The National Police Agency revealed new signs with English translations written beneath the Japanese words.

New versions will gradually replace the roughly 1.7 million stop and 1,000 slow down signs across the nation.

They will be particularly erected in airports, where visitors rent cars. 

This comes after a study concluded that the unique shape of Japanese slow and stop signs may confuse foreign visitors and lead to them not knowing what instructions to obey.

Many of the 1.7 million official stop signs and 1,000 slow signs in Japan are triangular in shape.

It is estimated that there were 178 traffic accidents in Japan involving a driver with an international or a foreign license in 2012.

This number had reportedly increased to 216 cases by 2015.

In both years, it is claimed there were 13 accidents caused by a driver's failure to notice a stop sign.

A record 24 million foreign victors travelled to Japan in 2016.

It is hoped this number will rise further before the 2020 Games.