“If you are without a driver’s license, who would rent you a car?”
Funny thing is that you can’t rent a car in Japan with a normal state-issued driver’s license. You have to have an “International Driver’s License” which is an otherwise useless piece of paper you have to get through AAA.
Japanese are used to right-hand drive and being on the left side of the road.
I sure wouldn’t drive anywhere outside of the US (OK, maybe Canada) without an IDP, and without a little research about what to expect.