Go by car from Tokyo to Aomori

Hi, my husband and I will go to Japan next July 2024. This time we want to rent a car and have more independency. This will be the first time going to Tohoku and we plann going to Sapporo. The only time we rent a car was in Okinawa.
I read comments about highways, gas and tolls but tha's not a big issue. We really want to do a nice route, touching towns and onsen, maybe, rural Japan. Maybe not departing right from Tokyo. Nikko or Hakone I guess, but from that point our idea is going up to Aomori. Leave the car there, cross by ferry, rent a car again and go to Hakodate and Sapporo. And the same other way, but maybe touching another places on our way down to Tokyo. Is a crazy idea? can you help us to define a route?

It depends on the route and how much time you have. If you are mainly going along the Shinkansen line then it�fs not a good idea. Then better to do the long distance by train and rent a car for a day in each place for a day trip.
If however you go all the way through pretty rural areas, ie NOT along the Shinkansen and you have enough stops then yes.

Just consider the Shinkansen probably goes t a speed of about 300 km/h. By car you�fd probably go at an average of 80 km/h.

Let�fs say you start from Nikko:

D1 Nikko —> Maezawa Minamiaizu —> Ouchijuku
D2 Aizuwakamatsu and lake Inawashiro
D3 Banda Azuma skyline —> Yonezawa
D4 Kaminoyama onsen —> Yamagata —> Yamadera
D5 Ginzan onsen and maybe to the foot of Mt Chokai
d6 hiking / driving Mt chokai

Alternatively
D5 Ginzan onsen —> Hiraizumi
D6 Hiraizumi —> Tono
D7 Tazawako —> Kakunodate

D7 Akita—> Kakunodate
D8 Tazawako —> Tamagawa onsen —> oname motome mud volcano —> fukenoyu
d9 towadako
D10 Hirosaki —> Aomori
D11 Osorezan
D12 Hakodate (by ship from Oma)
And then on to Hokkaido. You do y know enough about Hokkaido to get a route together.
You might need a few days more to relax from driving or to explore some more.

This route by public transport while not totally impossible would be hard. However if you stick by Sendai / Morioka then Shinkansen is much better.

Note that dripping of the car in a different prefecture is going to cost additional, so I would stick with the car and go from Oma to Hakodate by ship.

The Tohoku area has a lot of very nice places to see, and renting a car is an ideal way to see them. That said, it's a huge area, and to me it makes a lot more sense to go quickly and get close to where you want to go by bullet train, and just rent a car locally. The expressways are expensive (though there is a Tohoku Expressway Pass - but nevertheless, is still time consuming), as is fuel, plus if you don't return the car to the same place you go it, some places have very expensive drop off charges.
The Sanriku Coast is one excellent place to see in the region, particularly Kitayamazaki, but also Jodogahama and the coast in between. Walking down the Oirase Stream makes another wonderful day, and with a car you are not tied down to just a few buses a day.
Geibikei and Hiraizumi are also very good. You might like the Shimokita Peninsula also, and by car is almost a must. Hirosaki is also good.
https://goo.gl/6ZSiLi

Probably on order to make it up to Sapporo and down again to Kanto by car I would plan about 4 -5 weeks. Alternatively maybe 3 weeks for one direction only and flying back from Sapporo or potentially venturing a bit beyond Sapporo and fly back from there.

Btw, I did some parts of this trip by bicycle and keep a blog. In case it is useful for inspiration about rural places
http://bicycletraveljapan.blogspot.com

Hi everyone and thank you very much. Thanksm Ken and, LikeBike. I wrote everything you said!
This time we only have 3 weeks, but due to we go from Argentina the flight is too long and we want to stay at Tokyo some days. We have friends, too. So, maybe 10 days is our time. My country has a big geography so japanese distances aren't so bad for us. I read there are 443 km from Tokyo to Aomori, so doesn't seem so far. We dont want to go along the shinkansen line, that's for sure.

What about going to Sendai and go up to Matsushima and along the Sanriku Coast, visiting the tsunami coast. From there go to Morioka, drive to Lake Tazawa, Nyuto Onsen and around and finish in Aomori to take the ferry, visiting maybe Shimokita Peninsula that you say is a must. We want to!
Our idea is driving and spend 5 days in Hokkaido, 2 in Hakodate and 3 in Sapporo and spend the rest 5 days going there by car, stopping 2 nights.
I read its expensive or imposibe returning the car in other island, since that, our idea is doing it at Aomori.
I will check your site, LikeBike

Do you know how much does the tolls cost? And, I can't find route maps! Do you know where I can find them?

pd: thank you guys, all is super usefull. My husband want to return by the other coast side, touching another places. :)

The speed limit in Japan is quite low.

You f you only have 5 days in Tohoku and 5 in Hokkaido I would do the longer distance by train and then rent a car for day trips

Just as comparison:
Tokyo - Sendai by train is 1,5 h by car 4,5 h plus you�fll need a rest stop.

