so im heading to japan in a few weeks and obviously bringing the mini 4 pro. ive been reading about their drone laws and honestly its a bit of a headache. from what i understand you need to register with the DIPA system beforehand and theres a ton of no fly zones especially around shrines and populated areas. also pretty sure you cant fly without a spotter in certain categories.

has anyone actually gone through the registration process recently? i started filling it out and the site kept timing out on me. also curious if anyone has flown around kyoto or the countryside areas, wondering if its actually worth the hassle or if ill just leave the drone at home and enjoy the trip without the stress

did japan last spring with my air 3. the registration wasnt that bad once i found the right page, took maybe 30 mins total. the bigger pain was figuring out which areas were actually ok to fly in. dji fly app helped a lot but its not always accurate over there so i double checked everything with the DIPS map on the official site.

kyoto is tough honestly, pretty much every area near the temples is restricted and people will absolutely say something to you if they see you setting up. i had better luck driving out to the countryside near takayama, basically nobody around and the scenery was incredible. worth the registration headache for sure if you get out of the cities

just bring it, worst case you dont fly it much. i was way too stressed about the rules before my trip and ended up barely using mine but at least i had the option. also the registration thing took me like 3 days because i kept getting emails in japanese lol