If ?you plan to travel to Japan and rent a car there, there are some things you should know about the Road trip in Japan.
Please see below, with Japanese traffic rule!
And if you are interested in the trip to Japan, this kind of a book may give you useful information about anything “Japan” before going there.
In Tokyo…
Frankly speaking, if you stay only in Tokyo during the trip in Japan, you don’t need to rent a car.
Tokyo has a great transportation system such as Train, Subway, Bus and Taxi (Yellow cab, Black cap and any color Taxi).
If you are UBER lover, you may be disappointed in Japan because you can’t use UBER in Tokyo like you did in US. UBER is now still limited usage even in Tokyo. But don’t worry, you can see lots of taxies on roads anywhere in Tokyo. You can easily catch Taxi!!
You can rent a Smaller car!
You know about cars made by Toyota, Honda, Nissan. They are major Japanese car manufacturers, making and selling general size of sedans and SUVs globally.
Do you know major type of cars used in daily life of Japan is “Compact” car or “Small” car?
Japan is small country, and sometimes a road is really narrow. That’s why many Japanese prefer to buy and use “Small” car, which are also cost efficient in both car price and maintain.
Small car is really small inside, but if you can fit the size, it may be better to rent a Small car to drive easily on the narrow roads in Japan.
For your reference, please see the following TV commercial about N-Box which Honda makes and sales in Japan.
HONDA N-Box CM
Basic rule!!
Different from US, every car has to run on the left lane! It is as same as UK.
I suppose you can easily get used to run on left lanes. Since the general speed of cars in Japan is relatively slow, you won’t get panicked. Don’t worry.
About the traffic light (1)
If you are American person, you may turn right even red right at any time.
(Actually in Japan, you may want to turn left in the left lane)
Unfortunately, this rule doesn’t apply in Japan. You can’t move until the right turns green.
And, please be cautious to turn left and right because there are so many pedestrians in Japan.
Keep safe!!
About the traffic light (2)
I assume you will realize it soon, but there are really many Traffic lights in Japan!!
You will see that traffic lights are located at almost every corner in the bigger cities.
It means pedestrians are safely protected by this traffic system.
It would be relieved for you that Japanese doesn’t walk across the road during the light is red!!
(I often see the opposite scenes in US…)
Gus station
The measurement of Gus quantity is “liter” in Japan (Sorry not by “Gallon”…).
One US gallon is equal to 3.785411784 liter, which means one liter is equivalent to almost 1/4 gallon. As you might imagine, Japan import almost all oils from foreign countries. The price is, in general, higher than US.
And Japanese general Gus station is “just” selling only Gus. Please don’t expect to buy hot dogs and chips for your break like that you usually buy it in your home country’s Gus station…
If you are getting hungry, please stop by any Convenience stores. You see it in detail here!
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