Checklist item 3: Car, GPS & ETC card

 

CheckList

Mobile Router

Destination MapCode

Car,GPS,ETC card

Renting a Nissan

In 2013, during my first trip to Japan, I rented my car from Nissan because 1) its rates were good, 2) it offered "English GPS" and 3)its websites had an English option. 

This round for my summer trip to Hokkaido I have evaluated several car rental companies again. Two companies that offer reliable cars at good rates are Toyota Rent a Car and Nissan Rent a Car. I would have chosen "Toyata Rent a Car" if my stay in Hokkaido is longer, this is because Toyota offers free daily rental charges after the 15th day. So if you need a car for 20 days you pay for only 15 days. In my case I need a car for only 14 days and between the two companies "Nissan Rent a Car"offers lower rates.

I have reserved a P1 class Nissan car which will come with a "English" GPS with no extra charge. The total cost for 14 full days rental is Yen111,942. No payment or credit card is needed for reservation. 

Breakdown of charges are

• Basic Fee: 103,350 Yen
• Equipment fee : 300 Yen(ETC Card)
• Consumption Tax: 8,292 Yen

Car GPS and MapCode

I definitely say that a car GPS is a must have for self drive trip in Japan especially for people like my husband and I who do not understand Japanese at all. With the guidance of a GPS we got to all our destinations without getting lost or needing to ask for road direction when we drove in Japan in 2013.

Unlike some other countries where old GPS machines are used, the car GPS provided with rental car in Japan is very user friendly. It provides very good voice and video guidance and make it very easy to reach the targeted destination. Moving from one destination to the next is very straight forward, a great deal of time is saved which goes into having more time to explore and sightsee.

In Japan an English GPS machine is not provided by default with a rented car so when I placed my online reservation with Nissan Car Rental I specifically requested for a "English GPS".

At this moment in Japan an "English" GPS is only a Partial English GPS. As far as I know, no car rental company in Japan provides a full English GPS. The Partial English GPS displays instruction in English for selection of destination, it will then display a recommended route on a map with street names shown in Japanese. No worries for those that do not understand Japanese because the sound guidance is in English and it will get you to your destination.

Destination can be selected through a variety of methods, it can be selected by its address/name, location on a map, postal code, telephone number or MapCode. I found using address/name to select a destination difficult because address/name of the place had to be entered in Japanese. My preference was to used MapCode as it was most reliable and accurate. It will pinpoint a destination to within 30 meters accuracy.

So again for this Japan trip, I will have to get ready all the mapcodes of the destinations I intend to visit. Mapcodes are especially useful when pinpointing remote places where street names do not even exist.

Toll charges and ETC card

In my 2013 trip, I initially tried to save cost by avoiding toll roads but found out later that travelling on non-toll roads increased the travelling time drastically which was not worth the saving at all. Instead of a one hour drive the journey could take up to two or three times longer. There were too many traffic lights on non-toll roads and it got worse in populated areas where traffic lights could be found at 100 metres intervals. Our route was a big round loop starting from Tokyo to Kyoto and back and all in we paid close to Yen40000 just for tolls. 

This round for the Hokkaido trip I have reserved for a ETC card to come with the car. I have read from some websites that the toll charges were lower (as much as 20%) when an ETC card was used. In Japan one needs to have a Japanese bank account to own a ETC card, so it is not definitely not feasible for a Tourist to get a ETC card. Luckily car rental companies also rented out ETC card at norminal charges.

The only catch here is that the ETC card is owned by the rental car outlet which means that the outlet will only rent out the ETC card if I pick up and return the car to the same outlet.

Checklist item 2: Mapcode

CheckList

Mobile Router

Destination MapCode

Car,GPS,ETC card

Getting the Mapcode

When I was planning for my DIY trip to Japan in 2013, I realised that the best way to get to all my destinations was to have ready all their mapcodes. The "English" GPS of my rental car accepted mapcodes and without fail it  guided me to the doorstep of my destinations on the trip.

Mapcode of a destination is available in many Japanese publications but the problem is most of these publications are written in Japanese which make it difficult for a Non Japanese to comprehend. Besides that, as a DIY traveller I like to go places where most people do not visit and which means that their mapcodes are usually not published on any magazine.

In 2013 I used a Japanese website www.varjar.jp to get my mapcode. When I tried using the same website again in 2015 while planning for this coming second Japan trip, I found to my dismay that www.viajar.jp had ceased operation. Luckily after much researching I found another website www.mapion.co.jp providing mapcodes. 

Mapion website is written in Japanese and even after using google automated translate on its pages, it is still difficult for a Non Japanese speaker like me to navigate around the website. So whenever I use Mapion, I focus on only getting the mapcode of a destination which basically involves only a few simple steps.

First identify a place to visit, then use google map to get its position on the map. Next go tho www.mapion.co.jp and open its Japan map and locate the same position on the mapion map.

Making sure that the red cross is placed at right location then select "convenient tool" on the top right corner of the screen. Clicked the "map URL" on a dropdown menu that appeared and a popup window with the Mapcode would then be displayed.

The mapcode is usually 9 digits, but there are times it has less than or more than 9 digits. No worries they all work.