The number of unlicensed taxis at Haneda Airport continues to increase as drivers look to take advantage of the record-breaking surge in international tourist arrivals. The police are aware of them. Catching them in the act, though, is not so easy. A journalist from the weekly magazine Friday recently asked an officer why arrests weren’t being made when it was clear that unlicensed taxis were operating there.
“To arrest them, we need to prove that they transported passengers for a fee,” replied the frustrated officer. “In that case, we must tail the car, catch the passengers when they drop them off, and get the passengers to say that they paid. We can’t do that on our own.”
Unlicensed Taxi Driver Says Regulations Are ‘Lax’
The journalist also spoke to an unlicensed Chinese taxi driver, who was there to pick up a customer from Tianjin. He runs a restaurant but decided to start unlicensed taxi driving as a side job in 2023. He said he earns a monthly income of around ¥400,000 from the illegal activity. In the months around the Chinese New Year and the National Day of the Republic of China, he can sometimes earn more than ¥1 million.
At the airport, the driver was asked to get out of his vehicle by an officer, who used a flashlight to check the inside of the car. Following a short inspection, the officer moved on to the next vehicle. “If you say you’re here to pick up a friend, they can’t do anything more. The regulations here are lax,” said the driver, before heading off with his customer.
Moving inside to the second floor of Terminal 3, the journalist spotted men in white shirts with signs in their hands that they never held up. The men, who exchanged brief words with each other in Mandarin, approached foreign guests coming out of the arrival gate. They then negotiated using a translation app. One couple was quoted ¥10,000 for a taxi to Ginza, which is around ¥2,000 more than a regular fare.
White Taxis
In February 2024, five individuals from China and Japan were arrested for operating unlicensed taxi services, targeting foreign tourists from Haneda Airport. They were accused of violating the Road Transportation Law. A Class 2 driver’s license and a business permit are required to transport customers for a fare in Japan. Unlicensed taxis are known as shirotaku or “white taxis” due to their white license plates. Commercial vehicles usually have green license plates.
