Driving in Japan: Practical Tips for a Japanese Road Trip

1 Plan your route carefully in advance

Attractions and heritage sites are spread out in Japan. They can be in remote places too. For example the culturally important art complex of Naoshima is on an island and in Kyoto temples are scattered all over the city. Meanwhile the famous Fushimi Inari Shrine with its thousands of vermillion Torii gates is in a suburb, while the bamboo groves of Arashiyama would be a long hike out of town. Buy a map before you go, study it and plan carefully.

2 Book your hotels up front

Plan and book your hotel nights too. Japan isn’t set up for walk in bookings. Last minute is not part of the culture and trying to bag a bed for the night on the hoof is likely to send reception staff into a flurry. But the good news is that there are plenty of quality hotels and apartments bookable in advance.  We enjoyed stays ranging from a string of Crowne Plazas to traditional ryokans and budget hotels.

3 Relax; in some ways it’s easier than Europe

Roads in Japan are safe, safe, safe. We never felt vulnerable on the roads or at junctions. Cities are ordered around traffic light systems and it’s very easy to find your way around them unlike the UK with its confusing one way systems and city centre toll charges. Roads in cities are busy but out in the countryside it’s a different matter. We had a great trip out to Mount Fuji where we swam in its five lakes. See our video below. The driving in this extraordinary landscape was almost as rewarding as our dip:

4 File the phone numbers for hotels or attractions

Gather the phone numbers for your hotels in a document. This may sound illogical but phone numbers are the best way to programme the sat nav. If you don’t have a hotel then find the phone number for a local temple or attraction nearby and ask a local to direct you the last few metres.

5 Pump your car hire company for info

Glean as much information as you can from the car hire people about your car before you leave them. Find out exactly what petrol it takes and what the symbols for it look like. Get a map from them or a sat nav code of the pick up so you can drop the car back without hassle at the end. Anything that you can do up front will mean less stress on the road and will make you family holiday to Japan a little easier.

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