US citizen with unique paperwork challenges
 

Hello,

I'm planning to traverse Russia from East to West and then into Europe via the Baltic states this August and I'm a bit concerned about the necessary paperwork. According to everything I've read, I won't need any kind of special registration or vehicle insurance as long as the bike is insured and legally registered. But I have three pretty large concerns.

First of all, I will be riding a Japanese registered bike (registered in my name).
Second of all, I will be driving on a Japanese license (Obviously I have an IDL).
Third of all, I will be traveling on a US passport.

I have no US drivers license because I'm an expatriate living in Japan for the past 10 years.

What kind of difficulty am I likely to run into, and what can I do to minimize that difficulty?

No problem.
I have done all of those (albeit 10 years ago).
Just make sure the name in English on your IDP and motorcycle registration certificate for overseas use (登録証書, google that if you have no idea what it is. You will need one.) matches that of your passport.
Nobody cared in Rus, Mongolia, Kazakstan, or Uzbekistan.
Sometimes I would get a "you don't look Japanese" joke from the traffic police. Otherwise, it was never a problem.

To be 110% safe, you might consider getting a notarized/apostilled translation of your Japanese docs into Russian.

You'll probably be OK without it, but without a translation, the Russian police rightfully wouldn't know if you're handing them a driver's license or a library card, and you might encounter someone who gets bent out of shape about it.

That is fantastic to hear. Thank you.

Also, I have the bike registered but I'll have to make sure it's registered for overseas use. I wasn't aware of such a thing. Thank you.

The bike registration was my biggest concern, but I looked at the overseas registration document and apparently it has English along with the Japanese, so I'm not as concerned about that now.

Thank you all for your help.