dinks

Hi.
We are going to Japan in about 2 months and plan on spending a week in Hokkaido which will be a new place for us. Will probably use a JR Pass as the trip includes Tokyo and nearby areas.
We have never rented a car on any of our foreign trips. It seems like doing so in Hokkaido may be a good option given the size and scope of attractions (mostly nature stuff).
I am nervous about driving having never done so outside of Canada and the US. Oh, and we don't know how to drive a manual transmission.
Any thoughts, input, opinions would be appreciated. Perhaps Hokkaido can be enjoyed conveniently by bus and rail only?
Thanks.

CaliforniaLady

I rented a car a couple of years ago in Japan, and it worked out fine. I wanted to see the Mt. Aso area of Kyushu, and public transportation there was weak. My son, who is fluent in Japanese, called around to get me the best rate, which turned out to be better than any rate online.

It is definitely a challenge driving on the "wrong" wide of the road for us Americans, and the stop signs have different shapes than we do in the US. I asked the guy at the rental place to drive around with me a little bit, and he did. Also, the GPS talks to you in English, but you have to program it in Japanese.

You are best off using an American Express card for your rental. They are always the best with car insurance. And be sure and purchase the car insurance from the rental car companies. The insurance that comes with any credit card is insufficient.

I think it should work out well with the two of you. You will be able to stop when you want.

hawaiiantraveler

Driving on Hokkaido is akin to driving in Western Canada. I have done both and find Hokkaido easier and less populated. The biggest difference is the driving on the left but you get used to that within a few minutes. Try a rental from Tocoo, we have had success with them and also renting from JR rail might be a good option seeing as how you will have a rail pass.

http://www2.tocoo.jp/en

http://www.nipponrentacar.co.jp/english/

Aloha!

rkkwan

We also rented via ToCoo for Japan. Where available, you can specify cars "with English GPS". What we found is that ToCoo would instruct the rental company (JR, for example) to switch the GPS to English mode prior to our arrival and give a printout of how to navigate the menus, in English.

And, these have been discussed and talked about before, but main things to know about renting car in Japan are:

1. Find out the land line phone numbers of places you would likely go - hotels, restaurants, attractions, shops, etc. That's the easiest way to input a destination in GPS. (In most cities in Japan, addresses are NOT given in street and street numbers - it may sound weird, but it's true).

2. Before returning car, you need to fill up tanks at (often specific) gas stations near the rental agent. They will give you a map for them. And the station attendant will need to sign or stamp a form saying the tank has been filled full.

Otherwise, it's extremely easy to drive in Japan. Of course, the main issue is driving on the left side for those coming from N. America. And the rental cars we've got are all automatic. Unlike in Europe, where manual shifts are the standard.

Kavey

Same, we rented via ToCoo and requested an English GPS, but it's not fully English and entering destinations proved tricky by address but easy using their phone number as RKK says, so do try and get phone numbers for everywhere you want to drive to. We found these easily via google, as we rented a wifi hotspot device for the entirety of our visit, using rentafone.

We're in the UK so driving is on same side for us, but to be honest we've self-driven all around the world and switching sides isn't that complicated, just needs a bit of extra focus at every junction.

We drove in Kyushu not Hokkaido but are about to self-drive again on our upcoming trip too, in Kansai and Chubu.