Driving in Japan
May 31st, 2016, 01:45 AM
#1
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Driving in Japan
My wife and I are heading to Japan in November for 3 weeks. For a part of this journey I am thinking that we would like to hire a car in Nikko, explore the sights there for two days and then drive to Yudanaka for the Snow Monkeys, then to Matsumoyo. Takayama.Shirakawago and then on to Kyoto where we get rid of the car. I'm from Australia so driving on left is no issue, have driven in USA and Europe on other trips. Is there any tips or unexpected things that an Aussie may not be aware of. I do understand that there are toll roads and parking can be an issue. I know we can access these areas via train and bus but lugging international suitcases from town to town sounds wearisome and we do like the freedom that a car offers
May 31st, 2016, 06:15 AM
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Toll roads are expensive but worthwhile, especially in mountainous areas where they really cut a long long trip much shorter. That said, sometimes the slow roads are most enjoyable.
We've driven twice in Japan, first for 6 days around Kyushu in Oct/Nov 2013 and then last month, firstly just an overnight from Hakone to Kyoto via Shigaraki and Miyama and then again for 8 days from Kanazawa up around the Noto Peninsula, down to Karuizawa and then on to Nikko where we dropped off the car just before taking the train in to Tokyo.
Driving is easy, the speed limits are low and virtually everyone obeys the rules and is courteous to other drivers.
Navigation can occasionally be tricky even with an English-language SatNav - mostly because it's not fully English-language. Verbal instructions that it gives you en-route are in English and the visuals are VERY easy to follow and the time estimations are incredibly accurate.
BUT it's really hard to enter new destinations into the GPS - the interface to do that is still in Japanese. So the only way is by entering the destination's telephone number, which is how we did it. All business / organisations that have a telephone number do seem to have that associated with their address in terms of the Sat Nav systems.
Of course, sometimes when you're looking for a beach or natural rock formation, it's not a business or organisation at all and may not have a phone number! In that case, what we did was to google and find a business or shop or whatever right by the place we wanted and using its phone number.
Petrol stations: A lot of them are full-service so you pull up, give them your card, let them know type of fuel and either to fill to full or to fill to a max value. The one time we tried to use a self-service we had a bit of a nightmare until some kind passing stranger helped us work it out.
We've driven twice in Japan, first for 6 days around Kyushu in Oct/Nov 2013 and then last month, firstly just an overnight from Hakone to Kyoto via Shigaraki and Miyama and then again for 8 days from Kanazawa up around the Noto Peninsula, down to Karuizawa and then on to Nikko where we dropped off the car just before taking the train in to Tokyo.
Driving is easy, the speed limits are low and virtually everyone obeys the rules and is courteous to other drivers.
Navigation can occasionally be tricky even with an English-language SatNav - mostly because it's not fully English-language. Verbal instructions that it gives you en-route are in English and the visuals are VERY easy to follow and the time estimations are incredibly accurate.
BUT it's really hard to enter new destinations into the GPS - the interface to do that is still in Japanese. So the only way is by entering the destination's telephone number, which is how we did it. All business / organisations that have a telephone number do seem to have that associated with their address in terms of the Sat Nav systems.
Of course, sometimes when you're looking for a beach or natural rock formation, it's not a business or organisation at all and may not have a phone number! In that case, what we did was to google and find a business or shop or whatever right by the place we wanted and using its phone number.
Petrol stations: A lot of them are full-service so you pull up, give them your card, let them know type of fuel and either to fill to full or to fill to a max value. The one time we tried to use a self-service we had a bit of a nightmare until some kind passing stranger helped us work it out.
May 31st, 2016, 08:29 PM
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Also, the stop signs look completely different than the international standard. You can google it, but it's basically an inverted equilateral triangle. Some of the other signs may be different as well. If I could do it over, I would have studied the signs BEFORE I left for my trip to Japan. I did not know the signs were different until I picked up the rental car. I asked the guy at the Hertz counter if he could drive around with me a bit, and he scolded me for not stopping at a stop sign--it was only then that I realized that they looked different.
I experienced the same annoyances that Kavey did with the GPS that is programmable in Japanese, but talks in English. At each stop, I found a young guy and asked him to program in the next stop for me. If I could do it over, I would have found a way to get phone reception on my own device, or rented a phone in order to be able to use google maps.
I experienced the same annoyances that Kavey did with the GPS that is programmable in Japanese, but talks in English. At each stop, I found a young guy and asked him to program in the next stop for me. If I could do it over, I would have found a way to get phone reception on my own device, or rented a phone in order to be able to use google maps.
May 31st, 2016, 10:58 PM
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thanks for your replies, it has put my mind at ease as until now I haven't found much information about driving in japan as it seems the norm to train and bus. I'm thinking of buying a japan map for my own sat nav which may be a better option but will investigate that first
Jun 2nd, 2016, 11:14 PM
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It will be very helpful to have a mobile wifi. We used Google map a lot for finding directions. We had our wifi rented here and hope this will help you.
http://rental.cdjapan.co.jp/
http://rental.cdjapan.co.jp/
Jun 3rd, 2016, 06:18 AM
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Rather than buy maps for a GPS, I'd use one of the map apps on your smartphone and, as @diqiu suggested, rent a mobile Wi-Fi. I'm not sure which one is better for Japan, but I like Waze for Europe. I'd do a little investigating on that topic.
Jun 3rd, 2016, 11:12 PM
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Just to add to the above, I would not recommend using Google Maps as a satnav, even if you can get wifi that will allow you to do so. Although we used it a lot when we got lost within a city, it's driving instructions and time estimates were wildly out compared to the car GPS system and often not even giving the best route.
