I got my driver’s license at the end of 2023 in Japan. I’ve since racked up over 14,000km on my car, thanks to a lot of early morning drives to the mountains. I’ve never driven in another country before so I don’t really have a point of reference, but here are just some of my observations from driving in Japan (especially in and out of Tokyo) which may be of use.
The speed limit on highways is technically 80km/h. However, the cars that follow this are usually big trucks and some rule-abiding drivers, or those who are nervous and not used to the highway.
Generally it’s very normal to go 100km in a 80km/h zone. Apparently legally in Japan, speed cameras are only allowed to catch you if you are going at least 119km/h in an 80km zone (ie 39km over the limit on highways). So 20km over the limit is still safe camera-wise. That’s not to say you can’t get caught, as there can be unmarked police cars.
Personally, I’ve never been hit with a speeding ticket though.
I recommend using your car’s GPS instead of Google Maps. Or at least use both. The GPS is less-confusing (at least in my car) to explain when and where you should be getting on and off from highway ramps as it has better diagrams showing which lane you should be in. It’s also less likely to take you down weird side roads. I find Google tends to try and give you the shortest route, but doesn’t take into account tiny rural roads and the like.
When using the car’s GPS, you can also input a phone number instead of an address. Addresses in Japan are super long and hard to input, especially if you can’t even read the language.
e.g. if you are going to a restaurant, you can find its phone number on Google maps, and then input that into your GPS and it knows the location. If you are going to a location that doesn’t have a phone number, I just get the phone number of the nearest convenience store, and then use Google maps for the last portion of the drive.
In Australia you generally put our hand up to say “thanks” when someone lets us merge in, for example, but in Japan, you should blink your hazard lights. I usually go for twice, although some speedy guys will do it just the once once.
The other time you’ll see hazard lights being used is on the highway when you approach standstill traffic. You leave it on for 10+ blinks to let cars behind you know of the traffic. Not everyone does this though.
Leave a comment