I shall be in the fortunate position of being paid to visit Japan later this year to visit automotive factories and suppliers. Its a extended version of a trip I did in late 2005.
Since I will have quite a bit of time to spare, I thought I'd take the opportunity to take my son with me and we'll do the trip by rental car. Unfortunately information is proving very hard to find. There is lots of (English) information on travelling in Japan by train and bus, but not much on driving.
I need to visit the Tokyo/Yokohama area for a few days, then Oppama, Atsugi, have a 'cultural' break in Kyoto, then Toyota City and finally end up at Hiroshima. I could really do with some kind of 'Japan by Car' guidebook, anyone seen anything like this?
Last time I went I had a rental car in Tokyo, it had what appeared to be a very good GPS system, but I couldn't really use it because everything was in Japanese. Anyone come across a rental agency that rents cars with English-language GPS? You would think there would be a demand for it......but I can't find any reference to this on the rental co. websites and most have very little information about renting in Japan. Rang Hertz and they said they would ring back with info, but never did.
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The 'Lonely Planet' or 'Rough Guide' type books from WH Smiths might have something in them, otherwise most books are for continental driving! (The Lonely Planet guide I had for Australia a few years ago was good for roads/driving).
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As you're on a commercial mission, you may find the commercial office of the British embassy helpful. I made contact with a consulate elsewhere, seeking guidance on various business matters, and received an extremely helpful response.
www.uknow.or.jp/be_e/
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I am sure that you found as I have that driving in japan is fine.Most of their drivers are very calm and curteous.The first time I drove over there was 1988 and very little signage was in english.Outside of Tokyo it was non existant.Nowadays it is much better,with some traffic info written in both languages but its still not easy.I think you will still struggle to get an english languageGPS.I have used normal maps to get by.Have you contacted Tom Tom,Garmin etc to see if they can be any help.
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Aprilia, I did a similair trip 3 years ago and spent 3 weeks. Choose not to drive but used excellent transport system small trains big trains, Bullet trains, tubes and coaches. I did Tokyo, Toyota City, west coast Matsua ( Kisuki) Hiroshima, the islands, Kyoto then Osaka and eventually and reluctantly home. Best trip I have ever done. Enjoy my friend. Regards Peter
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Thanks for the feedback.
I have been on Shinkansen etc and want to go by car this time.
For Europe I usually take my trusty IPAQ with TomTom on it - but they don't seem to do maps for Japan. I suspect a lot of this stuff is Japanese-market only because there won't be many westerners driving in Japan and the maps etc would all have to be Romanised.
Driving in Tokyo was fine last time, plenty of English signage and seemed easier than London to me! Traffic nothing like as bad as I'd been led to believe and the car park at my hotel was never more than half full!
Looked at Lonely Planet but not much on driving. I was looking for something like a real touristy guide with information on viewpoints, scenic routes etc (bit like those long green books that Michelin produce). Anyway, there doesn't seem to be anything so I'll play it by ear when I get there.
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