Top Tips for a Road Trip Through Japan
In Japan, car travel offers amazing freedom, it allows the more adventurous of visitors to stay in rural farmhouses and discover out-of-the-way places. WAZA founders, Botha and Hilda Kruger, recently embarked on a road trip from Tokyo to Fukuoka. They share their top tips for a road trip through Japan.
The Driving Experience
Since in Japan you also drive on the left side of the road, it makes driving immediately easy and natural. If you drive slowly and carefully at first, it is easy to get into the rhythm of things. The speed limits seem very low at first (40-50 km/h in urban areas and 80-90km/h on expressways), and often it is best to drive at those speeds, especially in areas with pedestrians and cyclists as they always have right of way.
TOP TIP: Go with the flow. Don’t overtake and don’t crawl at a snail’s pace. Follow the pace of the other drivers on the road and you should fit right in.
Documentation Needed
To rent a car in Japan, only an International Driver’s Permit is required, with your South African Driver’s Licence to back it up. The International Drivers Permit is obtainable from any AA office in South Africa – it requires a form to be completed and some passport size photos.
TOP TIP: Complete the process online and collect.
What to Drive
Your cheapest options are the so-called “Kei-car” or small compact cars in Japan, they have 660cc engines. Most Japanese cars, even the smallest ones, are automatic and have all sorts of mod cons. We had the touchscreen navigation system, reverse parking camera which activates when you flip the rear-view mirror, cameras on all sides which would warn of proximity of things, and an eco function.
TOP TIP: If you need 4WD or snow tyres, book something more specialised.
Japan has Tolls, and They’re Expensive
When budgeting for your road trip, there is one major expense to consider. Tolls. If you plan to travel long distances, you are bound to encounter some toll roads along the way, which can be quite expensive, we paid up to ¥15,000! Luckily, there is a Japan Expressway Pass (JEP) system (with differently named regional variations) which is paid for upfront. We paid ¥40,000 in tolls for 18 days car rental and drove a total of 4,500km.
TOP TIP: Get an Expressway Pass to reduce costs. You can get it directly through the car rental company, or an only rental agency, like Tocoo!
Plan Your Route to Save
It seems as if the Japanese don’t do very long road trips, and the rental system is geared to that. Our initial idea was to rent our car in Fukuoka, drive it to Tokyo and fly out of Tokyo. We had to abandon this plan when we learnt of the one-way fee in Japan. For Fukuoka to Tokyo it would have cost us R13,000 extra just for the one-way fee! Most rental companies will allow returns at different branches in a city without charging extra. Some might even allow you to return the car to major centres in the same prefecture without adding costs. The moment you start driving further away from the collection point, you incur a one-way fee if you want to drop the car at another location.
TOP TIP: Plan your trip so that you return the car to its original rental location.
Navigation
When booking a car, you can choose an English language GPS (“Navi”) system. This is built into the car, even the smallest models have a touch screen Navi system. The problem is, while it translates the menu items to English and provides English voice directions, the addresses are often not in English, so searching can be difficult. In general, we found it easier to use Google Maps on our phones.
TOP TIP: Get pocket wi-fi so that your Google Maps is connected wherever you go.
Fuel
In general, fuel was slightly more expensive than in South Africa, but consumption is much better due to slower speeds and smaller engines. Filling up is easy enough, even though most automated petrol pumps offer only Japanese menus. You just insert your credit card and input an amount, or press the button for “full tank” and then it stops once full, charging the exact amount to your card.
TOP TIP: The in-built Navi is good to identify petrol stations in your vicinity.
Drinking and driving
Drinking and driving is serious in Japan! Everywhere we went, people warned us against it. The legal alcohol limit is very low, and one website recommended not drinking even just a beer four hours before driving. Not only can the driver be jailed, but the passenger in the car can be arrested for allowing drunk driving.
TOP TIP: Always decide who the designated driver is when going out, and if you plan on taking turns driving ensure that everyone has an International Driver’s Permit.
What You’d Do Differently
Next time we will focus on a smaller area. I think it would be great to use a Japan Rail Pass for one week, visit big cities where there’s good infrastructure and other ways of transport, and then rent a car doing smaller towns and more rural areas. I think rail and road can be combined perfectly in Japan.
For more options on getting around Japan, check out this blog post.