Regarding car drop of fees it is not �gper island�h but per prefecture I think. So if you drop the car in Aomori there will be a hefty fee to pay. So better you keep it for Hokkaido as well. IF you rent one car for the entire trip. But as said, I don�ft think this is a good use of your time if you only have 5+5 days.

Definitely you don�ft have the time to drive back from Sapporo to Tokyo.

We often used to drive north from Greater Tokyo where we live, until we got rid of our car.

First of all, from Greater Tokyo, Hakone is on the opposite side, so if you're heading for Tohoku you don't want to start at Hakone.

I agree that starting at Tokyo is quite worthless. The traffic is terrible and dangerous, and the view of the Tohoku Expressway doesn't get interesting until you reach the northern tip of the Kanto Region.

Go to your first destination in Tohoku and start there. The Rail & Rent-a-car system is something you may want to consider.

Starting at Nikko is an option. Keep in mind that Nikko is not Tohoku.

Please also note that driving regulations are quite different from nation to nation, and they don't have everything printed for those who come in with international driving licenses. Study road signs, and be sure you follow the speed limit.

https://www.ajetniigata.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/japaneseroadsig...

Hi!

You also can't get a TEP until you are into Tohoku. So you can't get one in Nikko or even Nasu-Shiobara, you have to enter into Fukushima-ken or Yamagata-ken, the furthest south prefectures in Tohoku and you must rent from specific car rental branches. I've gotten TEP 2x.

Speed limits out to the Shimokita Peninsula are very low. We drove from Hanamaki to Osorezan and then from Osorezan to Misawa. The former trip took around 4 hours one way and the latter around 2. Please note I was going above the speed limit a bit.

Sometimes the drop off fees are OK within a prefecture, but yes, they are very high if in another prefecture. I know if I had rented a car in Takayama, the drop off fee was 10,000 yen if I returned it in Matsumoto.

You also can not take a rental car from Honshu to Hokkaido and vice verse. It goes against nearly all rental car contracts.

I don't find gas so bad, but expressways can add up very quickly without TEP.

Good luck!

andThanks everybody! God, its gonna be difficult driving around Tohoku...
I am thinking... so its gonna be super expensive if we want to use the same car for all over Tohoku. I cant believe the costs. But its cracy renting one in each prefecture, what's the idea of driving?

I read the map and I don't know how to plann a trip! A japanese friend send me these: traveltiger.info/japan/touhoku, and mahiro-no-blog.com/touhoku-trip.
I have to read it and translate it, what do you think of the information these sites have?

Besides, I searched in ToCoo website about the TEP and investigated the maps, too. It seems around Sanriku Coast expressways are toll free, is it? (from Naruse to Hachinobe, maybe?) Where I should rent a car to visit it? And where I should return it cause my last destiny in Honshu is Aomori, to take the ferry.
Sorry if this is a mess. My husband insists in using a car but at this point I don't know what to do. :(

Hi again, I searched and searched and plan this, what do you think?

1. We can go to Sendai by train. Stay 1 day and 1 night.
2. Go to Shiogama and take the boat cruise to Matshushima. Rent a car.
3. Go to Ishonomaki (expressway toll free), visit it and go to Onagawa. Visit and return. Sleep there.
4. Pass by Minamisanriku and Kesennuma (we are in Miyagi prefecture still).

and go to Rikuzentaka and Ofunato to do the Goishi Coast, wich is 6 km. This is Iwate already.
After that we can go to Kamaishi and Miyako. (sleep here is a good option?

Near Iwaizumioto there are Ryusendo Caves and start Kitayamazaki Coast (8km). We can do a cruise there, too.

And after that we can finish the trip by car in Hachinobe (the end of expressway free toll), or in Morioka. The passagener ferry departs from Aomori? The next is Hakodate and Sapporo.

Said all these, do you think we can rent a car in Sendai and leave it in our final destination, Hachinobe or Morioka? and where do you recomend sleep along the route?
I read that you can rent a car in Miyako/Morioka to visit Kitayamazaki Coast or in Ichinoseki to visit Goishi Coast, but we shoeld use trains instead...

thanks a lot, I really thank you

That sounds like a nice idea to me. And I hope you're aware that Sendai has the Loople bus.
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5151.html

I also wonder if there is an English-speaking guide in Ishinomaki area that can tell you all about the 2011 earthquake & tsunami disaster. When we, Japanese, traveled there in the year, we were able to hire a local taxi driver in front of Ishinomaki Station who took us all around for a fee. We were able to ask a lot of questions which helped us understand the disaster much better.

�g I read there are 443 km from Tokyo to Aomori�h

Check your distances. Tokyo - Aomori is about 700 km and over 8 h of driving (without a stop). Train cuts this down to a bit over 3 h.
Tokyo - Ichinoseki is about 450 km and about 5,5 h of driving. (Without a stop)