Tohoku Expressway Pass (TEP) vs NEXCO tolls (2026)

Eligibility and how you buy it

• Visitors who hold a passport other than Japan. Japanese citizens with permanent residency in another country are also eligible, with a licence that is valid in Japan.
• Passport (or overseas-PR proof) and driver’s licence are checked at application.
• Rent a designated vehicle and designated ETC card from a participating office. DrivePlaza’s shop list is Tohoku rental companies (Nippon, Toyota regional desks, Budget, Orix, Nissan, Times, and others) — not a Tokyo counter.
• Terms: ordinary cars or light cars on ETC. JapanTolls does not sell TEP.

Days

4 to 8 consecutive days, from midnight on the start date through 23:59 on the end date. Midway extension is not accepted. The sales window DrivePlaza advertises is use starting through 30 September 2026; confirm on the operator page if you are booking later.

Official pass price

Official price table (NEXCO East DrivePlaza; checked 2026-08-19. JNTO table updated 2026-01-22).

DrivePlaza — Tohoku Expressway Pass

• DrivePlaza says it is accepting applications for use starting through 2026-09-30.
• Vehicle rental and ETC card rental are not included.
• The period of use cannot be extended midway.

Coverage, in words

No map image. In words, the English attached table covers NEXCO East (and Miyagi roads) in the six Tohoku prefectures, including: E4 Tohoku Expressway from Shirakawa IC to Aomori IC; Aomori and Hachinohe expressways; parts of Akita, Nihonkai-Tohoku, Yamagata, Ban-etsu, Tohoku-Chuo, Joban, Sanriku, and the Sendai eastern / northern / southern roads. The southern edges toward Kanto are Shirakawa IC (E4), Iwaki-Nakoso IC (E6), and Nishiaizu IC (E49).

Niigata, Tokyo, and the rest of Kanto sit outside those edges. Driving in on both ends from outside the journey area is billed in full as a normal toll; a trip that only clips the area is split.

When it beats pay-as-you-go

• A multi-day Tohoku loop on the listed roads — Sendai, Morioka, Aomori, Akita, Yamagata, Fukushima — so several IC-to-IC bills stack past the flat fee.
• A light-vehicle rental that qualifies for the cheaper TEP column.
• A single Sendai–Morioka transfer. Our ordinary estimate is ¥4,490. The cheapest standard-size TEP plan is ¥8,500 for 4 days, so one hop does not beat the pass.
• Pickup in Tokyo with the intent to “turn TEP on” later. The participating offices DrivePlaza lists are in Tohoku.
• Dates after the advertised application window, or roads outside Attached Table 1, including urban expressways not in that table.

Worked example (our routes + official pass price)

Estimate: JapanTolls ordinary Sendai–Morioka ¥4,490 (existing priced pair on the Tohoku Expressway) versus official TEP standard-size 4-day ¥8,500 (DrivePlaza). ¥4,490 is less than ¥8,500, so pay-as-you-go wins for that one hop.

We do not invent extra Tohoku city-pair fares to force the pass to look cheaper. If your real itinerary has more covered hops, add those JapanTolls pairs (or the calculator) yourself and compare with the official table.