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Driving in Hokkaido
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2016/12/6 15:20
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Been to Japan many times but never rented a car there. I am considering getting a car rental this time around when the 6 of us (including 2 kids) visit Hokkaido next June.
Questions:
1) Is it easy to drive in Japan (Hokkaido) for a US driver?
2) For Hokkaido, plan to go to the usual places like Sapporo, Furano, Hakodate, etc. Are there plenty of parking? Last time we went to Hokkaido it was 10 years ago and we took public transportation.
3) How does it work with car seats for kids? Does the rental car company include it?
4) Any other tips for first time driver from the US?
5) Stuff like car insurance?
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by DarthBeeL (guest)
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Re: Driving in Hokkaido
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2016/12/7 21:19
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1) If already went to UK, Australia,New Zealand or other Right steering wheel/Left driving country,no worry about just operating. But you have to study all traffic signs and laws. Read all. http://northern-road.jp/navi/eng/index.htmhttp://www.hkd.mlit.go.jp/topics/toukei/chousa/h20keikaku/e/e_all.pdf2) Google map knows. "illegal parking" penalty btw 6000 - 25000Y/without wrecker/tow-away and stored fee. (no under arrest if no drinking) "Drunk driving" is one of "under arrest" case. Fine list : Use Google translate http://www.keishicho.metro.tokyo.jp/menkyo/torishimari/tetsuzuki/hanso...Traffic rules(as law) is same in nation wide. 3)5) Read Car Rent companies web. 4) Japan using different scales, driving customs/maners, services and more. US / JP inch,feet,yard,mile / cm,m,km http://www.ryokojoho.jp/usa/other/size.cfmhttp://livedoor.blogimg.jp/youngmachine_blog1/imgs/8/8/882f4f68.jpgGalon(MPG : mile/G) / Litre(KPL : km/L) http://cdn-ak.f.st-hatena.com/images/fotolife/c/chienokobako/20150725/...Now around 130Y/L(regular) but don't know next Year's exact prices. F / http://www.rapidtables.com/convert/temperature/celsius-to-fahrenheit.h...http://www.led-2.com/koutsuu_image/koutsuu-08.jpgTURN ON RED / NO TURN ON RED(except "Green" arrow) http://signal-net.sakura.ne.jp/ko-sig4-1.jpg (Yellow arrow : for tram/street car, only in Sapporo and Hakodate cities) HOV lane +2 / NO HOV lane +2 (Public bus/taxi or +7 car lane exist only in urban city weekday morning rush hrs) http://trafficsignal.jp/~mori/imghnig/hnig16852452.JPGhead in / back in (except Expway parking mainly) http://livedoor.blogimg.jp/neyagawa_np/imgs/1/f/1f5506dc.jpgSome parking suggested "head in(No back in)" for escaping exhaust noise/gas smell problem. http://i0.wp.com/puresigns.jp/wp-content/uploads/cb21c53e01edf9fb25f6a...
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by Red Suns (guest)
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Re: Driving in Hokkaido
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2016/12/13 12:09
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I did a Hokkaido road trip August 2015 using a rental car and it was the first time to drive a rental car and in a country on the other side of the road (I'm from Canada). You get the hang of driving on the other side of the road fairly quickly and many of the signs are similar to North America.
Most of the driving is fairly rural, narrow roads with small shoulders. Some parking areas were smaller but we never had a problem finding spots at our accommodations or sightseeing locations. If there wasn't one right at where we wanted to go there was a paid parking location nearby.
There was an option for insurance when we rented our car - we rented through tocoo! company, Nissan cars.
For the GPS systems in the car they can set it up English speaking, the easiest way to set destinations is by phone number.
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by chumbles
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