get out of the car.
Turn on your hazard lights to let the cars behind you know.
Then press the intercom or call button in the lane. It connects you to an attendant.
What do you say?
Just this one phrase.
【日本語がわかりません。】 (“I don’t understand Japanese.”)
(Nihongo ga wakarimasen.)
If you don’t have an ETC card, follow it with this.
【ETCカードがありません。】 (“I don’t have an ETC card.”)
(ETC kaado ga arimasen.)
Even if you can’t make yourself understood, don’t move the car; wait for instructions over the intercom. Your hazard lights are already telling the cars behind you.
At an exit, an attendant may come to your car. If so, show them this page on your phone and they’ll understand.
The barrier won’t open
The most common reason is forgetting to put in the ETC card.
If it didn’t open at the entrance, take a 通行券 (“toll ticket”) as the attendant tells you. At the exit, go into 【一般】 (“general”) or 【ETC/一般】 (“ETC / general”) and hand the 通行券 and your ETC card to the attendant.
If it didn’t open at the exit, an attendant will come to your car. Give them your ETC card, and they’ll work out the toll.
They’ll ask which interchange (IC) you got on at, and roughly what time. Show them the IC screenshot or photo you saved (how to save one is in the “Getting Through the Toll Booth” article).
You drove into an ETC lane without an ETC card
Stop before the barrier, and use the intercom.
If you’ve driven into a toll booth that only ETC can use, go to a lane marked 【サポート】 (“support”) or 【ETC/サポート】 (“ETC / support”), stop before the barrier, and wait for instructions over the intercom.
How you pay depends on the toll booth. Do as the attendant tells you.
You lost your ticket
At the exit, tell the attendant which IC you got on at, and roughly what time.
If you have something in writing that shows which IC you entered at, you may only be charged from that IC.
You drove past your exit
On the main expressway, you can’t back up or make a U-turn. Drive to the next exit and get off there.
On some roads, you can be directed back to the IC you meant to use: at the next exit, take your ETC card out of the unit first, go into a 【一般】 or 【サポート】 lane, and tell the attendant before you pay. You pay only from the IC where you first got on to the IC you meant to use (at some places, the road layout doesn’t allow this).
Tell the attendant this.
【出口を通り過ぎました。】 (“I drove past my exit.”)
(Deguchi o toorisugimashita.)
At the exit after you go back, the barrier may not open in an ETC lane. Use a lane with an attendant, or a lane with a toll payment machine.
Even if you go one exit too far, get off at the next one and your trip carries on as before.
You got on the expressway by mistake
On some roads, you may be able to go back if you tell the attendant over the intercom at the entrance ticket machine.
If you’ve only just gotten on, that button comes first.
When you return the car, mention it at the rental office
If you called an attendant at a toll booth, tell the rental office when you return the car. You can bring it up while you settle the tolls.
If you stop: hazards, then the button
If they can’t understand you, wait. That’s all you need to remember at the toll booth.
※ Toll booth equipment, how to pay at ETC-only toll booths, and what happens when you drive past your exit or take the wrong entrance differ by road company and toll booth. When you actually drive, follow the signs on site and the attendant’s instructions.
